Category: Talent Acquisition Strategy

Delivering Diverse Early Careers Applicants

Posted on by akessler
Delivering Diverse Early Careers Applicants in Financial Services

Delivering Diverse Early Careers Applicants in Financial Services

A leading UK financial services group partnered with PeopleScout to improve the candidate experience in their early careers programme, resulting in improved candidate diversity.

36% % Increased in Total Applications
39% % of Candidates Identified as Female
47% % Identified as Coming from an Underrepresented Group

SITUATION

Twelve years ago, we began supporting the client with candidate management within their Emerging Talent programme to attract more graduates and interns into the their workforce. As recognised leaders of employer brand and candidate experience, our client delivery team presented some recommendations to the organisation on how they could improve their hiring journey based on ad-hoc feedback received while interacting with early careers candidates.

SOLUTION

Crafting a Better Candidate Experience

We started by creating a candidate experience audit to measure the informal comments we’d heard. Through a series of internal and external focus groups with graduates and interns who had recently been through the recruitment process, we identified gaps in the candidate communication schedule. Candidates revealed that they were often unsure of where they were in the process, what was coming next and how they should prepare.

With our client first, not process first philosophy, we created a customised plan to address these concerns. We produced a candidate journey guide to help the candidates understand each step of the process. To go along with this, we developed a content plan to provide candidates with the right information at the right time, keeping them informed about next steps.

Supporting the DE&I Directive

We also took the opportunity to boost candidate engagement by personalising email communications and adding visual content which promoted organisational programmes that would appeal to this young audience, like their well-being initiatives. In addition, to support the client’s DE&I directive, we chose to highlight stories about women and BAME employees—especially those in finance and technology focused roles—to decrease the likelihood of these candidates dropping out of the funnel. 

Implementing Candidate NPS

Since we’re always focused on delivery, we implemented a new candidate Net Promoter Score® (NPS) survey to measure the candidate experience and uncover more opportunities for improvements going forward. All candidates, whether hired or not, are asked how likely they are to recommend the bank as a potential employer based on their recent experience with the early careers recruitment programme.

RESULTS

Since taking on the management of the Emerging Talent programme for this client, we generated a 36% increase in total applications from the previous year, with 39% from female candidates and 47% from candidates from a underrepresented background.

The new candidate survey provided a candidate NPS of 57, which is considered excellent.

“The PeopleScout team are proactive in talking to us about new ideas and at the same time are brilliant at being reactive to business hiring needs. PeopleScout are a true trusted partner and have been fundamental to our hiring delivery and service over the last 20+ years.”

– Senior Resourcing Manager

AT A GLANCE

  • COMPANY
    Leading UK Financial Services Group
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Talent Advisory
  • ANNUAL HIRES
    1,500
  • ABOUT THE CLIENT
    A leading UK financial services group has been partnering with PeopleScout for over 20 years, making it one of our longest-standing client relationships. What started as a Talent Advisory engagement has now expanded to include end-to-end volume Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) services, with over 1,500 hires annually across 16 sites, 50 shift patterns and multiple banking brands.
Contact Sales

Discussing the Future of RPO: Interview with Jon Porter

Posted on by rharris

Personnel Today spoke to our UK Managing Director Jon Porter, about the services we provide worldwide and the future of RPO.

Jon, what is the future for talent technology and how will it affect organisations?

Our research shows that talent technology will continue to evolve and, mainly through automation, improve efficiencies in the near future. At PeopleScout, we use technology to enhance a seamless employer brand-based recruitment process, benefitting both the employer and candidates.

We focus on four specific areas; artificial intelligence, video solutions, automation tools and predictive analytics. We believe that employers who want to achieve a competitive advantage in the talent market need to be engaged with one or more of these in 2019 and beyond.

How will AI and automation create efficiencies in RPO?

We’ve been working hard with improved predictive assessment tools to enhance selection outcomes – more great hires – whilst upgrading the candidate experience through a timelier process.

Key technologies that we are developing include robotic process automation (RPA). Bots will be used to manage a range of tasks and interactions with candidates, allowing recruiters and HR managers more time to spend on other critical tasks. RPA and chatbots for example, will enable organisations to offer a highly responsive and engaging candidate experience by eliminating the downtime between a candidate submitting an application and receiving a response from the recruiter.

RPA and chatbots will help organisations to reliably engage and communicate with candidates. This technology will trigger the collection of real-time data throughout candidate communications. For example, recruiters will be able to program bots to generate emails, to solicit feedback or short surveys, as candidates progress through the process.

How can new-to-market companies use RPO to meet their objectives?

By definition, an RPO provider has significant hiring experience and capability and can support recruitment at all levels using proven tools and techniques that younger companies cannot afford as they invest in the growth and development of the business.

Over a longer period of time, we work with these companies to optimise their hiring process and decrease attrition. It’s important to remember that leveraging expertise in these markets and sectors builds a strong recruitment program when labour markets are tight.

We would encourage organisations to work with RPO suppliers who use cutting edge technology to enable them to build a successful talent ecosystem within their business. Talent professionals can then focus on retention, up-skilling and other HR related needs that would otherwise be side-lined by the recruitment process.

What makes PeopleScout different to other RPO providers?

PeopleScout UK offers a Total Talent Solution combining our RPO expertise with our strong employer brand building and creative heritage. We know from our years of experience just how important the entire candidate journey is and how to attract the hardest to find talent.

We have talent consulting capabilities which include a team of occupational psychologists that not only look at the drivers of top performance but also design selection tools to identify these candidates. Alongside this we have the proven ability to develop pipelines which meet our client’s needs whilst having a deep understanding that each of their objectives are different and complex.

PeopleScout provides 16% of the world’s RPO hires and the experience and knowledge that this brings is available in the UK, right here, right now.

The AA: Experiential Events – Ready for ANYTHING?

Posted on by rharris

Thousands more careers site visitors. Hundreds more applications. And how did we do it?
With 64 fake spiders, 15 litres of custard and 1 tube of wasabi paste – amongst other things.
This is the story of how we created a fun, conversation-sparking event that captured the essence of the AA employer brand, raised awareness of their contact centre roles, and helped them make the successful hires they needed.

SOLUTION HIGHLIGHTS

  • Raising awareness of roles
  • Reflecting a fun and friendly culture
  • Boosting social media activity
  • Increasing careers site visitors
  • Record-breaking application figures

SCOPE & SCALE

The AA has two big contact centres in Oldbury (near Birmingham) and Newcastle. With ambitious hiring targets to meet they’d used a range of attraction methods, from job boards and paid social media, to taxi wraps and cinema. They weren’t getting the results they needed, so it was time for something bigger and bolder.

SITUATION

We discussed and planned the objectives carefully with the Talent Attraction team and local stakeholders. We wanted to raise general awareness of the organisation in local audiences and encourage them to spread the word, so we needed a way of reaching a large number of individuals easily, effectively and creatively. The AA also wanted us to showcase their fun and friendly culture, and so our event was a great fit with this.

A BRAND MESSAGING-ALIGNED EVENT

The Ready for ANYTHING? strapline is the central message in all of the AA’s recruitment communications activity, so it made sense to take this message and see just who was Ready for ANYTHING? amongst local audiences.

FUN TO TAKE PART IN. FUN TO WATCH.

With a big prize on offer to incentivise contestants, the event was built around getting volunteers on stage to take part in a mystery challenge. We built ‘The Random Challenge Generator’ – a big screen flashing through a series of silly, messy tasks. The contestant pushes a big yellow button to stop the screen, which brings up their challenge. We also engaged a celebrity host, to help draw the crowds, engage with the audience, and keep the fun moving. We ran two of these shopping centre-based outdoor events – one in Newcastle, the other in Birmingham.

PROMOTING THE OPPORTUNITIES

Maximising social media activity before, during and after the event, we also live-streamed the challenges. Filming on the day enabled us to create short videos for follow-up content to promote the AA’s contact centre roles. On the event days, we gave out flyers encouraging people to get involved and driving to the AA careers site, while the digital screen and on-stage announcements also highlighted the AA’s local career opportunities.

“Both events were a massive success and surpassed our expectations in terms of the level of engagement, prior, during & post the events.” Craig Morgans Head of Talent Acquisition, HR Shared Services, Learning & Development

RESULTS

UNPRECEDENTED CAREERS SITE VISIT FIGURES

Social media and event build-up activity drove c60,000 careers visits across the weeks of the events.
Typically, 1,500 – 2,000 people visit the AA careers site each day. For the Newcastle event, this increased to 5,000 in just one day, with a record high of 7,100 in one day for Birmingham.

RECORD NUMBERS OF APPLICATIONS

While the AA saw a huge increase in applications for their contact centre in Oldbury, they had record-breaking figures for Newcastle. With a month-on-month increase from 576 to 1026, this was 436 more than their previous application record of 590!

SUCCESSFUL HIRES MADE

So far, both the Newcastle and Oldbury contact centres have made 12 hires each as a result of the events.

Surrey Police: Creating a Compelling Call to Action for Detective Constables Through Video

Posted on by rharris

Surrey Police needed to recruit experienced Detective Constables from other forces. They wanted our help to challenge perceptions that only detectives serving in big cities get the chance to work on big cases and solve serious crime. The truth is that Surrey offers that opportunity, plus the training, career progression and work-life balance they’re looking for. This film showed our target audience that, here, they could be the detective they always wanted to be.

SOLUTION HIGHLIGHTS

  • RESEARCH-BASED PROPOSITION
  • A COMPELLING FILM
  • CHALLENGING PERCEPTIONS
  • SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN HIRES
  • COST EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGN

SCOPE AND SCALE

Surrey Police asked us to create a video that would break common perceptions, and help to recruit experienced Detective Constables from other forces. We needed to show this target audience they could have the career and development they wanted while reassuring the public that they’re well protected and that Surrey is a safe place to live.

SITUATION

Surrey Police are often in the shadow of The Met. There’s a perception that only detectives serving in the big city get the chance to work on big cases and solve serious crime, and that Surrey is quiet and boring. But the truth of being a Surrey Police detective is quite different.
It’s complex. It’s challenging. And it’s rewarding.

SOLUTION

A RESEARCH-BASED PROPOSITION
Conducting research to understand why detectives worked for Surrey Police, we developed the underlying proposition, ‘Be the detective you have always wanted to be’.

COMPELLING VISUAL APPROACH
We wanted something that would stand out and resonate with our target audience, inspiring them to uncover the truth in Surrey. So, adopting a compelling TV documentary trailer
style, we worked with the filmmaker behind the groundbreaking BBC2 series ‘The Detectives’ to shoot it – making the result truly cinematic.

AUTHENTIC CONTENT
It was crucial to involve real detectives in the video, and at every stage, we worked with the detective team to ensure our film was as close to reality as possible. By conducting audio
interviews with the detectives we were able to match powerful, authentic, statements with the visuals.

RESULTS

SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN HIRES
Surrey Police hadn’t expected the campaign to be so successful – they thought a handful of people might apply. But, with 24 hires in 9 months (up from 5 hires in 13 months), the results
have really impressed them.

COST EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGN
With the typical cost to train a new starter as much as £100,000, this campaign built around attracting experienced detectives proved dramatically cost effective at £1,250 per hire.

Scottish Police: Securing the Future of Policing in Scotland

Posted on by rharris

The Scottish Police Authority needed to build a strong leadership team for Police Scotland to deliver a significant transformational agenda. They were looking for candidates who not only had the operational policing experience, but also the leadership capability to drive a challenging journey of accelerated growth, intense scrutiny and accountability. Our robust, tailored assessment process enabled them to find exactly the right people for the job.

SOLUTION HIGHLIGHTS

  • ROBUST, TWO-STAGE PROCESS
  • INDIVIDUAL ASSESSMENT CENTRES
  • BESPOKE, DETAILED CANDIDATE REPORTS
  • SUCCESSFULLY APPOINTED LEADERS

SCOPE AND SCALE

The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) were faced with the challenge of hiring an elite group of leaders into the roles of Assistant Chief Constable (ACC) and Deputy Chief Constable (DCC) for Police Scotland to deliver the 2026 strategy.

SITUATION

Police Scotland had undergone a wave of change, instability and uncertainty, and they needed a strong leadership team to work collectively and deliver a significant transformational agenda. The SPA needed to identify the ‘right’ individuals. Not only did they need to have technical/operational Policing experience, but also the leadership experience and capability to lead on this challenging journey of accelerated growth, intense scrutiny and accountability. And they needed a strategic assessment partner to help them do it.

SOLUTION

A ROBUST PROCESS
The SPA engaged our Assessment expertise to design and deliver a robust process to recruit a number of DCCs and ACCs into Police Scotland. We measured each candidate’s strengths
and potential areas of development against indicators from the College of Policing Competency and Values Framework.

A TWO-STAGED APPROACH
In Stage One, candidates completed an online critical reasoning test and a series of personality assessments, followed by an in-depth validation interview with a highly experienced Business Psychologist. At Stage Two, all candidates were invited to attend an individual assessment centre. They were tested by a team of independent, highly experienced assessors across four exercises.

BESPOKE REPORTS
Our assessors collated all the candidate performance information and developed detailed reports on each individual. These also included a series of specific questions that the panel
could use in the final stage interview to dig deeper and give candidates a final opportunity to demonstrate their experience or capability in a specific competency.

RESULTS

SUCCESSFULLY APPOINTED LEADERS
This robust approach enabled the SPA to successfully appoint three individuals into the ACC roles and two individuals into the DCC roles, as key players in the Police Scotland leadership team.

CONFIDENCE IN THE FUTURE
Our tailored, best practice-based assessment process gave the SPA confidence that the selected individuals would make a significant contribution to the development of policing in Scotland in the years ahead.

Virgin Media: High-Volume RPO and Professional Recruiting for Improve Diversity

Posted on by rharris

CHALLENGE

After publishing their gender parity report, Virgin Media set us the challenge of recruiting more female technicians into a role which has a pronounced gender bias, with 99% male incumbents.

At the end of 2017, Virgin Media changed their approach for vetting new starters. Sales starters would now have to complete full vetting before starting. vetting was completed after the start date.

In 2017 we successfully hired 275 Field Sales Advisors, in 2018 we were challenged to increase the number to 450, with a smaller attraction budget than we were granted in 2017. This was a sizeable challenge as field sales are one of the tougher areas to recruit for. Typically it uses up a higher percentage of our media budget.

APPROACH

Setting up a ‘Women in Field’ working group and regular project calls with the client were key. We explored every avenue to tap into a market which previously wasn’t engaged with this opportunity. We wanted to be bold and disruptive in our approach, particularly around how the role was advertised and positioned. We listened to existing female employees and involved them in the recruitment process, making sure they were present for female candidates attending assessments.

Fully vetting new joiners before they start on induction makes for a fantastic candidate and hiring manager experience. We used our existing partnership with ‘Security Watchdog’ to identify how to dramatically reduce the three-week clearance period. With better signposting and a clearer process, we reduced the clearance period to just 11 days.

We developed new channels to engage people who previously would not have applied. We streamlined the application process and introduced the option to register interest in hotspot areas. We used our internal SNAP team to post across social channels such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Our Field Sales recruiters were then able to engage those interested and convert them into applicants.

‘We’ve made more than 30% more hires in 2018, with a 20% smaller attraction budget.’

RESULTS

‘Women in Field’ was launched in four key locations and in just two months, we received triple the number of applications from women that we received in the whole of 2017. And by the end of the pilot, we had more than doubled the number of female employees.

The new vetting process has helped to reduce early attrition by up to 20% across sales channels.

In field sales we’ve made more than 30% more hires in 2018, with a 20% smaller attraction budget compared to 2017.

Overall, we’ve dramatically improved our application to hire ratios across all of the UK. And in 2018 (year to date) hiring managers have saved 376 hours in interview time.

The campaign was shortlisted in the ‘Diversity’ category of the 2018 Recruitment Marketing Awards. We’re now seeing more regions across the UK using a similar approach in order to increase their gender diversity.

Safran Nacelles: Reducing Time-to-Hire by a Third for Critical Engineering Talent

Posted on by rharris

CHALLENGE

With increased litigation and fear around aeroplane safety, stress engineers have become an essential part of the design and test processes. Consequently, Nacelle’s were keen to attract experienced stress engineers to join in permanent roles. This had proved difficult to say the least, as experienced stress engineers are in very short supply. The aerospace market is highly competitive and the best candidates opt for contracts rather than permanent positions. All of which demands substantial time and focus for resourcers. So after 18 unsatisfying months trying to fill roles with their previous supplier, Nacelles approached PeopleScout for help.

APPROACH

Four things defined our approach: rigour, innovation, relationships and brand unity.

To assess in detail, the skills, experience and behaviors that typified an excellent candidate for Nacelles, we held a detailed briefing with the hiring manager and other stakeholders. Next, we devised an innovative sourcing strategy, including deep web searching, competitor mapping and tapping into online forums, reaching out to candidates from Romania, India and the UK.

A unified employer brand simplifies life. But more than that, it’s a reason for candidates to gravitate to us over traditional agencies. So we worked in the Nacelles headquarters to build great relationships with the hiring managers. And the unity behind the scenes extended to candidate communications. Every contact by the PeopleScout team was made under the Nacelles name, whether sourcing candidates, conducting interviews or leading tours of the factory. Nacelles and PeopleScout were as one.

‘The agreed time per hire is 45 days, while our average is just 30 days. That’s a reduction of 33%.’

RESULTS

Because we manage every part of the process we’ve substantially streamlined Nacelle’s resourcing, yielding fantastic results. Within a month, we filled the first 3 roles. Then we placed nine more stress engineers in permanent roles at Nacelle: an unheard-of achievement in the aerospace industry. And the good results continue to build as we help with the client’s ongoing recruitment needs. The agreed time per hire is 45 days, while our average is just 30 days. That’s a reduction of 33%. And we’ve managed to halve the cost per hire.

The AA: Rigorous Market Mapping for Contact Centre Roles

Posted on by rharris

CHALLENGE

The AA had identified an opportunity to significantly expand the capacity of a Midlands contact centre. At the same time, they wanted to shift focus away from customer service to more sales-oriented roles. But first, they wanted to understand if the location and available talent could support the proposal. If the AA was going to commit to the expansion they needed to be confident that the investment would pay off. So they teamed up with PeopleScout to find answers.

APPROACH

The view at PeopleScout was that the assessment could only be undertaken with robust and transparent evidence of the local employment market.

Using a mixture of online research and big data tools, we sourced detailed, comprehensive data, covering market capability, salary, talent distribution and competitor analysis including site size and skill capability.

‘The client was able to demonstrate effective manpower planning – winning the support of key stakeholders.’

RESULTS

Armed with the in-depth insight into local labour and hiring potential that we provided, the client was able to demonstrate effective manpower planning – winning the support of key stakeholders.

The AA: Bot-Powered, Brand Boosting Innovation

Posted on by rharris

CHALLENGE

Mention “working for the AA” and many people can’t see beyond roadside roles– a roadblock when it comes to recruitment. Candidates assumed they knew what The AA had to offer, and weren’t engaged with the wider culture and benefits. As a result, the AA was failing to engage and convert website visitors. It was clear that the careers site needed a new brand voice and experience – to shake visitors out of old assumptions, and to attract – and ultimately hire – more candidates.

APPROACH

Last year we launched a reimagined digital solution that could do justice to the new brand proposition, ‘Ready for ANYTHING?’. It’s a totally new way to access the world of AA, replacing the need for conventional website navigation – The AA chatbot. To achieve it, we sought out bleeding-edge software, Microsoft’s Bot Framework, which was still in beta, and constructed new bot pathways even as the core code changed under our feet.

The result, AAbot, is your guide to the world of The AA. By asking him questions, candidates can access all website information from within the chatbot – utterly tailored to their interests, and, if desired, full job listings.

With expressive animations for any occasion, and banter full of cheek and surprise, AAbot is packed with personality. He takes the employer tone of voice in a playful, irreverent, funny and bold new direction. And he’s virtual proof that functional UX copy can entertain and build a brand, as well as inform.

  • See AAbot in action here

“This brilliant innovation has transformed how we engage candidates.” Craig Morgans, Head of Talent Acquisition, The AA

“I highly recommend AAbot. He’s the best robot in town. And the most modest.” AAbot

RESULTS

With no other significant changes to recruitment activity, total job applications – via the website – have increased by 146% since last year (full year 2017 – 2018 YTD).

Direct hires are also at a record high: having increased by 38%, to 2,800 in total (full year 2016 – YTD 2018), amounting to 96% of all hires (full year 2016 – YTD 2018).

This is against a backdrop of steadily increasing site traffic since launch: with 10% YOY growth (full year 2016 vs full year 2017), and consistent progress in 2018 (visitors YTD 2018 = 75% of the 2017 total).

Since launching Bot-led social media pages and enhanced chatbot functions in 2018, we’ve also accelerated the impact. Notable increases include average page views (+15%), and returning visitors (+14%). Applications in 2018 have already totalled 85% of the total for 2017 (36,000 full year 2017 vs. 30,500 YTD 2018).

In a nutshell, this is a story of consistent, significant business impact. Let’s just hope it doesn’t go to AAbot’s head.

HM Treasury: Building Inclusion into the Candidate Experience

Posted on by rharris

CHALLENGE

Every year Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) recruits up to 150 graduates for their Graduate Policy Adviser programme, offering the chance to shape policies that affect a nation. A popular proposition, they sought our help to identify the very best candidates from almost 2,500 applications. While well-subscribed, delivering a satisfactory candidate journey had historically proved to be a challenge, and they were keen for our help to improve the application experience. A key objective was to attract a more diverse range of candidates, reflecting the diverse make-up of the UK population they would be supporting. Specifically, they wanted to engage a wider socio-economic, gender, ethnic and disability community. Understanding – and addressing – any adverse impacts on these groups was essential.

APPROACH

Our attraction strategy was to shift the perception that HMT roles are primarily ‘financial’ when, in fact, communication and analytical skills are the most important abilities. This allowed us to broaden the sweep of our attraction strategy in general and also, to target specific talent groups.

We reviewed all of HMT’s assessment materials to establish their fairness, and to ensure they represented best practice. We also monitored every recruitment stage for any adverse impact. Implementing a batched recruitment process, we established a structured schedule of keep warm emails, regularly updating candidates on their applications. And we also applied our standard reasonable adjustment process, making sure that every candidate with a disability-related request was personally contacted to assess requirements.

A recruitment team was also made available to support candidates throughout their entire recruitment journey.

‘The attraction campaign generated 49% of all applications and increased applications from key target audiences – particularly women, BME and state schools.’

RESULTS

Our analysis of the recruitment process also demonstrated that it was free of adverse impacts. For example, a disabled candidate was unable to complete the online test, so we worked with the online provider to replicate testing in Microsoft Excel, and completed the test with the candidate at our offices in London. The candidate was successful and progressed to the next stage.

All hiring targets were achieved. The attraction campaign generated 49% of all applications and increased applications from key target audiences – particularly women, BME and state schools. And HMT was thrilled with the results – so much so that they have asked us to take on further campaigns.