Industry: Government & Public Sector

Fife Council: Bringing Deeper Understanding to Fill Pivotal Role

Posted on by akessler
Fife Council: Bringing Deeper Understanding to Fill Pivotal Role

Fife Council: Bringing Deeper Understanding to Fill Pivotal Role

PeopleScout helped Fife Council source a new Head of Children, Families and Criminal Justice.

Fife Council brought the role of of the Head of Children, Families and Criminal Justice to PeopleScout a few months before the current incumbent was due to retire. The role is pivotal in shaping the future of children and families services in Fife, Scotland—an area where one in four children are living in poverty.

We were tasked with identifying individuals with a strong background in leading services within children and families social care and already on the social work register in England or Scotland, or able to register. The role covered a wide remit, including criminal justice, and had also been merged with the Chief Social Work Officer role.

Understanding and communicating the role’s interesting remit, combined with the social work and criminal justice elements, proved essential to successfully filling the role. The role could not be filled internally, and it was a challenging location to recruit for, making passive candidate engagement a much more viable option than advertising.

Solution

Research

Following preliminary research, a briefing with the Executive Director of Education and Children’s Services provided further context and insight into children and family services in Fife. A version of the Directorate Improvement Plan was also shared with us to bring the role and its challenges to life. It was agreed that the ideal candidate would be working in a similar role in a smaller Scottish local authority.

Strategy

Our search channels encompassed telephone, LinkedIn, referrals, CV databases and deep web searching. By using an intensive search for council documentation, and leveraging historical freedom of information requests, we were able to identify names of individuals who were otherwise absent from traditional sources—including other local authority websites.

We reached out to a list of candidates that matched the ideal candidate profile to showcase the role. Even with sourcing, 35% of individuals who engaged with us were not interested because of the location.

Results

From the candidates we identified, Fife Council appointed a new Head of Children, Families and Criminal Justice from a smaller Scottish local authority as per their ideal candidate profile. In the candidate’s own words, she was delighted to be offered the role and excited to be joining Fife Council. She also thanked PeopleScout for contacting her as she was not looking for a new role and would have never heard of this opportunity otherwise.

At a Glance

  • COMPANY: Fife Council
  • INDUSTRY: Government & Public Sector
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS: Amplifiers
  • ABOUT FIFE COUNCIL: Fife Council is the local authority for the Fife area of Scotland and is the third largest Scottish council.
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I was impressed with PeopleScout’s extent knowledge of what Fife Council was looking for and your ability from our conversations to absolutely understand what type of person we wished to recruit. The process found us candidates who would not have otherwise applied, and although there was still a small number of applicants, we were able to appoint a suitable candidate to the post. This was my first time in using this service and would consider it for future senior appointments.

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Scottish Police: Securing the Future of Policing with Talent Assessment

Posted on by akessler
Scottish Police: Securing the Future of Policing with Talent Assessment

Talent Assessment

Scottish Police: Securing the Future of Policing with Talent Assessment

PeopleScout developed a bespoke assessment process for the Scottish Police Authority to identify top leadership talent.

Situation

The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) was 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. 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.

They wanted 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.

The SPA engaged PeopleScout as a strategic talent assessment partner to help them do it.

Solution

A Robust Process

The SPA wanted our Assessment Team to design and deliver a robust process to recruit a number of ACCs and DCCs 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. This was followed by an in-depth validation interview with a highly experienced organizational psychologist.

For the second stage, all candidates were invited to attend an assessment center. 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 set of unique questions that the interview panel could use in the final stage interview to dig deeper and give candidates a final opportunity to demonstrate their capability in a specific competency.

Results

Successfully Appointed Leaders

This robust approach enabled the SPA to successfully appoint three individuals into ACC roles and two individuals into 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.

At a Glance

  • COMPANY: Scottish Police Authority (SPA)
  • INDUSTRY: Government & Public Sector
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS: Recruitment Process Outsourcing
  • ABOUT SPA: Scottish Police Authority (SPA) is the independent governing body for policing in Scotland, created to promote, support and oversee improvement in policing.
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Surrey Police: A Video Call to Action for Detective Constables

Posted on by akessler
Surrey Police: A Video Call to Action for Detective Constables

Recruitment Video

Surrey Police: A Video Call to Action for Detective Constables

PeopleScout created a compelling call to action to attract Detective Constables for Surrey Police with documentary-style video.

Situation

With Surrey bordering the Greater London area, Surrey Police are often in the shadow of The Metropolitan Police in the capital. There’s a perception that only detectives serving in the big city get the chance to work on big cases and solve serious crimes, and that Surrey is quiet and boring. The truth is that Surrey offers that opportunity, plus the training, career progression and work-life balance detectives looking for.

It’s complex. It’s challenging. And it’s rewarding.

Surrey Police needed to recruit experienced Detective Constables from other forces. They engaged PeopleScout and our industry-leading in-house creative team to challenge perceptions about crime fighting in Surrey.

Solution

Surrey Police asked us to create a video that would show experienced Detective Constables from other forces that they could have the career and development they wanted while reassuring the public that Surrey is a safe place to live.

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

The video and accompanying campaign were highly successful in attracting Detective Constables to the Surrey Police.

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.

At a Glance

  • COMPANY: Surrey Police
  • INDUSTRY: Government & Public Sector
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS: Talent Advisory
  • ABOUT SURREY POLICE: Surrey Police fights crime and protects communities in the country of Surrey, the third most densely populated county in SE England.
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HM Treasury: Building Inclusion into the Candidate Experience

Posted on by akessler
HM Treasury: Building Inclusion into the Early Careers Candidate Experience

Early Careers

HM Treasury: Building Inclusion into the Early Careers Candidate Experience

PeopleScout boosted inclusion in the HM Treasury early careers recruitment process to improve diversity.

Situation

Every year His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) recruits up to 150 graduates for their Graduate Policy Adviser program, offering the chance to shape policies that affect a nation. A popular proposition, they sought PeopleScout’s 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 the UK population they serve. 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.

Solution

Our goal was to shift the perception that HMT roles are primarily financial when, in fact, communication and analytical skills are the most important abilities. Understanding this helped us to broaden the sweep of our attraction strategy while also developing a strategy 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 stage of the recruitment process for any adverse impact.

We established a structured schedule of nurture emails, regularly updating candidates on their application status. Our recruitment team supported candidates throughout their entire recruitment journey.

We also applied a reasonable adjustment process, making sure that every candidate with a disability-related request was personally contacted to assess their requirements. For example, a disabled candidate was unable to complete the online test, so we worked with the test provider to replicate the evaluation in Microsoft Excel, and allowed the candidate to complete the test at our offices in London. The candidate was successful and progressed to the next stage.

“The attraction campaign generated 49% of all applications and increased applications from key target audiences—particularly women, those from underrepresented groups and state schools.”

Results

All hiring targets were achieved. The attraction campaign generated 49% of all applications and increased applications from key target audiences—particularly women, those from underrepresented groups and state schools.

HMT was thrilled with the results—so much so that they have asked us to take on further campaigns.

At a Glance

  • COMPANY: His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT)
  • INDUSTRY: Government & Public Sector
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS: Recruitment Process Outsourcing
  • ABOUT HMT: HM Treasury is the UK government’s economic and finance ministry, maintaining control over public spending and setting the direction of economic policy.
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