Category: Talent Acquisition Strategy

The Returning to the Office after COVID: Rethinking How & Where We Work

Posted on by edyson

Returning to the office has taken on a new meaning. As we return to work, we now reflect that more than a year ago, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. So, in the years to come, we’ll look back on how the pandemic’s lasting effects have permanently reshaped the workplace and the world at large and how organization’s handled the return to work.

So what does a return to work look like? Right now, the fog of the present obscures what our “new normal” will look like. As work becomes increasingly digitally enabled and uncertainty continues, many employers are wondering when or if they should return to the workplace, as well as how exactly to go about the process.

So, in this article, we’ll cover what employees expect from employers during their return to work, how employers are leveraging the hybrid workforce model, and strategies that organizations should consider implementing while planning a safe return to the workplace.

The Return to Work: Employer Preparations Versus Employee Expectations

return to work

The pandemic has tested the employee and employer relationship. Employers have supported their workforce to an unprecedented degree in ways they hadn’t before and under greater scrutiny. Meanwhile, workers have shown incredible resilience and adaptability as they worked to remain productive amidst the challenges of the pandemic.

Then, the development of vaccines raised confidence in returning to the workplace, but uncertainties remain about how to bring employees back safely. As such, employers should develop a return strategy that helps meet their business goals, while also addressing employee expectations and the need for increased flexibility.

According to PwC’s U.S. Pulse Survey, employees reported that their preferred work arrangements were:

return to office after covid

Interestingly, according to a report from The Conference Board, returning employees to the workplace is more important for U.S.-based employers. Specifically, the survey found that, among U.S. executives, 22% said returning employees to the workplace was a priority, while only 5% of their global counterparts agreed.

In the next section, we’ll discuss how employers and employees can find common ground through a hybrid workplace model.

Returning to the Office: The Workforce of the Future is Hybrid

While both employees and employers have varying expectations on what a return should look like, one thing is clear: everyone expects more flexibility in the workplace, and a hybrid workplace model combines characteristics of remote and on-site work. In a hybrid workplace, some or all employees are free to choose where and when they work; they can also divide their time between working from home, a co-working space or their organization’s office.


Granted, whether an employer can offer a hybrid workplace model depends on multiple considerations, most notably the industry and job type. While there are a variety of careers and roles that require employees to be on-site every day, Gartner estimates that nearly two-thirds of employees—mostly knowledge workers—can work remotely at least some of the time. They can fully focus on tasks without the noises and interruptions of the traditional workplace environment. They can choose to work when they’re feeling most productive, whether that’s in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning. When employees are happier, better rested and less stressed, they do better work.

Employee Wellbeing and Returning to the Office

Being free to work when and where they please has a significant positive influence on employee satisfaction. For instance, in a SurveyMonkey study, employees who worked remotely reported feeling happier than their colleagues who remained working in the office. However, for others, working remotely can be isolating and even distracting. Clearly, a hybrid workplace mitigates many of the downsides of pure remote work to create a professional space outside of the home for employees to collaborate and socialize with colleagues.

Lowered Costs

In a hybrid workplace, there’s no need for row after row of assigned desks. Instead, once an organization knows how many employees will be in the office at any given time, employers can plan around new occupancy levels to cut down on the cost of rent and other expenses.

Safety

For extra safety returning to the office, a hybrid workplace also helps keep employees safe during the pandemic by: reducing the number of people in the workplace at any one given time; creating ample personal space; and making it easier to stay distanced. Flexible workers can also commute during off-peak times or work from home if they or their family are at particular risk.

Return to Work: The Hybrid Workforce in Action

For example, at IBM an employee’s office attendance requirement is determined by work deliverables or the need for team collaboration. While at, Ford office workers are required to be on site for specific meetings or projects, otherwise they are permitted to work remotely. At Uber, Citigroup and H&R Block employees are required to be in the office two to three days per week.

Conversely, some employers place workers into tiers. For instance, Salesforce divided their hybrid workforce into three tiers: flex employees in the office one to three days per week, fully remote employees and office-based employees required to be in the office four to five days per week. Similarly, TIAA will group employee roles into four categories: fully remote, mostly remote, mostly on site, and fully on site.

Supporting Your Employees Return to Work

As expected, balancing the physical and emotional wellbeing of employees with the business needs of the employer has been a top challenge for talent and HR leaders throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. As an example, when PwC’s COVID-19 Global CFO Pulse Survey asked, “Which of the following is your company planning to implement once you start to transition back to on-site work?”, CFOs responded:

returning to office after working from home covid-19

Mental Health and Workplace Stress

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyone’s mental health to some degree, so feelings of anxiety and hesitancy around returning to the workplace should are to be expected.  Now more than ever, leaders and managers need to demonstrate compassion and understanding. Employers should invest in new mental health resources for employees in need. This can take the form of an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) or a referral to external organizations that can crisis intervention, counseling, or other assistance. Plus, easy access to and promotion of an employer’s EAP can help provide many helpful resources for employee mental health in the workplace.

Flexible Paid Sick Policy

For workers with limited paid sick time, testing positive for COVID-19 comes with potential repercussions to their livelihood. To mitigate the potential loss of income, employer should consider implementing a flexible paid sick policy that offers employees additional paid time off if they do contract COVID-19. This may put employees, who would otherwise worry about the repercussions of getting sick, at ease. Paid sick leave policies should also communicate the importance of staying home when feeling unwell (even if unsure) while making it clear that doing so will not impact that employee negatively. For more information and guidance on sick leave policy and returning to work after

Create Clear and Consistent Communications

An action plan for returning to the workplace is only as effective as an organization’s ability to clearly articulate the details of the plan to employees in a way that everyone understands. Moreover, communicating with employees about plans to reopen can help keep them engaged and provide a sense of normalcy. Employees will want to hear about their employers reopening plans, from social distancing to wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) as well as details about workplace layout and exactly who is required to return and when.

Returning to Work After COVID: Conclusion

Returning to Work After COVID

COVID-19 has taught us a lot about how we live and how we work. It has laid bare that our usual routines are not set in stone, and that alternative ways of working and building community within in organization are not just viable but can have a lasting impact on our happiness, productivity and wellbeing. The future of work is flexible, and more businesses are turning to the hybrid model as a way to achieve the flexibility their employees need. Going forward, the concept of the workplace in the minds of many employees and organizations will no longer be confined to a physical space, rather a hybrid mix of places and spaces where work can be accomplished. 

Global RPO: Hiring Niche Engineers for Automotive Manufacturer

Posted on by akessler
Global RPO: Hiring Engineers with Niche Skills for a Global Manufacturer in LATAM and Europe

Global RPO: Hiring Engineers with Niche Skills for a Global Manufacturer in LATAM and Europe

A multinational automotive components manufacturer at the forefront of electric driving technology engaged PeopleScout for a full-cycle, multi-country Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) solution. To continue supplying automotive technology for millions of the world’s cars, they needed to source the next generation of engineering talent across 54 locations in 21 countries in Latin America, Europe and Asia.

100% % New Hires Completed Ahead of Schedule
80% % Candidate Submissions Invited to Interview
1300 Applications Received for 150 Positions
21 Countries | <br> 5 Languages |<br> 3 Continents
21 Countries |
5 Languages |
3 Continents

Scope & Scale

A global automotive parts manufacturer partnered with PeopleScout to initially source 150 hires across locations in Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany and India as well as facilities in Latin America. They needed a global RPO provider who could handle sourcing for niche engineering roles in English, Polish, Spanish, Italian and Hungarian languages.

Challenge

As the client expanded manufacturing into new regions to support their global growth agenda, they turned to PeopleScout to partner with their in-house talent acquisition teams to drive their transformational change projects.

Hiring in Latin America had stagnated as the region became the go-to region for automotive manufacturing. With major car brands moving more of their operations into the region, competition for talent became more and more steep.

Meanwhile in Europe, a shortage of niche engineering skills was impacting operations in Poland. The talent war between organisations in the area hiring for similar roles was driving up salary expectations, but the manufacturer lacked the labour market data to make informed decisions to adjust their strategy.

Solution

AnalySing LaboUr Markets on Two Continents

Our Client Delivery team started by undertaking labour market and workforce analytics in each region. We worked with the client’s HR and operational teams to support their workforce strategy through a competitive analysis which led to recommendations on salary bands for each role and level of experience. For roles in Poland, we helped them explore the possibility of relocating new hires in order to widen their talent pool to other parts of the country where there was more access to experienced engineering professionals.

“PeopleScout has done a great job to support the project, showing high commitment and flexibility in this difficult and changing environment. We’ve had great collaboration together.”

Senior Director of Engineering

Sourcing Passive Candidates with PersonaliSed Videos

Meanwhile, our multilingual teams in Bristol and Krakow began sourcing experienced Product Application Engineers in Latin America and across multiple European locations, as well as Design & Test Engineers in Poland.

Not satisfied with one outreach, we employed a different approach with candidates who were unresponsive after the first communication. Our recruiters created and sent personalised videos introducing themselves and the opportunity to the candidate. This personal touch drove higher engagement and interest from talent who hadn’t engaged initially.

Over 80% of applicants were identified via passive sourcing, with the remaining candidates coming from ongoing advertising campaigns across job boards and social media.

Leveraging Social Media to Boost Employer Brand Awareness

Through our Social Network Awareness Package (SNAP) we identified the best social channels to reach the manufacturer’s audience and created tailored posts, including imagery and headlines. We used this social media content to boost awareness of the client’s employer brand among relevant groups and individuals based on their locations, professional details and interests. Throughout each campaign, we provided a reporting dashboard and analysed engagement which helped shape recruitment marketing activity going forward.

Testing Technical Skills with a Custom Assessment CentrE

These highly specialised engineers, regardless of region, needed to have a good command of English as well as technical aptitude. We assessed for both by designing and executing a technical testing program. Our assessors administered these exams virtually, freeing up hiring managers to focus on running their operations.

Once offers were made, our team continued to keep in contact with successful candidates during their notice periods and onboarding. We notified the client’s HR team of any potential concerns of dropouts, working together to mitigate risks.

Results

In just 10 months, we filled 100% of the manufacturer’s niche engineering headcount, including all openings in Poland—two months ahead of schedule. Our team reviewed over 1,300 applications and screened over 250 candidates, supporting hiring managers with initial phone screens, technical assessments and post-offer communications.

The hiring managers were thrilled with the quality of the candidates they saw, with over 80% of candidates put forward by our team being invited to interview.

Following this success, we expanded our engagement with the client to their India operation, taking over from local third-party agencies. This Recruiter on-Demand solution will support volume hiring challenges and drive cost savings.

“PeopleScout did really great work across hard-to-fill disciplines. We had a fantastic sense of partnership across the whole project.”

Global Head of Talent Acquisition

AT A GLANCE

  • COMPANY
    Global Automotive Manufacturer
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Recruitment Process Outsourcing
  • ANNUAL HIRES
    150+
  • LOCATIONS
    21 countries in Latin America, Europe and Asia
Contact Us

Filling Niche Roles: How a Webinar Improved Candidate Experience and Application Numbers

Posted on by cspivack

How do you persuade valued, highly sought-after professionals to move jobs in this market? By providing an opportunity to engage with the employer and understand the work and culture – before applying.

The Chemicals Regulation Division (CRD) of the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) is regulatory science at its best. Work here is forward-thinking, strategic and connected to decisions made by both Central Government and large-scale business.

SOLUTION HIGHLIGHTS

  • SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED AWARENESS OF HSE AND THIS NICHE DIVISION WITHIN IT
  • 55 QUESTIONS SUBMITTED FILLING THE CANDIDATES INFORMATION GAP
  • 70% OF ATTENDEES MORE LIKELY TO APPLY SINCE THE WEBINAR

SCOPE AND SCALE

In undergoing significant change, our client was evolving and working hard to meet the challenges ahead. This required the recruitment of a significant number of Scientists to help ensure the safe and sustainable use of chemicals. This is science with a scale, scope and influence few organisations can match.

SITUATION

The vacancies were based in Bootle and York and market mapping was undertaken into the number of suitable candidates with the relevant skills and qualifications for these roles. This highlighted the scarcity of candidates available. In addition, there was the challenge of how to engage with the target audience and give them the insight and opportunity to better understand the organisation, the vital work they undertake and the opportunities for career development. A recent national study found the number one question from candidates was “What’s it like to work there?”

SOLUTION

With this in mind, we devised and developed a webinar to introduce the work of the CRD. The webinar featured a panel of existing employees, giving the participants an opportunity to hear first-hand what the job would entail. Alongside this we offered a live Q&A so that each person could ask questions. The webinar brought the organisation to life and painted a picture of what it would be like to work there.

RESULTS

The webinar significantly increased awareness of HSE and the niche division within it. The attendees were able to view the webinar remotely and on-demand. During the Q and A, 55 questions were submitted. These filled the candidates information gap and gave them insight as to how they would fit in. 70% of attendees said they are more likely to apply since attending the webinar.

Sainsbury’s: Transforming a Traditional Retail Role with Recruitment Marketing

Posted on by jpatel
Sainsbury's: Transforming a Traditional Retail Role with Recruitment Marketing

Sainsbury’s: Transforming a Traditional Retail Role with Recruitment Marketing

As customer experience becomes the battleground for retail differentiation, Sainsbury’s turned to PeopleScout to help them hire the next generation of store managers.

19,000 Applications Received in First 12 Weeks

Beating our Target by 171%

4,500 Hires Made

Exceeding the Target of 2,400

1M M Candidate Engagements

as Part of the Campaign

Shopping habits have changed. And in the highly competitive UK retail sector, customer experience can make or break results for retailers. To capitalise on this, Sainsbury’s, one the UK’s big five supermarkets, decided to transform one of its traditional roles—and reimagine store management in the process.

Their goal? To create a simpler, more rewarding experience for staff and customers alike. Sainsbury’s wanted to replace the traditional role of retail store manager with a new role, Customer & Trading Manager.

This new role gave managers the freedom to get out of the weeds and really lead teams—creating a new era of retail management. This required new skills and a different mindset. Some of their retail professionals would be able to transition into these new roles but some wouldn’t have what it takes. So Sainsbury’s turned to PeopleScout to help them attract new talent from the outside.

Turning Negatives into Positives

From the start, we faced some significant challenges:

  • The role was entirely new to the market, so we had to explain the new, unfamiliar employment proposition clearly to audiences both inside and outside of retail.
  • The role of retail manager had an image problem. It was seen as a transactional role that often saw you stuck on the registers.
  • The media was confusing the issue. We needed to counteract several misleading, negative reports of large-scale retail redundancies.

Sainsbury’s considered this to be one of their biggest recruitment challenges. They asked us to challenge and overturn negative public perceptions of retail management, introduce an entirely new type of role and hire 2,400 managers, from 24,000 applicants—in just six months.

The Core Message

First, we took apart the job profile to challenge the requirements. It was clear that the single most motivating benefit of the role was the potential to be a leader and to get the very best from a team. This suggested that the best candidates for this new type of retail role didn’t necessarily need retail experience.

We wanted to reconnect people with the emotional core of what’s great about management. It meant presenting the role—and Sainsbury’s—in a new light. So, we stripped away the language associated with the day-to-day tasks and instead put the focus back on employees as people.

We developed an overarching campaign message, Leading Starts Here, to clearly state our employment offer.

And to bring it to life, we used the following concept as our organizing thought: We all need someone to inspire us.

This universal, relatable truth was what used to capture the moving stories of individuals who have overcome huge obstacles—everything from low self-esteem to disability—with the help of inspirational leaders.

Making it Authenitic

Video was our chosen vehicle. Our diverse cast reflected Sainsbury’s approach as an inclusive employer and included people from a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds, people with common mental health issues and people with disabilities. While some of the responses were scripted, the strongest were spontaneous reactions to the simple prompt, tell me about someone who inspired you.

The campaign featured a blended approach of active and passive channels on- and offline:

  • Active channels included Indeed and a wide variety of other job boards as well as Google Search and Google Display Network.
  • Passive channels included billboards in key locations near major offices, newspapers, social media and other online destinations.
  • We used geo-location and behavioural targeting on search and social media to put our videos in front of audiences across the hospitality, travel, cabin crew, leisure and care industries.

We created 69 individual pieces of artwork, a campaign landing page with the hero video and an in-store toolkit, which included pull-up banners, poaching cards, posters, leaflets and stickers —everything a store needed to amplify the campaign.

The Results

  • Less than 10:1 application-to-hire ratio of high quality candidates.
  • Over 19,000 applications received in first 12 weeks (beating our target by 171%).
  • 4,500 hires made, exceeding the target of 2,400.
  • 69 content pieces produced.
  • £71 attraction-cost-per-hire achieved.
  • Close to 1 MILLION people engaged with the brand as part of the campaign.
  • After 12 weeks, the campaign had generated 376,986 clicks across online paid media. This has been achieved at an average cost per click of just £0.59.
  • The core film has been played 462,168 times and counting, receiving extremely positive feedback, praising its inclusive message.

AT A GLANCE

  • COMPANY
    Sainsbury’s
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Talent Advisory
  • LOCATIONS
    600+ supermarkets across the UK
  • About Sainsbury’s
    Sainsbury’s in the second largest supermarket chain in the UK. Their focus is to bring high quality food and household goods to consumers in-store and online, supported by their brands, Argos, Habitat, Tu, Nectar and Sainsbury’s Bank.
Contact Us

Vodafone: Overcoming a Powerful Consumer Brand in Early Careers Recruitment

Posted on by jpatel
Vodafone: Overcoming a Powerful Consumer Brand in Early Careers Recruitment

Vodafone: Overcoming a Powerful Consumer Brand in Early Careers Recruitment

To overcome misperceptions about their mission, Vodafone engaged PeopleScout for employer branding and a recruitment marketing campaign to support its early careers recruitment programme.

16,000 Applications Received, Beating our Target by 60%
23% % Increase in the Numbers of Female Candidates
27 Places Jumped on the Times Top 100 Rankings

Counterintuitive as it sounds, strong consumer brands can hinder recruitment. Applicants can get an idea of what to expect that doesn’t match the reality of the careers experience being offered. This was the case with Vodafone. For consumers, the organisation is a high-profile mobile phone retailer. But, behind that perception sits a multifaceted tech innovator with a mission to make the future world a better place.

In order to achieve this, Vodafone turned to PeopleScout to help it become a youth employer of choice, because changing the future meant gaining the buy-in of those who would be influential within it for years to come.

RESEARCH

As part of our research phase, we took a deep dive into Vodafone’s future jobs strategy. The client wanted to overcome high levels of youth unemployment by providing up to 100,000 young people with a digital workplace experience at Vodafone. Plus, given that one-in-five young people say they feel under-prepared for the digital economy, the business set another ambitious goal to support 10 million young people with access to digital skills, learning and employment opportunities.

So, how could Vodafone attract Millennials, Gen Z and beyond? These generations are big achievers whose ambitions soar higher than working in mobile phone retail. We needed an attraction strategy and recruitment marketing campaign that changed their audience’s perceptions about Vodafone and all the different kinds of careers—and impacts—they could make there.

THE BRIEF

Vodafone asked us to create a campaign that would spark conversations and stand out as part of their instantly recognisable brand. They needed to generate 10,000 applications to fill 150 graduate roles and 100 intern/industrial student placements across the business. Plus, the overarching goal was to change misperceptions of Vodafone, showing it as a major tech company, not a retailer, and build its reputation as a youth employer of choice. Importantly, we were asked to reach a more diverse audience and increase female applications.

AUDIENCE INSIGHTS

Of our target audience, 90.4% regularly used social media. On top of this, 91% of all social media users access channels via mobile. So, we developed a mobile-first, social media friendly campaign. Further research revealed that many students with the right background and personal qualifications were put off from applying due to a lack of confidence. So, we needed a message that was bold, relatable and empowering.

Just as important as the audience insights were the strategic considerations. Candidates are also customers. When buying products, they expect a streamlined, user-friendly, friction-free process, and they had the same expectation when making career decisions. So, we made every touchpoint (especially the application) as slick and easy as possible.

No contemporary attraction approach can be just about advertising. Long-term connections are far more powerful. So, central to our strategy was to set Vodafone up to engage in conversations and initiatives with high-potential university students throughout their full university lifecycle. In short, the strategy was to start on day one, not year three.

THE CORE MESSAGE

Our message, #GenerationPossible, aimed to capture the spirit of change and possibility and draw on the opportunity young people have to make an impact on the world for the better. Our visual approach used photography that reflected our target audience combined with bold headline statements.

Social media and career site content featured current grads and interns sharing their advice for the next generation of Vodafone employees, with a #GenerationPossible video at the heart of this campaign. Our six-month social media strategy for mobile consisted of 104 social posts with 20 mini-videos/GIFs. We posted, tracked and analysed this content on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Get to Know Us Videos

Our research had identified that our target audience felt like they weren’t good enough or lacked the skills to take on these roles. So, we created a series of videos featuring current Vodafone graduate recruits and interns. Filmed in and around Vodafone’s main campus, these videos gave real-life insights into what they could expect when it came to work, wellbeing, social responsibility, innovation, the assessment centre and the interview process.

Away from social media, we built a series of 41 on-campus events to connect students directly with Vodafone employees. We carefully chose our campuses based on those with the highest female-to-male ratios for tech degrees, as a way to help us drive up female applications.

THE RESULTS

The campaign comfortably exceeded Vodafone’s expectations.

  • We generated over 16,000 applications – beating our target by 60%.
  • We increased the number of female candidates by 23%.
  • We increased Instagram impressions by 89.3% (post-campaign vs. pre-campaign).
  • We saw 1.5 million Facebook impressions.
  • We gained 6.8 million impressions on organic posts on LinkedIn.
  • We created a hyper-targeted paid Facebook campaign which produced 390,510 impressions and 2,541 clicks – all from the target audience.

These numbers are backed up by audience sentiment. We improved Vodafone’s reputation as an employer significantly, jumping 27 places in the Times Top 100 rankings. As a result of its success, Vodafone asked us to develop the concept for their apprentice campaign audience and roll it out through a new assessment process design.

AT A GLANCE

  • COMPANY
    Vodafone
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Talent Advisory
  • About Vodafone
    Vodafone is a a British multinational telecommunications company. They provide connectivity and digital services for over 300 million people to work, learn, stay in touch with friends and family, access healthcare and more.
Contact Us

NCA: Reaching Investigators Through Targeted Recruitment Marketing

Posted on by jpatel
NCA: Reaching Investigators Through Targeted Recruitment Marketing

NCA: Reaching Investigators Through Targeted Recruitment Marketing

The National Crime Agency (NCA) turned to PeopleScout for a recruitment marketing campaign to help them stand out in their search for crime fighting investigators.

15,703 Applicants Across 143 Roles
225 Job Offers Extended
800+ + Candidates in a Talent Pool for Future Openings

The National Crime Agency is responsible for leading the UK’s fight to cut serious and organised crime. The agency’s focus is on the big threats—targeting and pursuing serious and organised crime and criminals who pose the greatest risk to the UK. The work is hugely complex, high-level and large scale. Officers operate at the forefront of law enforcement, building intelligence, pursuing the most serious and dangerous offenders and developing and delivering specialist capabilities for partner organisations.

It could have been an impressive proposition for the 1,500 investigators and other professionals the NCA wanted to recruit. But the NCA was competing with MI5, MI6, GCHQ and police forces for this talent. The intelligence organisations could be considered “sexier” brands. The police forces are better known and understood.

The NCA had been flying under the radar and needed to arrive on the scene with a bang. They turned to PeopleScout for a confident, attention-grabbing campaign to put their employer brand front-of-mind for their target audience.

Key Research

We conducted wide-ranging qualitative interviews and focus groups with key people across the agency in order to really get under the skin of the human experience of working there.

The key insights were:

  • When NCA investigators succeed the impact is huge and far-reaching. The criminal activity they stop covers everything from child sexual abuse to illegal firearms trafficking, cyber crime, kidnapping and extortion. The police, by contrast, have to deal with everything from shoplifting upwards.
  • A lot of the criminals the NCA targets feel they are untouchable. It’s very exciting to prove they are not.
  • The work is exciting, and we shouldn’t underplay that.
  • Investigators are often serving police officers or have strong links to policing. They rarely engage with usual recruitment channels, so we needed to think differently.
  • The agency saw location as key—they were keen to recruit candidates close to the locations of their regional offices.

The Core Message

To work in crowded streets and packed transit stations, our campaign needed to have immediate visual impact. The NCA hunts the big fish of the criminal world. So, we chose the shark as a perfect visual metaphor to illustrate the level of criminality the agency handles; it’s the ultimate hidden predator with a fin that creates an emotional reaction.

Our visuals show a huge shark fin bursting through the ground, towering over well-known landmarks and wreaking havoc in recognisable, urban UK locations in London and Manchester. Each visual represented the scale of damage caused by high-level crime, while storm clouds provided a suitable dark and menacing backdrop. These visuals were complemented with a simple message: No predator too big.

Media Strategy

We focused the recruitment campaign on outdoor media to reach the widest possible audience in our target areas. We identified outdoor locations that serve police officers on their daily commute—for example, Manchester Piccadilly station and the Metro line to Greater Manchester Police HQ—in addition to specialist online media.

The Results

We rolled out the campaign for digital, data, tech and specialist firearms audiences. The results were very impressive:

29,684 candidates to the NCA landing page.
15,703 applications across 143 roles.
2,228 candidates invited to interview.
225 job offers.
825 held in talent pool awaiting job offers.

This was a hugely successful campaign which drove brand awareness and a large number of applications. We exceeded NCA’s expectations, raised awareness of the NCA as an alternative employer for serving police officers and improved perceptions of the NCA as an employer with a unique offering.

AT A GLANCE

  • COMPANY
    National Crime Agency (NCA)
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Talent Advisory
  • LOCATIONS
    Regional offices in the UK’s urban centres
  • About NCA
    The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a national law enforcement agency in the UK focused on fighting organised crime, trafficking, cybercrime and fraud.
Contact Us

Amazon: How We Sourced Hundreds of Candidates Across Six Countries in Record Time

Posted on by cspivack

Across Europe, Amazon were experiencing large levels of growth across their customer base. This had a significant impact on their worldwide operations business i.e. the area of the organisation that is responsible for delivering packages and products to the customer’s door.

SOLUTION HIGHLIGHTS

  • EUROPEAN SOLUTION COVERING GERMANY, FRANCE, UK, SPAIN, CZECH REPUBLIC AND POLAND
  • MULTILINGUAL RECRUITMENT CONSULTANTS
  • BESPOKE NATIVE LANGUAGE ADVERTS
  • ALL COMMUNICATION IN THE CANDIDATES OWN LANGUAGE

SCOPE AND SCALE

Amazon’s heavy investment in new Fulfilment, Sortation and Delivery Centres across Europe, especially in the UK, Germany and France, resulted in a significant increase in headcount across management positions in these centres. These ranged from Graduates to experienced managers running the centres themselves. With Amazon, speed of delivery and their obsession with data feeds into everything they do and their approach to recruitment is no different. The need to deliver a nimble service is paramount, as they can execute new super centres at a flick of a switch, with their templated approach to building them creating hiring spikes that must be met in a small window of time.

SITUATION

Engaging a large volume of candidates across multiple countries speaking different languages and operating under different employment laws presented a unique challenge. Amazon have a large internal Talent Acquisition team who do speak multiple languages, however the sheer volume of roles meant they did not have the time to truly engage the market and candidates in the manner they wanted to.
Giving a great candidate experience is paramount for Amazon and realising they did not have the capacity to ensure this for every candidate, the urgency of the roles and complex nature of the situation, they engaged PeopleScout to assist and partner with them to meet these demands.

SOLUTION

PeopleScout have two established delivery centres in Bristol (UK) and Krakow (Poland). These centres have multilingual recruitment consultants who are experts in sourcing and engaging candidates on our client’s behalf. Having understood the immediate and urgent need from Amazon we quickly mobilised a team of German, French, Spanish, Polish and English speakers across the two centres. Amazon arranged briefings with us for the various roles and again expressed the urgency required due to the operational go live dates of these centres. Using our experience of recruiting across Europe, plus the understanding of the roles, Amazon’s culture and their process we gained through the briefing, we were able to quickly build strategies to engage talent pools.

RESULTS

Our multi-national set of stakeholders are clearly happy with our delivery from a quantity and quality level. Our activity from resulted in delivering the following;


• 576 candidates submitted
• 443 invited to interview
• 112 offered
• 8% reduction in Time to hire

Building an Employer Value Proposition That Speaks to Purpose, Passion & a Growth Mindset

Posted on by nfuqua

Many employers have begun to think about employer value propositions (EVPs) as a transaction, as if an EVP is a contract between an employee and an employer or a “deal” expressing what an employer expects from candidates and what candidates receive in return. But, although it’s an easy way to think about the concept, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

At PeopleScout, we define employer value proposition and employer brand as the following:

  • Employer brand: Your employer brand is the perception and lived experiences of what it’s like to work for your organisation.
  • Employer value proposition: Your employer value proposition, or EVP, captures the essence of your uniqueness as an employer and the give and get between you and your employees.

However, when you look at an EVP simply as a “deal,” you leave out the uniqueness – the human side of equation. That’s because candidates are unique individuals who assess prospective employers based on what’s important to them at that moment. For instance, for one candidate, that could mean finding a workplace that’s like a family to make them feel safe and secure. Alternatively, another candidate at another point in their life could thrive in a fast-paced environment where they’re always staring down a new challenge.

Furthermore, candidates now have unrivaled access to information online and are more mobile. Plus, they’re also accustomed to consumer brand interactions that are personalised, anticipate their needs, and demonstrate cultural values that benefit individuals, communities and the environment. At the same time, candidate expectations are changing in line with our expectations of consumer brands: We want a job to pay the bills, but also one that provides us with a fulfilling experience. As a result, an EVP must address the complex emotional needs of candidates in order to strike a chord – and, notably, the need to align meaning and purpose is becoming the most crucial differentiator. 

So, at PeopleScout, we’ve developed what we call the “Purpose, Passion and Mindset” model. This approach enables employers to draw in the candidates who will succeed and provides flexibility for individuals as their needs and desires change throughout the course of their employment. In this article, we’ll explain how this model works in relation to both candidates and employers, as well as how you can use it to find and hire the best talent for your organisation.  

Purpose 

Purpose is a candidate’s alignment with and willingness to contribute to the vision and values of an organisation. In fact, one study reported by McKinsey found that, out of 100 variables, employees reported that seeing purpose and value in their work was their most motivating factor – even more so than compensation.

Therefore, from an employer perspective, the idea of purpose should be simple to understand and to define: Why does your business exist? Why did it start? What is the vision for the future? Who are the people you need to deliver on that purpose? These are foundational for an employer, but they should also be effectively communicated in employer branding materials; on career sites; and through the employer’s website, social media and other channels.

Conversely, from a candidate or employee perspective, purpose is more fluid. If you ask a candidate where they derive purpose, you may hear answers about five-year goals or work/life balance. And, depending on the circumstances of a candidate’s life, they may be living to work or working to live. Perhaps they’re focused on career growth and looking for a challenge. Or, they may be balancing personal and family obligations with work. In any case, the way a candidate answers that question will provide insight into the type of employer and culture that the candidate is looking for. Therefore, as an employer, you need to understand how your purpose aligns with what candidates want and need – and you need to effectively communicate that to candidates. What are the values that drive your approach to business and your culture?

Sometimes, an employer’s view of purpose and a candidate’s view of purpose can overlap in clear and obvious ways. For example, a healthcare organisation dedicated to providing the best patient care would be an obvious fit for a nurse who derives purpose from providing the best care for their patients. However, it isn’t always so simple. Talent acquisition leaders need to understand the gaps that exist between employer purpose and candidate purpose. And, it can be far too easy to fall into the trap of only focusing on an employer’s purpose and not recognising the needs of candidates. Rather, employers should focus on how a job can help a candidate achieve their goals and find purpose in their lives.

Passion 

Passion is easy to understand on a human level: What gets you out of bed every day? Do you like solving problems? Connecting with people? Helping others achieve goals? Are you passionate about being creative? Telling stories? Creating a perfect product? Helping a team run seamlessly?

Passion is a candidate’s enthusiasm, enjoyment and commitment to mastering the requirements of a role. When an employee is passionate about a role, they are engaged. According to Gallup, 85% of workers are not engaged in their current roles. And, Dale Carnegie Training reports that organisations with engaged workers outperform their peers by 202%. Even so, most employers don’t have a method to effectively understand what a candidate is passionate about.

However, for an employer, passion comes down to the non-negotiables – the pillars of an organisation or the three to five things that help a business fulfill its purpose. When thinking about these pillars, many employers talk about “a sense of restless innovation” or “continuous personal development.” But, instead, talent leaders should think of passion as something that allows an employer to connect with candidates and employees around what the candidate or employee is personally passionate about – whether that’s coming to work for the social interaction with customers; creating a culture of belonging; or working with people who treat each other with respect. Or, at the other end of the spectrum, developing new skills and having an influence.

Bringing these two elements together and aligning the employer and candidate passion tells a candidate that what they can bring to the table will be valued here. So, don’t be tempted to talk about your EVP in terms that are filled with business jargon or seem to be on an epic scale. Instead, speak in human terms about the things that are important to you as a business and help candidates connect your value set with their own.

Mindset 

There are two types of mindset: fixed mindset and growth mindset:

  • Fixed mindset is the belief that one’s talents are innate gifts and not malleable.
  • Growth mindset is the belief that one’s talents can be developed through education and effort.

When we talk about mindset from a candidate’s perspective, it’s about a candidate’s belief about themselves and their basic qualities. These beliefs are rarely measured by employers. 

Meanwhile, as an employer, you can create an environment that fosters one or the other. An employer that fosters a growth mindset is one that invests in its employees, providing development opportunities and stretch assignments. The employer doesn’t just allow people to learn and grow and move within the organisation; rather, it’s a culture where employee growth and development is a defined goal. 

Granted, it can be tempting to think of mindset as a factor that comes to life in the execution of an EVP – as something that is put into place after an EVP has been defined and employer branding materials have been created. But, you can’t foster a growth mindset if it’s the last thing on a checklist.

Instead, employers should approach the concept of mindset as the core of their culture; it should be a thread woven through your EVP. By going back to the concept of EVP as a “deal,” employers that create an environment that fosters a growth mindset will attract candidates who want to learn, grow and contribute more to the organisation during their time there.

And, by focusing on purpose, passion and a growth mindset, employers can build an employer value proposition and employer brand for the future. Because when employers take their EVP beyond the transaction and “deal” to focus on the core of the unique human relationship between employee and employer, they’ll be able to attract the right workers to achieve the mission and purpose of the employer – all while providing a sense of purpose for employees. 

Three Potential Pitfalls of High-Volume Hiring and How to Avoid Them

Posted on by akessler

A fairly large handful of colleagues and clients are aware that my family and I are having some fairly extensive renovation work done on our home. Partly because I have moaned about it on a weekly basis since January. Partly because the endless background sounds of drills, hammers and circular saws— and on one particularly fraught occasion, a builders exposed backside descending from a loft ladder behind me—have all permeated some of my Zoom video calls. 

Now that the work is 90 percent finished, I look back on the project, and there are some aspects of it that I wish we had done differently. In doing such a lot of work at one time, we inevitably compromised on our standards in some small ways when faced with the size of the project ahead. 

Hopefully, you can see where the analogy is leading. When we, or our clients, are faced with a mountain to climb in terms of the complexity or scarcity of required talent in big numbers, it’s easy to deviate away from best practice. And this is never more common than now. 

As organisations switch from hiring freezes to acute growth mode, we are seeing a dramatic shift back towards a candidate-driven market. As the next 12 months play out, I personally believe this will prove to be one of the most dramatic shifts in several decades, and employers will be scratching their heads at just how they are going to close the hiring gap. 

During these impending and inevitably large-scale campaigns, there are three potential risks that stand out to me:

1. Introducing new people will impact the company culture.

Firstly, hiring lots of new people can present a risk to the company culture you’ve spent a lot of effort crafting. This may be more prevalent within smaller organisations or for those hiring at the leadership level, but no organisation is truly immune. With any hiring that significantly impacts a team, you must consider not only the skills and competencies match, but also how the existing cultural makeup of that group will be affected. One way to counter this is through thorough training to help align old and new employees on the same cultural path. This should be led by leadership and serve as a catalyst for people—old and new—to embrace your organisation’s mission and values. 

2. High-volume hiring can increase the risk of compromising on quality.

When it comes to high-volume hiring, hiring managers are more inclined to drop their standards on quality-of-hire. Not so much in terms of matching skills and experience, which tends to be a more objective. Plus, a deviation away from the requisite profile can be harder for the hiring manager to justify in their own mind. However, I’ve seen a “lowering of the bar” when it comes to the softer skills—the personality traits and competency matches which are naturally more subjective. One effective antidote here is robust candidate assessment practices. Backing up your gut feel with a bespoke or even “off the shelf” assessment package can help make your judgement more objective. 

3. Diversity amongst new hires suffers.

Thirdly, there is naturally a risk to diversity in your hiring. We’re all hopefully well-versed on the myriad benefits that fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce can bring. But, what is a valid, primary consideration when hiring one or two team members can begin to feel like an added challenge when filling a large number of openings starts to weigh down on a manager. Is there a temptation to let diversity standards slip if the challenge of filling critical gaps on your team already feels impossible? Is one allowed to be pragmatic in the circumstances and just hire, regardless of the diversity credentials? 

I would argue that you wouldn’t hire someone who has the wrong skills for your team, so you shouldn’t be any more inclined to lower standards on diversity. As we all know, the wrong hiring decision now, only costs us in the long-term when we have to re-hire down the line. Better to get it right first time, whether that be a diversity match or a skills match. 

Ultimately, any short-term concessions we might be tempted to make under pressure to hire at the time will be a source of regret. So, don’t lower your standards and suffer from these pitfalls. Take it from me—the decision not to fit underfloor heating in our family bathroom will likely haunt me for the next decade or two!

9 Strategies for Solving High-Volume Hiring Challenges

Get the Guide

Feedback Loop: The Key to a Strong Employer Brand (That You’re Probably Missing)

Posted on by nfuqua

A good candidate experience is based on a strong employer brand. But, many employers are missing basic steps that can have a drastic influence on how candidates perceive those organisations. In particular, they’re lacking processes to provide feedback to candidates and gather feedback from candidates.

In the recruitment process, feedback should go both ways. Employers should gather feedback from candidates about the experience, but they should also provide feedback – especially to candidates who make it deep into the selection process.

The Candidate Experience Gap

When employers around the globe rate the candidate experience they provide, they often give themselves good scores. However, when candidates are asked to rate their experience, they often have a very different opinion.

For example, in recent surveys by HRO Today and PeopleScout, 65% of companies in North America; 59% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA); and 84% in Asia-Pacific (APAC) rated their candidate experience as “good” or “excellent.” At the same time, only 5% of candidates in both regions rated their experience as excellent.

That is a massive gap and, at the end of the day, it’s the candidate’s opinion that matters. That’s because the effect of a bad experience can be severe. In fact, research by Deloitte shows that 80% of disappointed candidates will share their experience – and that has serious consequences for an organisation’s employer brand.

Additionally, candidates are consumers. In research we completed with one of our telecom clients, we found that disappointed candidates actually canceled the service of that employer – and the potential impact of this was was worth millions of dollars to the bottom line based on the number of applications received in a typical year.

Finally, a bad candidate experience can also mean that employers miss out on the best talent. If another company offers a strong candidate a better experience, that candidate will likely choose that employer. This gap also illustrates that, while employers need to provide a good candidate experience, they also need the right metrics to determine just how good their experience is. And, where should that data be coming from? Candidate feedback.

Gathering Candidate Feedback

In the same HRO Today and PeopleScout surveys, employers reported significant challenges in capturing candidate feedback. In EMEA, 39% of employers said that one of their top candidate experience challenges was that they had “no formal way to capture candidate feedback.” On the flip side, only 26% of respondents in EMEA always ask for candidate feedback, whereas 44% never ask for it.

In North America, the numbers are only slightly better. In that survey, 31% of respondents rated “no way to capture candidate feedback” as a top challenge. And, while 32% reported that they never asked for feedback, only 21% claimed that they always did.

Similarly, in APAC, 23% of respondents cited “no way to capture candidate feedback” as a top challenge. However, far more employers in the region said they already collected feedback. Specifically, 46% said that they always did, while just 10% reported that they never did.

no formal way to capture canddiate feedback grahp
frequency of measuring candidate experience graph

Why is this so important? At PeopleScout, we work with clients to develop and test authentic employer value propositions and employer branding materials based on research, and a critical component of that research is understanding how candidates perceive an organisation. A strong employer brand evolves over time as talent acquisition teams constantly test small adjustments; without candidate feedback, employers won’t know if those adjustments resonate with candidates.

We all know the process for providing feedback in the consumer space. After we get food delivered, we get a pop-up on our phone asking if we liked the food and how the driver did. Likewise, if we purchase a new pair of jeans or a television, we receive an email asking us to write a review of the product. Companies can then use that information to improve their products and services.

In the same way, the practice of asking for feedback should be integrated throughout the candidate experience. This can mean a screen at the end of an application asking the candidate to rate the application. Or, it can be a short text sent to a candidate asking them to rate their virtual interviewing experience after they complete an on-demand interview. It could also be a short questionnaire sent after a candidate completes a final interview – asking if the interviewer was on time and prepared, or if the candidate felt as though they were able to showcase their strengths.

Providing Feedback

As important as it is to gather candidate feedback, the feedback flow can’t just move in one direction. Employers should also provide feedback – especially to candidates who make it to the final round of interviewing. Unfortunately, the likelihood of that is greatly dependent on location.

The HRO Today and PeopleScout survey found that, in EMEA, more than half of respondents made it standard practice to provide feedback after a face-to-face interview, while only 13% of employers never provided it. However, the situation is vastly different in North America, where only 21% of employers reported that they always provided feedback, while 39% never did. In APAC, the numbers landed in the middle, with 38% of employers stating that they always provided feedback and 12% saying that they never did.

feedback to candidates after face to face interviews

This is a significant missed opportunity for employers. By the time a candidate reaches the final interview stage, not only have they invested a considerable amount of time and effort into an organisation, but the employer has also poured a considerable amount of time, effort and money into recruiting this candidate. As such, a candidate who has invested so much time and effort into an employer can only feel an even deeper sting from a rejection, as compared to a candidate who failed to advance earlier in the process. Plus, in Europe, one survey found that candidates ranked providing feedback and providing a reason for rejection as two of the top three most important components in delivering a positive candidate experience. The only other factor in the top three was providing a short, easy application.

Additionally, by the time a candidate reaches the final interview, the recruiter and hiring manager have clearly seen potential for that candidate to be a great employee. And, while a candidate who finishes in second or third place in the recruitment process may not be the best fit for that role at that time, the candidate still has the potential to be a great employee at some point in the future. This makes it even more critical to provide meaningful feedback.

More precisely, providing feedback at this point in the process accomplishes two major things for candidates: First, it provides candidates with something in exchange for the time and effort they’ve put into your organisation. While the candidate may or may not have received a job offer, feedback that they can use as they move forward in their career is the next-best outcome; often, candidates may receive a generic email or – even worse – no communication at all. Additionally, the feedback provides candidates with actionable steps that they can take going forward if they want to apply to your company again in the future. If the candidate was a close match, the feedback you provide after this interview could help them become the ideal candidate the next time they apply.

Feedback Loop

These surveys reveal critical information about the importance of feedback – both gathering it from candidates and providing it to candidates – at a critical time for employers. With high unemployment across the globe due to COVID-19 and the upcoming “Great Rehire” as world economies recover, employers are already seeing large application volumes and will soon see increased competition for talent.

That combination makes a good candidate experience especially important: When a large number of candidates have a bad experience, it can do significant damage to an organisation’s employer brand. Furthermore, the best candidates won’t stay on the job market for long. A poor experience can mean losing out on the best talent at a time when the right people can aid in a strong recovery. Therefore, now is the best time for employers to develop their processes for giving and receiving feedback.