How IndiGo automates hiring across locations

IndiGo is a brand people associate with being on time. That expectation depends on people across its network, including the ground staff and cabin crew who support each journey. Hiring for those roles across locations calls for its own kind of coordination: candidates need to move through the right checks, and interviewers need to meet people who are ready for that conversation.

IndiGo worked with Unstop to connect the early stages of that journey. Candidates apply for a location, complete identity and eligibility checks, take assessments suited to the role, and receive updates as they progress. IndiGo's HR team then takes over for interview scheduling and in-person interviews.

The hiring question: who is ready for an interview?

In multi-location hiring, the workload is more than processing applications. Teams need to establish whether a candidate meets the role requirements, verify identity, assess relevant skills and keep applicants informed. Doing that consistently across hiring cycles takes coordination. Interviewers also have limited time and attention. IndiGo wanted the screening work completed before candidates reached them.

The answer was a connected workflow with clear responsibilities at each stage. IndiGo defines the eligibility rules and assessment cutoffs. Unstop applies those rules through the application and assessment process, while IndiGo retains the interview and hiring decisions.

Verify identity and eligibility at registration

Candidates apply through location-specific microsites, with applicant tracking built into the process. The workflow checks for duplicate applications so each candidate enters through one application record.

Identity checks begin at registration. The candidate's Aadhaar number is verified, their face is captured and matched with the photo on their Aadhaar card, and a voice sample is recorded. The voice sample is matched when the candidate takes the assessment. These checks give the team an identity record early in the process and help reduce impersonation.

Eligibility is checked against the requirements IndiGo sets for each role, such as qualifications and willingness to work rotational shifts. Candidates who meet the criteria move to assessment. Candidates who do not receive the appropriate update. A rejected candidate has a three-month cool-off before reapplying, so the same application does not immediately return to the next hiring cycle.

Assess for the role, then progress candidates automatically

Ground staff and airport operations candidates complete aptitude assessments aligned with IndiGo's requirements. Cabin crew candidates respond to open-ended questions on video; the platform evaluates their communication responses using AI. IndiGo's HR team can also review the videos against its role requirements.

Candidates can take assessments on mobile devices, with proctoring configured for the device in use. The platform applies IndiGo's cutoffs to progress or reject candidates and records the result for the recruitment team.

This is where AI and automation have distinct jobs in the workflow. AI evaluates the communication responses. Automated rules handle eligibility, assessment progression, shortlisting and candidate updates. Each stage passes a clearer record to the next, giving the HR team candidates whose initial checks and assessments are already complete.

Keep the candidate informed through each stage

A large hiring process also has to be understandable to the person applying. Candidates receive email and WhatsApp updates on their status, assessment steps and reapplication eligibility. IndiGo approves the message content, so the instructions stay consistent with its hiring process and tone.

The three-month cool-off is part of that communication. A candidate who cannot yet reapply should know when they become eligible again, rather than trying to enter a new drive without clarity.

Give interviewers a better starting point

IndiGo schedules and conducts interviews in person. By the time a candidate reaches its HR team, the application, identity checks and role-specific assessment results are available for review. The team can spend its interview time on the candidate rather than repeating the first stages of screening.

IndiGo says the process has helped build a pool of screened candidates, improve conversions and save costs. Its feedback also points to Aadhaar-led verification as a way to reduce impersonation. Those are the outcomes that matter here: a more prepared interview pool and a more consistent experience for candidates and recruiters across locations.

 “Bulk hiring at IndiGo requires solving for not just scale and logistics but also intangible factors like interviewer fatigue. The partnership with Unstop helped create simple processes, easy-to-follow instructions, and assessments that created a pool of qualified candidates already screened and evaluated, pushing up conversions and saving costs. It also helped reduce impersonations through Aadhaar-led verification.”

**Pallavi Chopra, Director HR, IndiGo**

What other TA teams can take from this

The useful design decision is to define what must be true before an interviewer meets a candidate. Which eligibility rules can be checked at application? Where should identity be verified? What evidence should an assessment provide for each role? And what should candidates hear at every outcome, including when they can reapply?

IndiGo's workflow shows how those decisions can be carried across locations in one process. It also gives TA teams a practical way to think about AI agents in hiring: assign a defined task, such as evaluating communication responses, and connect its output to clear progression rules and human review. The technology handles repeatable checks and communication; HR receives the candidate record and owns the interview.

**Explore your hiring workflow with Unstop.** Share the roles, locations and screening steps you manage, and we can map where connected registration, identity checks and assessments would help your team.