ICIMS Returns to RecFest UK as Headline Sponsor to Showcase New AI and Frontline Hiring Innovations, and Customer ROI from Leading Childcare Provider

Leading talent acquisition platform to take the stage with customer Busy Bees to share how UK’s largest childcare provider cut time-to-offer by weeks and saved six hours per hire across 4,000+ annual hires

LONDON [10 June 2026] — ICIMS, a leading enterprise talent acquisition platform, will return to RecFest UK as headline sponsor on 2 July at Knebworth Park, Stevenage. Throughout the event, attendees can visit tent 43 to experience the latest corporate and frontline hiring innovations from ICIMS and learn how organisations are using AI and automation to hire faster, improve recruiter productivity and create enhanced candidate experiences.

Attendees can also join ICIMS’ session at 12:40 p.m. on the Disrupt Stage with customer Natalie Edmunds, head of talent acquisition at Busy Bees—the U.K.’s largest childcare provider, operating across 390 locations and hiring over 4,000 people every year. The session, “From Archaic to Automated: How Busy Bees Transformed Hiring Across 4,000+ Annual Hires,” is a practitioner-led look at how Busy Bees transformed a fragmented, manager heavy operation to a streamlined end-to-end hiring operation. Natalie will share how, in partnership with ICIMS, Busy Bees cut time-to-offer from roughly a month down to just nine days and saved up to six hours of administration per hire, giving nursery managers more time to support children and families.

“ICIMS’ storey with Busy Bees is a powerful example of how the right combination of technology, automation and strategy can help organisations scale hiring, improve efficiency and create a better experience for recruiters, hiring managers and candidates alike,” said Matt Sharp, SVP of EMEA, ICIMS. From high-volume frontline hiring to strategic corporate recruiting, organisations need solutions that can flex across every part of the business. We are excited to share that storey with the talent acquisition community at RecFest.”

“Our nursery managers are there to care for children, but our previous hiring process had become too time-consuming and administrative to be sustainable,” said Natalie. “By partnering with ICIMS, we’ve been able to give valuable time back to our teams while significantly improving our ability to attract and hire the right people quickly.”

The annual event comes as talent acquisition teams across EMEA face increasing pressure to fill open roles faster and maximise hiring efficiency. According to ICIMS Insights, job openings across the region increased 17% year-over-year in May 2026 while hires decreased 7% and applications only grew modestly (4%). As organisations focus on converting existing talent pipelines over applicant volume, the ability to automate workflows, reduce friction and accelerate hiring has become a key competitive advantage.

Visit ICIMS at RecFest UK at tent 43 on 2 July, and attend the session to learn how enterprise organisations are using AI and automation to remove friction from hiring, empower recruiters and drive measurable business outcomes.