How ATI Physical Therapy Revolutionized Hiring with ICIMS to Expand Talent Pool and Streamline Recruitment

Transforming Recruitment in Healthcare

In today's fast-paced healthcare landscape, the challenge of recruiting highly qualified personnel is ever-present. Fortunately, ATI Physical Therapy, a prominent provider of outpatient physical therapy services across the United States, has demonstrated an innovative path to success. By implementing the Candidate Experience Management (CXM) feature from ICIMS, the industry-leading enterprise talent acquisition platform, ATI's recruitment strategy has seen remarkable improvement.

The Numbers Behind the Strategy

As of March 2026, ATI Physical Therapy reported tremendous growth regarding its candidate pipeline, seeing a threefold increase over the past year. This surge is not merely a matter of quantity; it has also translated into a substantial 17% rise in the number of applicants for each job opening. Such results highlight the importance of strategic hiring in a competitive field where many candidates remain students for extended periods before joining the workforce.

Strategic Engagement Before Hire

ATI Physical Therapy recognized that engaging potential hires at an early stage is essential. By collaborating with ICIMS since 2021, the organization has designed an effective method of nurturing future clinicians even before they are ready to enter the job market. This proactive engagement strategy extends as far as 400 days, allowing for a meaningful connection that lasts well into the candidates' academic and clinical training periods.

According to Amanda Lobas, the Director of People Services and Analytics at ATI Physical Therapy, the focus is on building lasting relationships. "ICIMS gives us the visibility to make those conversations meaningful," she explained. By utilizing tailored content and automated workflows, ATI manages to keep candidates engaged throughout their academic journey.

Automating Processes for Better Focus

Before adopting ICIMS, the recruitment team at ATI Physical Therapy faced the daunting task of manually following up with candidates and juggling various event logistics. This was inefficient and time-consuming. With ICIMS' automation, the process of communicating with candidates is streamlined significantly. Now, after attending recruitment events, candidates are automatically integrated into personalized multi-step engagement journeys. This not only increases efficiency but allows recruiters to dedicate more time to building relationships with candidates who are more challenging to recruit.