Solution: Candidate Assessment

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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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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Virgin Money: An Executive Search Experience Like No Other

Posted on by akessler
Virgin Money: An Executive Search Experience Like No Other

Executive Search

Virgin Money: An Executive Search Experience Like No Other

Finding a Head of Innovation through “the world’s most creative job interview,” an immersive executive assessment experience.

Situation

Virgin Money turned to PEopleScout and our industry-leading creative team to find them a new Head of Innovation.

Their brief to us:

Find us Harry Potter, a creative genius who can come along and change banking. Someone from outside the financial services sector that we wouldn’t attract through the normal processes.

Solution

How do you recruit an executive from a completely different sector? And how do you reach them in the first place?

Above all, by making the front pages, just not in the finance section.

So we set out to create a headline-grabbing experience that would generate publicity and noise in the right places.

And that experience was, “The world’s most creative job interview,” a hybrid of immersive theater and robust job assessment. Building on psychological principles, it set candidates tasks that engaged as thoroughly as they tested.

Results

Alongside coverage in the usual HR publications, we earned high-profile media coverage in The Evening Standard, City A.M., Campaign, Marketing Magazine, Brand Republic and more, reaching a combined circulation of around 30 million people.

Ten outstanding candidates were chosen for the “interview,” which led to the discovery of the successful applicant, Dhiraj Mukherjee, a founder of the music application Shazam, and a truly creative entrepreneur.

The new assessment approach has ushered in a legacy beyond a new Head of Innovation. From one niche role, we’ve now scaled up the approach to be used nationally across all volume hiring.

“The thing I love about PeopleScout is they have that really interesting blend of a robust approach to assessment and the creative ability to think differently.”

Head of Resourcing, Virgin Money

At a Glance

  • COMPANY
    Virgin Money
  • INDUSTRY
    Telecommunications
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Talent Advisory
  • ABOUT VIRGIN MONEY
    Virgin Money is a financial service company disrupting retail and business banking with a digital-first model.
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