Industry: Government & Public Sector

City of London: Supporting Specialist Recruitment for Niche Roles

Posted on by akessler
City of London: Supporting Specialist Recruitment for Niche Roles

City of London: Supporting Specialist Recruitment for Niche Roles

For several years, City of London Corporation have partnered with PeopleScout to support on a number of recruitment campaigns for hard-to-fill roles.

Situation

PeopleScout have worked as the City of London Corporation’s recruitment marketing media partner for over five years, and during that time, our sourcing team have supported a number of specialist recruitment projects. City of London have used our specialist solutions to find candidates for various unique and hard-to-fill positions, including:

  • Assistant Director – Animal Health and Welfare Service
  • Port Health Assistant Director
  • Port Health Manager
  • Security Manager – Smithfield Market
  • Head of Commissioning
  • Assistant Director – Cemetery and Crematorium
  • Technical Manager
  • Head of Operations – Central Criminal Court

Solution

Our solutions are sourcing-led, acting as an extension of the client’s own team and focusing on amplifying the client’s brand to make passive candidates aware of great opportunities. Our bespoke solution was based on the client’s needs and budget.

Over the years, our recruitment projects have included:

Signposting

Advertising and marketing on LinkedIn with recruiter-led profile matching and messaging to raise awareness and encourage quality applications by signposting talent to your vacancy, advertised on your website. Applications are tracked and all engagement is recorded for an end-of-campaign report.

Search and Selection

Full end-to-end recruitment support including briefing call, sourcing, screening, candidate management, shortlist submission, interview scheduling and offer management. Vacancies are posted on the client site, alongside other media and candidate’s are directed into our ATS for our recruiters to manage. As part of this solution, the client receives regular work-in-progress reports as well as an end-of-campaign report.

Results

Our partnership over the years with City of London has resulted in:

  • Consultative relationships built with hiring managers
  • High response rates from candidate outreach
  • Shortlists of a minimum of five qualified candidates presented for each campaign
  • Market insights compiled and presented back

At a Glance

  • COMPANY
    City of London
  • INDUSTRY
    Government & Public Sector
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Recruitment Process Outsourcing
  • ABOUT CITY OF LONDON
    The City of London, also known as the Square Mile, is the financial district of London. As the governing body of the Square Mile, City of London provides a range of services, from policing to green space maintenance. They offer varied career opportunities to a diverse range of Londoners.
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The London Borough of Hounslow: A Collaborative Partnership Increased Their Offer Acceptance Rate to 87%

Posted on by akessler
The London Borough of Hounslow: A Collaborative Partnership Increased Their Offer Acceptance Rate to 87%

The London Borough of Hounslow: A Collaborative Partnership Increased Their Offer Acceptance Rate to 87%

The London Borough of Hounslow needed to source candidates that shared their values and vision as part of delivering their ambitions for a new Corporate Plan. They partnered with PeopleScout for RPO to help build new high performing teams from diverse backgrounds.

87 % Acceptance Rate
65 % of New Hires Identify as a Person of Colour
39 % Boost to Social Media Engagement

Situation

In July 2022, the Cabinet of the United Kingdom approved a new Corporate Plan and the first version of a new Delivery Plan for the London Borough of Hounslow. The Delivery Plan sets out the first set of programs to enable the Council to deliver its ambitions over the term of the new administration. This was large-scale, initially incorporating 19 programs of work, with more to come in future iterations of the plan. To make this happen, they required a high-quality workforce to be execute on their ambitions.

Hounslow were looking for a recruitment partner to develop and deliver an innovative and high-quality recruitment campaign that would enable them to recruit across a range of roles in the corporate Project Management Office (PMO) and the Service Design and Transformation team, as well as other roles that were vital to program delivery. It was critical that candidates aligned with the Council’s values and that the campaign reached those with diverse backgrounds and experiences from local communities and beyond.

Hounslow didn’t have the internal capacity or market knowledge to do this on their own. However, previous outsourcing interactions had been with agencies with a very transactional relationship. Hounslow felt this didn’t meet their needs, so they partnered with PeopleScout for a consultative approach, utilizing RPO for the very first time.

Solution

In winning a 12-month award with the Council, our initial focus was on six key job profiles, hiring between 35 and 40 individuals. It was imperative for Hounslow to build a team with the right skills, experience and ambition to deliver the Corporate Plan.

Due to our initial success, we will continue to support Hounslow’s recruitment needs for another 12 months under the award.

A Consultative Approach

Our dedicated and skilled senior recruiters acted as brand ambassadors and became an extension of the in-house team, optimizing and managing Hounslow’s recruitment process from attraction to offer. We managed each position in its entirety, from briefing through to verbal offer acceptance, including creating a sourcing and attraction plan for each role profile.

Keeping Candidates Engaged

Historically, the public sector has struggled to engage candidates. We utilized many touchpoints to improve engagement and retention rates throughout the candidate journey. Our dedicated recruitment marketer focused on creating engaging copy and provided recommendations on the best supplementary media options for the target audiences. This included a sourcing-led service, in which the focus was on brand awareness, targeting candidates within niche roles. This sourcing approach gained an engagement rate of 39% on LinkedIn.

Our recruitment marketing strategy included a social media attraction campaign to further increase Hounslow’s brand in the market. Social content included showcasing projects and testimonials from current employees. We also built a a landing page, for which we worked with Hounslow to understand and showcase their employer value proposition to boost talent attraction. This helped to increase brand awareness, bringing in higher quality candidates.

On top of these attraction efforts, we directly sourced passive candidates to raise Hounslow’s profile in the market and increase diversity within the talent pools.

“The London Borough of Hounslow has shown through their recruitment process that they are keen to remove unconscious bias and attract a diverse pool of candidates.”

Candidate feedback

Utilizing Technology

As part of the project, we leveraged our tech stack to enable better data capturing, to make better data drive decisions, to track and monitor their DE&I agenda and to provide a better overall candidate journey.

Throughout the project, we gathered market feedback and tracked hiring metrics, presenting data through bespoke dashboards to guide hiring decisions and educate. Hounslow received weekly reports from us, including regular analysis of market insights, salary benchmarks and candidate feedback.

Results

Our consultative approach to hiring and tailored strategies for each role resulted in:

  • An 87% offer acceptance rate.
  • An enhanced candidate and hiring manager experience, through a consultative approach.
  • Increased diversity within roles filled, with over 65% of candidates hired identifying as non-white.
  • 2:1 to interview-to-hire, exceeding the average of 3:1.
  • Increased social media engagement to 39%.

We have become an embedded and trusted partner to Hounslow, due to our effective articulation of their brand story, ambitions, and values to their target audience.

“PeopleScout ensured that communication and planning were at the forefront. What really set them aside is the time they spent listening and understanding what the roles were and what type of people we wanted.

The end result is that we trusted PeopleScout’s shortlisted candidates. The Hounslow Service Design team is now full of talented people with the mindset and values we share as an organization.”

Mike Burch, Head of Service Design and Transformation

“The collaborative approach was key. PeopleScout took the time to fully understand our requirements and source quality candidates. We now have fantastic teams in place delivering great value to the organization and residents of Hounslow.”

Kieron McQuade, Head of PMO

At a Glance

  • COMPANY
    The London Borough of Hounslow
  • INDUSTRY
    Government & Public Sector
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Talent Advisory
  • ABOUT BOROUGH OF HOUNSLOW
    The London Borough of Hounslow is an area of West London, England, governed by Hounslow London Borough Council.
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University of Central Lancashire: Sourcing in Competitive UK Education Sector

Posted on by akessler
University of Central Lancashire: Sourcing in Competitive UK Education Sector

University of Central Lancashire: Sourcing in Competitive UK Education Sector

As a leader in higher education in the UK, The University of Central Lancashire attracts students from around the world. However, filling a vacancy for Schools & Colleges Liaison Manager proved to be more challenging in a competitive market. PeopleScout delivered top candidates through a high-touch executive search engagement in just four weeks.

5 Secured five strong candidates for interview shortlist
90 Reached an audience of over 90 job seekers
4 Four week turnaround from briefing call to shortlist of candidates for interview

Situation 

The vacancy for the Schools & Colleges Liaison Manager position at The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) had been posted to the university’s website and a leading UK job board for over 30 days with few applications received. The position was located in the West Midlands, home to many higher education institutions, creating a competitive environment for recruitment. 

Following a positive experience with PeopleScout as a job seeker, Adam Mitchell, Head of UK Recruitment at UCLan, engaged PeopleScout from the client side this time to address the challenges faced by the university for this role.  

Solution 

Knowing that today’s talent market consists mostly of passive candidates, our strategy targeted individuals working within the higher education sector and those employed by private training providers. Leveraging LinkedIn and the CV Library website, we looked for professionals with experience indicating a strong understanding of the education of young people aged 16 to 18 in UK, the student recruitment cycle and the University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) process.  

We also scoured the websites of other universities and colleges across the West Midlands region to identify potential candidates as well as individuals in learning and development roles at private training companies and other companies in the private sector.  

Throughout the project we continued searching to maximize our engagement within the target talent pool. We reviewed hundreds of profiles and approached 92 people, producing a shortlist of potential matches. Finally, we encouraged all candidates to provide feedback and recommendations from their networks to help us to grow the talent pool. 

Results 

Out of the 92 candidates we reached out to, a total of 49 people engaged with us, creating an engagement rate of 53%. In just four weeks, we were able to present a shortlist a of five strong candidates for consideration, who were sourced via headhunting and networking within our targeted talent pool. 

  • Reached out to 92 candidates 
  • 49 candidates engaged with us creating an engagement rate of 53% 
  • We presented a shortlist of five candidates who were invited to interview 
  • Two candidates passed to a second interview 
  • One offer was made 

“PeopleScout immediately understood the challenge we had in recruiting for a specialist position out of region and in an area awash with vacancies in similar organizations. The approach of understanding the role and the type of experience required, and then refining this through presenting a selection of candidate profiles, was excellent. I was reassured that the PeopleScout recruiter knew precisely what we were looking for. I was kept fully updated throughout, with regular conversations and emails. The shortlist provided was excellent, with all candidates suitable for interview. I was delighted to appoint a fantastic candidate who we would not have reached without PeopleScout’s efforts.” 

Adam Mitchell, Head of UK Recruitment at The University of Central Lancashire

At a Glance

  • COMPANY
    The University of Central Lancashire
  • INDUSTRY
    Higher Education
  • ABOUT UCLAN
    The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is an international university with campuses in Preston, Burnley, Westlakes in the UK as well as Cyprus. As one of the UK’s largest universities, UCLan offers 350 undergraduate and over 200 postgraduate programs, and the university is ranked in the top 7% of universities worldwide. Their community is made up of approximately 38,000 students from more than 100 countries around the world.
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Reducing Time-to-Hire for a British Charity with a Bespoke RPO Solution

Posted on by akessler
Reducing Time-to-Hire for a British Charity with a Bespoke RPO Solution

Project RPO

Reducing Time-to-Hire for a British Charity with a Bespoke RPO Solution

A higher education charity partnered with PeopleScout for a bespoke RPO solution, reducing time-to-hire for professional and academic roles, with a challenging four-week timeframe.

82 % offer acceptance rate
extended partnership beyond initial project
extended partnership beyond initial project
44 days from brief to offer acceptance

Situation

Our client, a charity, works with higher education institutions across the world to improve higher education for staff, students and global communities. The charity organization needed to fill 30 roles across a range of job families and levels, including professional and academic positions.

They had a challenging timescale of just four weeks to go-live. Plus, they were facing several challenges, including an ambitious growth strategy to support their multi-year plan for which filling these roles was critical.

They engaged PeopleScout to augment their small in-house team, increasing capacity and boosting speed, through project RPO.

Solution

Our skilled senior recruiters acted as brand ambassadors and became an extension of the in-house team, optimizing and managing our client’s recruitment process from attraction to offer for a four-month bespoke RPO solution. PeopleScout managed each role in its entirety, from briefing through to verbal offer acceptance, including creating a sourcing and attraction plan for each role.

As the client was a first-generation RPO client, we were able to quickly identify the need to make proactive recommendations based on labor market analysis and recruitment best practices, working collaboratively with the hiring managers. As part of the project, we utilized Avature to enable better data analysis. This helped the client to make better data driven decisions, monitoring their DE&I agenda and improving the candidate journey.

Throughout the project, we gathered market feedback and tracked hiring metrics, presenting it through dashboards to guide hiring decisions. The organization received weekly reports and regular analysis of market insights, salary benchmarks and candidate feedback.

We also leveraged the expertise of a dedicated PeopleScout recruitment marketer to create engaging copy and advise on the best supplementary media options to target our talent audiences. Our recruitment marketing strategy included a social media attraction campaign to further increase brand awareness in the market. Plus, we built a custom landing page, which showcased the charity’s employer value proposition (EVP), which help to attract high quality talent.

On top of these attraction efforts, our recruiters directly sourced passive candidates to further raise our client’s profile in the market.

Results

Our consultative approach to hiring and our tailored strategies for each role resulted in:

  • An 82% offer acceptance rate.
  • An enhanced candidate and hiring manager experience, which led to the charity extending the partnership.
  • An increase in diversity within the roles filled.
  • A reduction in average time from briefing to offer acceptance, which dropped to just 44 days

At a Glance

  • COMPANY
    UK-Based Higher Education Charity
  • INDUSTRY
    Public Sector
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Talent Advisory
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HMRC: Creating a New Virtual Assessment Center for Greater Diversity

Posted on by akessler
HMRC: Creating a New Virtual Assessment Center for Greater Diversity

HMRC: Creating a New Virtual Assessment Center for Greater Diversity

Every year, His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) hires 40 lawyers in an annual campaign. Ahead of their annual hiring effort, they turned to PeopleScout to help them modernize their assessment center to secure more qualified talent.

56 Qualified Candidates Found for 40 Vacancies
40 % of Offers Made Were to Candidates Who Identified as an Ethnic Minority
33 % of Offers Made Were to Candidates Who Identified as Being from a Lower Socioeconomic Background

Situation

The HMRC team was concerned that their current assessment center was no longer a good predictor of performance in the role. They had also received feedback from a number of candidates who said they’d experienced functionality and formatting limitations while completing the written exercise. 

The HMRC wanted PeopleScout to evaluate their assessment strategy to ensure they were evaluating for the right traits, to improve the candidate experience, and to reduce potential hidden bias within the process since diversity was a critical goal for their recruitment program.

Solution

Reassessing the Assessment Center

Our tech team and assessments experts had several sessions with the HMRC team. The HMRC team was able to share the skill and behavior requirements for the legal roles. Each skill and behavior was weighted to ensure the online assessment was tailored to their specific needs. This collaborative approach gave the HMRC team opportunities to provide direct input into the direction of the assessment center and develop trust in the outcomes as well as PeopleScout.

The new assessment center consisted of a behavioral test which also assessed for verbal and cognitive aptitude. This combination gave HMRC the opportunity to evaluate a broader skillset to better judge a candidate’s fit for the role. The new assessment was accompanied by tweaks to the technology platform which created a smoother experience for candidates.

Our PeopleScout team trained HMRC’s internal teams on administering the new assessment center as well as a new video interviewing tool. In addition to the training session, each interview panel member received a detailed guide to minimize the likelihood of any disruption for the candidate.

Creating an Excellent Candidate Experience

We designed and delivered a webinar to engage candidates and educate them about the new virtual assessment center. This gave them the opportunity to ask questions and feel confident going into the testing stage.

A PeopleScout assessor was present during all virtual assessments to support the HMRC team with their assessment expertise and ensure a consistent experience for all candidates.

Results

Of the applications received, 62% were passed to HMRC for sifting and to complete the assessment center. Just under half passed and completed a virtual interview with HMRC. Ultimately, 56 qualified candidates were identified against 40 vacancies, giving HMRC a talent pool to draw upon for future openings.

Great strides were made against HMRC’s diversity recruitment efforts. Of the offers made:

  • 7% of candidates identified as having a disability
  • 60% of candidates identified as female
  • 40% of candidates identified as minority ethnic
  • 33% of candidates identified as being from a lower socio-economic background

Feedback from candidates was positive with many saying they felt the new platform was easier to navigate.

At a Glance

  • COMPANY
    His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
  • INDUSTRY
    Government & Public Sector
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Talent Advisory
  • ABOUT HMRC
    His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is a department of the UK Government responsible for administration of taxes, national insurance contributions, the national minimum wage and more.
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Civil Service Fast Stream: Boosting Diversity with a Bold New Influencer Campaign

Posted on by akessler
Civil Service Fast Stream: Boosting Diversity with a Bold New Influencer Campaign

Civil Service Fast Stream: Boosting Diversity with a Bold New Influencer Campaign

As one of the largest employers in the UK, the Civil Service doesn’t struggle for applications for its Fast Stream graduate program. However, as the entity that supports the government in implementing policies, it fights against perceptions that it only employs people from elite backgrounds. The Civil Service Fast Stream turned to PeopleScout for a bold new recruitment marketing campaign to improve diversity amongst its early careers talent.

3,200 + Increase in Applicants from Diverse Backgrounds
18,056 Views of Influencer Video on YouTube in Less Than 48 Hours
351,304 Impressions Across Social Media via Nano-Influencers

Situation

The Fast Stream aims to be the most inclusive graduate scheme in the UK and has a goal for the diversity of its workforce to help ensure that every government department reflects all of the communities they serve. However, research they commissioned revealed a misperception, particularly amongst those within underrepresented diversity groups, that the Civil Service Fast Stream represents the elite and is not diverse.
Whilst they weren’t in need of more applicants, they needed to increase the diversity of their candidates.

They turned to PeopleScout for a Talent Advisory solution that counteracted the perceptions of the Civil Service as being “stuffy,” “outdated” or “inaccessible.” The campaign needed to show the Civil Service Fast Stream as accessible to all graduates, regardless of their background, and increase representation of applicants from specific diversity groups to better reflect communities in the UK.

Solution

Taking a Cue from Consumer Marketing

Given the high number of applications the Fast Stream receive year-on-year, and the campaign objectives to diversify them, we made the strategic decision not to proceed with a traditional graduate media campaign.

Instead, we turned to online influencers.

While widely used in consumer marketing, influencer marketing is relatively new to the recruitment space. It was certainly innovative for the Civil Service and definitely not one our target audience would expect them to use.

Finding the Right Influencer

Identifying the right influencer, with the relevant following, would help us to:

  • Increase credibility with underrepresented groups
  • Remove perceived barriers around government work and the type of people who can get involved
  • Ask the right questions—those on the minds of the target audience

We found Vee Kativhu, an author and influencer who fit these criteria. Vee started her YouTube channel after getting into Oxford University and realizing that, as a black woman, she was a minority. She uses her platform to help those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds get access to the best information and advice so that anyone can achieve their dreams, no matter their background.

Continuing our theme of telling real-life stories, Vee spent a day with three Fast Streamers and produced a “day in the life” video, which she posted to her YouTube channel with over 250,000 subscribers. She also promoted the video through her Instagram and LinkedIn profiles.

We also engaged 12 diverse nano-influencers, with targeted followings, to reshape and share the video among their networks—further expanding the reach.

Results

The campaign boosted applications from their target demographics by over 3,200, including significant increases in interest from candidates from ethnic minority backgrounds, from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, from the LGBTQ+ community as well as those with disabilities.

Vee’s video received 18,056 views in less than 48 hours. It went on to achieve over 36,000 total views with over 1,200 likes. Over the four-week social media campaign, Vee and the nano-influencers achieved a combined reach of 351,304 impressions and 2,436 engagements.

“Such an amazing video, Vee! Super informative, and I love the positive approach to a more diverse Civil Service.”

YouTube comment

By taking an innovative approach to reach their target audience, the Civil Service Fast Stream received a cost-effective campaign that delivered on their diversity recruitment goals.

“Our new attraction strategy, particularly in the innovative use of working with influencers, really captured our vision of a skilled, innovative and ambitious Civil Service equipped for the future—one that reflects the country we serve.”

Talent Acquisition Leader at the Civil Service

“I love the new look and feel of Fast Stream attraction, especially as it’s generating feedback that ‘you don’t normally see this kind of thing in the Civil Service.’ Bold, different and refreshing.”

Talent Acquisition Leader at the Civil Service

At a Glance

  • COMPANY
    The Civil Service Fast Stream
  • INDUSTRY
    Government & Public Sector
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Talent Advisory
  • ANNUAL HIRES
    1,000+
  • ABOUT THE CIVIL SERVICE FAST STREAM
    The Fast Stream is an award-winning graduate program for the Civil Service, developing talented, high-potential people to become future Civil Service leaders. Annually, the program recruits approximately 1,000 people from around the UK across 15 different leadership and specialist development schemes.
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Legal Ombudsman: Reducing the Time Investment from Hiring Managers by 80%

Posted on by akessler
Reducing the Time Investment From Hiring Managers by 80% for the Legal Ombudsman

Reducing the Time Investment From Hiring Managers by 80% for the Legal Ombudsman

The Legal Ombudsman were finding it difficult to attract the volume and quality of candidates for legal investigators in a highly competitive candidate market. Plus, a time intensive recruitment process meant their hiring managers were spending hundreds of hours on recruiting rather than their daily work tasks. They turned to PeopleScout for expert candidate management, employer branding and talent attraction help.

80 % Reduction in Time Investment by Hiring Managers
87 % Satisfaction Rate Amongst Surveyed Candidates
5 Stars from Hiring Managers

Scope & Scale

The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) is a regulatory organization that holds the UK’s legal profession to the highest standards by resolving consumers complaints about legal services providers. The organization was growing and turned to PeopleScout for a candidate attraction campaign and partial-cycle recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) to fill approximately 40 complaints investigator roles.

Situation

The organization was struggling to get engagement with their target audience and attract the volume and caliber of investigator candidates they needed. The market was highly competitive, with multiple organizations recruiting for similar roles. This put the LeO behind their hiring target by approximately 20%.

In addition, the recruitment process required the LeO team to invest significant time—400 operational hours per campaign—which was taking them away from their important work supporting consumers.

Solution

PeopleScout’s in-house creative agency built a recruitment marketing campaign and followed this by sifting candidates, scheduling assessment days and supporting an assessment center.

Attracting the Right Candidates

Our team started by doing a deep dive into the roles and existing employees who were successful as legal investigators. This helped us understand the kinds of candidates we should target and their needs and motivations. Armed with this information, we developed messaging and content that resonated with key audiences and stood out in a highly competitive market. This was used in digital advertising through job boards, search engine ads and social media campaigns which pointed to a bespoke landing page.

Supporting a Streamlined Recruitment Process

With a focus on improving the candidate experience and creating efficiencies in the process, we built a bespoke application form which connected to the Legal Ombudsman’s existing application tracking system (ATS). Upon our suggestion, the LeO added a written exercise to the application process which helped them assess writing competency and assist with the sift process.

PeopleScout completed the first sift. In fact, the attraction campaign generated so many applicants that we extended the time allotted for sifting to accommodate them. We also advised the client to adjust the scoring after the first round of sifting, because candidate quality was so high.

Upon passing the sift, our RPO team scheduled candidates for a virtual interview with the Legal Ombudsman team. From there, candidates participated in a virtual assessment center. We supplied 15 trained assessors to support LeO interviewers in conducting a role play for 104 candidates. The role play mimicked the type of calls and inquiries investigators field in their daily work and gave both the organization and the candidate a sense of how they’d perform in the position. The assessors’ involvement let the LeO representatives engage more with candidates without having to worry about taking notes or keeping an eye on the clock.

“Every assessor I was partnered with was welcoming, easy to talk to and genuinely cared about the candidate experience.”

– LeO Hiring Manager

We handed back a cohort of candidates that were successful in the selection and assessment process and were ready for LeO to extend offers to. The offer and onboarding process was handled by the LeO HR team and supported by our recruitment delivery team.

Results

The client was so happy with the quality of the applicants they received that they increased the number of hires from 30 to 40. In the end, a total of 42 offers were accepted as a result of this campaign.

In feedback surveys, candidates gave a satisfaction rating of 87% for the recruitment process. Many said they enjoyed the assessment center, which can often be stressful for candidates.

“Different by actually enjoyable.”

“Very professional and informative. Enjoyable experience even though it was an assessment. Positive day with some very good staff.”

Legal Ombudsman staff gave the process 4.9 out of 5 stars. They particularly appreciated that the assessment was a true-to-life reflection of the skills required for the role. By streamlining and taking over parts of the recruitment process, we were able to reduce the number hours LeO staff were putting into recruiting by approximately 80%.

At a Glance

  • COMPANY
    Legal Ombudsman
  • INDUSTRY
    Government & Public Sector
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Talent Advisory
  • ABOUT THE LEGAL OMBUDSMAN
    The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) is a regulatory organization that holds the UK’s legal profession to the highest standards by resolving consumers complaints about legal services providers.
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HSE: How a Webinar Increased Applicants for Scientists

Posted on by akessler
HSE: How a Webinar Increased Applicants for Scientists

HSE: How a Webinar Increased Applicants for Scientists

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

Increased Awareness of HSE and This Niche Division Within It
Increased Awareness of HSE and This Niche Division Within It
55 Questions Submitted to Help Inform Candidates
70 % of Attendees More Likely to Apply Since the Webinar

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 the UK Government and large-scale business.

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 organizations 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 organization, the vital work they undertake and the opportunities for career development. A recent national study found the number one question from candidates is, “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 organization 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&A, 55 questions were submitted. These filled the information gap for candidates and gave them insight as to how they would fit in. As a result, 70% of attendees said they are more likely to apply since attending the webinar.

At a Glance

  • COMPANY
    Health & Safety Executive (HSE)
  • INDUSTRY
    Government & Public Sector
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Talent Advisory
  • ABOUT HSE
    The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) is a independent regulator in the UK responsible for work-related health, safety and illness.
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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 organized crime. The agency’s focus is on the big threats—targeting and pursuing serious and organized 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 organizations.

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 organizations 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 recognizable, 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 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)
  • INDUSTRY
    Government & Public Sector
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Talent Advisory
  • LOCATIONS
    Regional offices in the UK’s urban centers
  • About NCA
    The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a national law enforcement agency in the UK focused on fighting organized crime, trafficking, cybercrime and fraud.
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Building a Tech-Enabled Internal Mobility Platform for a Government Agency

Posted on by jpatel
Building a Tech-Enabled Internal Mobility Platform for a Government Agency

Government Talent Solutions

Building a Tech-Enabled Internal Mobility Platform for a Government Agency

This government agency in Australia partnered with PeopleScout to develop and launch a technology platform that facilitates internal mobility for government workers.

Employees manage their profiles showcasing employee demographics, education, work history, skills and competencies 
Employees manage their profiles showcasing employee demographics, education, work history, skills and competencies 
AI technology matches candidates to open opportunities across the government and provides alerts to candidates on open job opportunities
AI technology matches candidates to open opportunities across the government and provides alerts to candidates on open job opportunities
Employee engagement increased, while the use of expensive contingent labor resources went down 
Employee engagement increased, while the use of expensive contingent labor resources went down 

Situation  

As a result of COVID-19, the client was operating with a lean workforce and limited resources. They required a solution that allowed them to leverage the skills and competencies of their existing workforce so they could save the time, cost and resources it takes to access the external candidate market. 

They partnered with PeopleScout to develop and launch a platform which facilitates internal mobility for workers who are potentially impacted by the economic downturn due to COVID-19 or looking to move within their department or other government agencies. This allowed the client to engage their workforce through enhanced workforce mobility, skills development and career opportunities within the department and across the government. 

Solution

PeopleScout created an internal mobility platform using our proprietary talent technology, Affinix®, to give the client insight into the scope and experience of their internal talent. By utilizing candidate profiles, hiring managers are not only able to see employee demographics, education and work history, but also specific skills and competencies.  

When an employee creates their profile, they have the opportunity to rate their own competencies and leaders within the organization can rate and leave comments about their performance as well. This gives recruiters a strong sense of what other positions may be a good fit for internal employees, based on hard and soft skills—such as strong cross-functional collaboration abilities. 

PeopleScout’s Affinix Internal Mobility platform gives the client a holistic view of candidates, and when a requisition is posted within the platform, Affinix automatically looks for employees who may be a good fit and proactively recommends candidates based on their profile. 

At a Glance

  • COMPANY
    Australian government agency
  • INDUSTRY
    Government & Public Sector
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Affinix
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