Quality of Hire: The Gap from Good to Great is Bigger Than it First Appears

By Vanessa Hawes, Senior Employer Brand & Communications Strategist

So, a company has accidentally hired the wrong person or made a rushed hire due to business needs. Does quality of hire matter in the long run?

Yes. Bad hires are expensive for a whole host of reasons. They are likely to generate less revenue than good employees, or even cost an organisation money due to their errors or complacency. Plus, it’s contagious since they impact the productivity and morale of the employees around them.

Further, the employer may have to invest over the odds in additional training or performance management. If and when the employee does leave, the employer will likely need to invest more in finding an urgent replacement. It’s clear that hiring the wrong people can cost a company a lot of money.

Quality-of-Hire Boosts the Bottom Line

Getting great people rather than good people into an organisation is not just nice to have—it has a profound impact on business performance. Great employees are valuable in themselves, but they also drive wider team performance, inspire others and make recruiting other great people easier.

McKinsey completed a study of more than 600,000 researchers, entertainers, politicians, and athletes, and found that high performers were 400% more productive than average performers. In highly complex occupations such as software development, high performers were found to be an astounding 800% more productive.

Roles described as having low complexity, such as a packing job at a large distributor—unfortunately, the kind of work that for many organisations does not merit special focus in terms of recruitment—demonstrate a productivity gap of 50% between average performers and high performers. The impact on productivity increases as the complexity of the role grows, with an extraordinary jump between high and very high complexity roles.

Clearly, employers would do well to actively recognise and retain top employees, especially when the cost of replacing them is so great.

Quality-of-Hire: What to Look for

Organisations looking to drive the best results and value from employees would be wise to consider the economies of scale that come from an improved selection process for low complexity roles as well as reaping the benefits from hiring the most able candidates for highly complex jobs.

So, what does this mean in reality? A great hire will be highly motivated, and they go above and beyond to do their work. Poor performers go through the motions, are not proactive and may encourage colleagues to adjust to these lower standards. After all, if everyone is being paid the same, why go the extra mile?

As such, using an assessment process that is able to identify (and ideally excite) great candidates at all levels of the organisation is well worth the investment.

Winning the New Talent Game

By Joe Mongon, Head of Recruitment Delivery, EMEA

The workforce that won’t come back is not purely a U.S. phenomenon. In the UK, vacancies are 50% above pre-pandemic levels while the number of people of working-age who are neither in work nor seeking employment is 400,000 higher. Shortages of people and skills will continue to challenge employers, and their capacity through 2022. Plus, the cost of living crisis compounds this through wage pressures.

For job seekers this is often good news. There are more roles available, with higher salaries and greater flexibility (especially in relation to remote working), plus there’s an emphasis on training, upskilling and creating a great working culture. Candidates can sit back and take their pick—after all, they are the ones in demand. What employers need is more job seekers—and it’s entirely possible that they can proactively increase that supply.

Talent Acquisition Has New Rules

McKinsey calls this the “New Talent Game.” Employers are now competing not just with each other, but with the wider array of work experiences on offer—not to mention locations. I’m based in Bristol, and for half a decade all my people were too. Now I am nabbing talent from other regions of the UK. Plus, people are increasingly making the (often temporary) decision not to work at all—to, as George Michael would have worn it, CHOOSE LIFE.

How do you win in that context? Organisations must redefine their attraction and recruitment strategies and build an employer value proposition (EVP) that takes employees’ whole lives into account and makes work a more positive choice. What is clear is those candidates are only coming back on their terms: workplace flexibility, adequate compensation and reasonable expectations about performance.

Winning with RPO on Your Side

As a leading, global talent partner for a diverse range of businesses, PeopleScout’s RPO solutions have long been designed to amplify employer brands with a recruitment approach that focuses on an enhanced candidate experience. The missing talent can be won by placing the employee experience at the heart of your talent strategy, and I’m proud to say in Q1 2022 we are re-delivering hundreds of employees each month into the consumer and retail sectors for our client partners in the UK, with fulfilment trending positively each month.

It hasn’t been easy – but we are playing the New Talent Game to win.

Delivering Cost Savings and a Healthy Return on Investment for a Rural Healthcare System

Delivering Cost Savings and a Healthy Return on Investment for a Rural Healthcare System

Delivering Cost Savings and a Healthy Return on Investment for a Rural Healthcare System

A major rural healthcare system turned to PeopleScout for technology-powered healthcare RPO enhanced by a recruitment marketing campaign, resulting in a $4+ million cost savings.

77 % reduction in nursing recruitment spend, totaling $4+ million in savings to date
97 % new hire retention
98 % hiring leader satisfaction score

Situation

This healthcare provider was having trouble sourcing and hiring for nursing roles in North Dakota, a rural state heavily impacted by ongoing nursing shortages, forcing the client to rely on travel nurse staffing providers to deliver talent to support rural healthcare recruitment. The reliance on these staffing providers proved expensive, with the client paying an average of $73 an hour per locum nurse in contrast to paying $34 an hour on average per full-time nurse. Traveling nurses also work on 13-week contracts, meaning that the client receives temporary talent and less value for their recruitment spend.

To improve talent acquisition costs and attract hard-to-hire candidates, the client needed a full-cycle healthcare RPO partner that could streamline the hiring process and build a strong recruitment marketing program. PeopleScout’s RPO program started with nursing hires and now spans 90% of the client’s clinical and non-clinical hiring, including aides, clerical workers, interns, leadership positions, RNs, LPNs, professional services, technical roles and therapists.

Solution

Build a Local Recruiting Team

PeopleScout built a local recruiting team balanced with virtual support. This enables PeopleScout to work directly with the client on-site with the increased efficiency of a virtual team.

Develop Improved Employer Branding and Location Branding

PeopleScout partnered with the client to understand their employer value proposition and employer brand and then built out recruitment marketing materials to showcase the strong culture and cutting-edge medical facility. The recruitment marketing campaign also included messaging on the benefits of working in the rural area, like the strong university presence, short commute, low crime and sense of community.

Target Recent Graduates

The client partnered with PeopleScout to focus their efforts on hiring recent graduates from local universities. This helped the client get ahead of the competition and train new employees in their RN Residency Program.

Implementing Hiring Bonuses

PeopleScout advised the client to implement a $10,000 hiring bonus for new nurses to ensure their employment offers were competitive based on industry data and research.

Implementation of Affinix and Streamlining Recruiting Processes

PeopleScout implemented our proprietary technology Affinix™ which helped the client streamline recruiting processes through tools that supported management of direct sourcing, panel interviewing and an expedited offer process—decreasing time-to-fill rates.

Results

Cost Savings

After implementing PeopleScout’s full-cycle healthcare talent acquisition solution, the client reduced its nursing recruitment spend by 77%, totaling $4+ million in savings to date. 

Lowest Nurse Vacancy Rate

PeopleScout helped the client achieve their lowest nurse vacancy rate ever — 1.3%. The client also achieved a 136% increase in hiring new graduate registered nurses. The client reduced its use of traveling nurses by 68%, and for the first time, was able to hire nurses willing to relocate for the position.

Process Improvement

With PeopleScout’s expertise, the client achieved 97% new hire retention and 98% hiring leader satisfaction scores for exceptional performance. The client was so impressed with PeopleScout’s results hiring nurses that the client now outsources 90% of their hiring to PeopleScout.

Enhanced Employer Branding

PeopleScout leveraged the client’s strong employer value proposition and was able to partner with the healthcare provider to create an enhanced suite of employer branding materials that feature real employees. PeopleScout also used a comprehensive approach to reach candidates, including social media, campus recruiting and paid search ads.

Client Feedback

“We are so impressed with this partnership, and it’s a significant improvement from our past recruitment practices. We feel so confident working with a partner who ‘gets it,’ and we are excited about the quality of our candidate pool.”

Client Feedback

“Out of the three nursing jobs I have obtained in the past, this was by far the most professional and friendly hiring process that I have been through. It was a pleasant change.”

New Hire Feedback

At a Glance

  • COMPANY
    Rural healthcare system
  • INDUSTRY
    Healthcare
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Talent Advisory, Affinix
  • ABOUT THE CLIENT
    This American nonprofit healthcare system has served portions of the Midwest for more than 130 years. It employs over 3,500 health professionals and support staff.

Are You Ready for RPO? 3 Questions to Ask

Shrinking talent pools, widening skills gaps and high turnover rates are driving companies across industries to look for new ways to boost their global talent acquisition program—including recruitment process outsourcing (RPO).

Whether your organization is thinking of outsourcing some, most or all parts of your recruitment, an RPO partner can help. It’s not just about outsourcing your recruiting, it’s important to find the best partner to help manage the people, process, technology and strategy behind your talent acquisition function, which touches every employee, team and department within your business.

So, how do you know if RPO is the right choice for your organization? In this article, we’ll cover three questions to ask to understand how your company can benefit from RPO.

Why RPO?

RPO is a cost-effective and scalable talent acquisition solution. Whether you’re looking for a regional solution or a multi-country partnership, RPO has been proven to boost the ability to hire at speed, manage the employer brand, streamline the candidate experience and maximize economies of scale across geographies.

Here are just a few of the benefits of RPO:

Improved Candidate Quality

Your RPO partner can help you boost your number of qualified candidates and the quality of hires. In fact, according to Aberdeen Group, 81% of best-in-class organizations say RPO helps to fill their skills gaps. This keeps hiring managers happy and helps your organization achieve its goals while also boosting retention.

Better Candidate Experience

You want your recruitment process to leave every applicant, regardless of whether they get the role, with a positive experience. Your RPO team will provide consistent and honest feedback throughout the recruitment process, so they know exactly where they stand and what comes next.

Improved Hiring Manager Experience

Your RPO team reduces the administrative burden on your hiring managers by taking over résumé and CV screening, candidate assessment administration, initial interview steps, candidate communication and feedback tasks. RPO partners prepare hiring managers for interviews, provide them with feedback and identify any candidates at risk of dropping from the process so managers can make informed decisions.

Reduced Time-to-Fill

The longer a position goes unfilled, the more likely your business is to experience productivity loss—and loss of revenue. RPO teams are able to find candidates and fill roles faster by building and maintaining talent pipeline, providing quick access to qualified talent. By streamlining and optimizing recruitment processes, improving the time-to-hire and retention rates, RPO providers can increase your recruiting return on investment and deliver real cost savings to your bottom line.

Improved Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

In their global Diversity Wins report, McKinsey revealed organizations in the top quartile for ethnic and cultural diversity outperformed laggards by 36% in terms of profitability. So, it’s imperative that recruitment is an element of your DE&I journey. RPO teams are knowledgeable about different talent attraction options and can expand to new job boards, social media groups, online forums and events to engage more diverse candidates. Plus, RPO recruitment companies understand the regional nuances of DE&I issues. For example, in some countries like Poland, it is not legal to ask candidates their ethnicity, gender, etc.

Not sure if you should go for RPO or staffing agencies? Here are the top differences.

Is RPO Right for Me?

So, how do you know if RPO is right for your business? Here are some questions to ask yourself:

  • Is your talent acquisition approach slow and clunky or failing to meet your organization’s talent needs?
  • Do you lack the ability to scale your recruitment efforts up or down quickly as your business needs change?
  • Are you seeing high candidate dropout rates or low offer acceptance rates, which could indicate a bad candidate experience?
  • Are low conversion rates more pronounced for candidates from diverse backgrounds?
  • Are you hearing complaints from hiring managers about the quality of candidates?
  • Are new employees leaving your organization less than a year after joining?
  • Do your assessments and other selection tools need to be updated?
  • Do your in-house teams lack the cultural literacy to support recruitment in all regions?
  • Are your hiring costs going up?
  • Is the time it takes to fill positions getting longer?
  • Is your usage of talent acquisition technology immature or out-of-date?
  • Do you lack access to the right data to make workforce planning decisions?

If you answered “yes” to even a few of these questions, RPO can help you meet your talent acquisition goals.

CHECKLIST

Is RPO Right for You?

What Should I Look for in an RPO Partner?

If you’ve decided to that RPO will be a good for your organization, you may be wondering how you go about choosing the best provider. Below are just three things to consider in order to make RPO a truly transformational model for your business.

Partnership

If there’s one thing we’ve learned in 30 years of developing talent acquisition programs, it’s that no two organizations are the same. That’s why it’s important to look for an RPO partner that is collaborative, that will listen to your ideas and take the time to truly understand your business and pain points.

We hear a lot from clients who have worked with other providers who tried to squeeze them into their standard program, and it just doesn’t work. RPO creates efficiencies and improvements to the candidate experience through repeatable processes, but these processes should be adapted to your unique needs and challenges. Look for an RPO partner who understands the balance between consistency and customization.

Talent Advisory

The success of your recruitment program starts with your employer brand. Many RPO providers offer talent advisory solutions that help you to develop and improve your employer brand, EVP, recruitment marketing approaches, candidate assessments and more.

So often we see companies who have agencies that execute recruitment marketing campaigns separate from their RPO program. However, with this siloed approach, the agency is less likely to be held accountable for their campaigns leading to high quality candidates entering later candidate journey stages like interviews and assessments. On the other side, the RPO partner has limited means to provide feedback on the campaigns and the impact the ads have on recruitment outcomes. By having both functions under one partnership, you get a holistic program that not only attracts candidates—but truly delivers against your hiring goals.

Look for a partner with in-house resources (not one who outsources to an agency) who takes a consultative approach to maximizing the effectiveness of your whole talent acquisition program, beyond just filling vacancies.

Technology

Digital transformation has hit HR and recruitment, bringing an influx of new solutions to the market that offer a range of benefits. RPO partners increasingly offer tech consulting and can show you how emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning and predictive analytics can boost your ability to attract top talent.

Some RPO partners have proprietary technology, like PeopleScout’s Affinix™, while some offer expertise in well-known platforms. Look for a modular approach that can integrate with your existing systems, so you can continue to benefit from existing investments and grow your recruitment tech stack as your needs change. Any technology you implement must comply with data privacy regulations in all regions where you’re recruiting, including any rules about where data can be stored. A SOC 2 certification is a great way to tell that a vendor takes information security seriously.

In this era of tight competition for talent, augmenting your recruiting capacity and ability with an RPO provider could be a crucial step for the future of your business. When it comes to RPO, there is no single best option, only the option that best aligns with your organizational needs. By understanding your current recruitment challenges and requirements, you can find an RPO partner with right capabilities to support your global recruiting goals.

Learn more about RPO in our ebook, The Buyer’s Guide to Global RPO.

Asian American & Pacific Islander Diversity & Inclusion in the Workplace

At PeopleScout, we are committed to providing you with information to help guide you on your DE&I journey. We aim to cover a wide range of DE&I topics, including issues regarding BIPOC, the LGBTQ+ community, gender gaps, people with disabilities and more. In this article, we cover the history and importance of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month and offer advice and recommendations for employers looking to build more inclusive workplaces for AAPI workers. 

Each year in the U.S., Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is observed during the month of May to recognize the many contributions and influence of the AAPI community to the history, culture and achievements of the U.S.  

Starting in 1979, this recognition was initially observed from May 4 – May 10 as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week. In 1992, U.S. Congress officially annually designated May as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. In 2009, Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month was renamed to AAPI Heritage Month, as we know it today.  

AAPI Heritage Month is celebrated in May for two main reasons. The first is to commemorate the first known Japanese immigration to the U.S. on May 7, 1843. The second is to honor the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869—a construction that was largely aided by the labor of over 20,000 Chinese workers. 

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have made a lasting impact on the history of the U.S. and will no doubt be just as instrumental in its future accomplishments and successes. But are these Americans receiving the recognition, respect and inclusion they deserve?  

In this article, we’ll provide an overview of which ethnic groups are included in AAPI, discuss barriers this group may face in the workforce and share actionable steps your organization can take to foster inclusivity among AAPI employees. 

Who are Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders? 

According to the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence, AAPI can be defined as “all people of Asian, Asian American or Pacific Islander ancestry who trace their origins to the countries, states, jurisdictions and/or the diasporic communities of these geographic regions.” 

Let’s break this down further. While keeping in mind that personal identifications can be complex and often overlapping, with not all Asian people identifying as American, and depending on one’s background and upbringing, consider this list of terms to help keep track of who might fall into the larger AAPI community: 

  • AAPI: Asian American and Pacific Islander. This term generally includes all people of Asian, Asian American or Pacific Islander descent. 
  • Asian: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia or the Indian subcontinent. 
  • East Asian: A person of Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean or Mongolian descent. 
  • South Asian: A person of Indian, Bangladesh, Sri Lankan, Nepali or Pakistani backgrounds. 
  • Southeast Asian: A person of Filipino, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Lao, Indonesian, Thai or Singaporean descent. 
  • Central Asian: A person with origins in the original peoples of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. 
  • Pacific Islander: A person with origins in the original peoples of Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia. 
  • West Asian: A person with origins in the original peoples of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates or Yemen. 

There is immense diversity among members of AAPI heritage, and their ancestry and origins vary across the U.S. Here are visuals of the top ancestry groups and top countries of birth for AAPI immigrants based on research from the New American Economy

AAPI meaning
asian american diversity

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the Workforce 

While the Asian American population is growing faster than any other group in the U.S., the same cannot be said for the rate at which this group is promoted into positions of leadership in organizations across the country. 

  • According to data from the EEOC, white-collar Asian American workers are the least likely group to be promoted into management roles—less likely than any other race. 
  • According to Bain & Company, while 9% of the professional workforce in the U.S. identifies as Asian, only 2% of CEOs do. 
  • The AAPI community suffers from high levels of income inequality, with AAPI workers in the top 10% of the income distribution earning nearly 10 times what AAPIs in the bottom 10% do.  
  • Insider shares a 2020 analysis of the C-suites at Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies, finding that just 5.6% of the total executives in the study identified as Asian or Indian. 
asian demographics

So, what’s the reason behind these massive gaps? In a nutshell: stereotypes.  

AAPIs have often been mislabeled the “model minority,” a term that stems from a New York Times article published in 1966 which praised Japanese Americans for overcoming prejudice, respecting authority, achieving academic excellence and “subordination of the individual to the group.” And according to CNBC, the model minority myth “also paints Asians as a monolith, when in fact some 23 million Asian Americans trace their roots to more than 20 countries in East and Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent.” 

Over the years, this description has come to stereotype all AAPI people as hardworking, smart, well-educated and faithful to their superiors. However, there are pitfalls to this idea—by placing Asian Americans on a pedestal for minority success in America, we have inadvertently made circumstances far worse for this community.  

By characterizing this group as having a higher level of “success” than the typical immigrant or other racial/ethnic group, it glosses over and seeks to erase the struggles, barriers and different challenges and experiences AAPIs face. Moreover, the same descriptors that have come to define “model minority” have also deemed this group unfit for leadership roles and promotions, due to a perceived lack of creativity, ambition and confidence—painting AAPIs as submissive and not “leadership material.” 

What’s more, new research finds that Asian employees report feeling the least included of all demographic groups in the workplace, including Black and LGBTQ+ workers. This research from Bain found that only 25% to 30% of employees across all geographies, industries, and demographic groups say that they feel fully included at work, with only 16% of Asian men and 20% of Asian women feeling the same. 

aapi meaning

Strategies to Foster AAPI Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 

Spread Awareness  
Because AAPIs have for so long been characterized as the “model minority,” non-AAPIs may not realize the extent of the barriers to which this group faces daily in the workforce. Employers should spread awareness of the leadership gap AAPI workers face and fold AAPI-related topics into organizational diversity and inclusion efforts. This can include bias training and learning programs to help make stakeholders and employees aware of the distinct obstacles facing AAPI workers. 

Target Recruitment 
The first step in building a diverse workforce is ensuring your organization is inclusive of all types of people—including AAPIs. According to the EEOC, one of the most common barriers for AAPI employees and applicants is a lack of targeted recruitment. Employers can combat this by establishing targeted recruitment plans that include goals and deadlines for attracting AAPI candidates, and by partnering with universities and organizations with a high percentage of AAPI students or professionals looking to advance in their careers. Organizations should also be sure to monitor and modify the plan as needed. Talent technologies like PeopleScout’s Affinix can help make this process simple with diversity dashboards that track progress toward specific goals. 

For more on diversity recruiting strategies, check out this PeopleScout article: The Future of Diversity Recruiting: Reevaluating Traditional Methods & Questioning Accepted Wisdom

Invest in AAPI Growth and Development 
For employers looking to diversify their leadership, developing a program that specifically invests in AAPI employees is a great way to start. Consider identifying top-performing individuals and providing them with opportunities to demonstrate their leadership abilities (i.e., more responsibility, a big project, presentation, etc.). Organizations can also provide these employees with mentorship and designated training paths to encourage promotion and growth. 

Create Employee Resource Groups 
Employee resource groups, or ERGs, are a great way to help employees within an organization build community and share a common cause—such as interests, backgrounds and identities. An ERG focused around AAPIs can help these employees feel at home within an organization and can also serve as a community for non-AAPIs who want to learn more about the experiences of this diverse group. ERGs are also a great way to improve retention rates, because when employees truly feel included, they are more likely to stay at an organization.  

At PeopleScout and the broader TrueBlue organization, we are proud to have the Asian Collective of Employees (ACE) ERG, a trustworthy forum where AAPIs and allies can share ideas, perspectives and professional experiences, to accelerate business and career growth, and increase cultural awareness. 

Elevate AAPI Voices 
With a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes following the COVID-19 pandemic, AAPIs were abruptly reminded that their sense of belonging in a predominately white society is often conditional. And with the Stop AAPI Hate National Report finding that businesses are the primary site of discrimination at 35%, organizations can make a powerful impact by addressing and acknowledging incidents and offering open forums for discussion among employees. By amplifying AAPI voices and perspectives, AAPI employees will feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, feelings and experiences in a safe space while knowing their employer cares. In addition, organizations can host speaker events featuring AAPI leaders and top performers within the company to highlight contributions and allow other AAPIs to see examples of success within the workplace. 

Celebrate AAPI Month 
AAPI month is a great opportunity for organizations to celebrate AAPI heritage and contributions and show employees that their unique cultural differences are valued. Consider these ideas for celebrating AAPI Month within your organization: 

  • Host an AAPI author book club 
  • Order lunch from a local AAPI restaurant 
  • Raise funds for an AAPI nonprofit 
  • Host an AAPI history and trivia night 
  • Spotlight AAPI employees on internal channels 

Asian American DE&I as a Continuous Journey 

The U.S. continually becomes more diverse, and so do organizations and the people in them. For organizations to stay competitive, diversity, equity and inclusion are non-negotiable. A truly diverse company will include people from all backgrounds at all levels of the organization—including in leadership roles. And when candidates and customers see that level of diversity, they’ll be more likely to invest their time and resources with those businesses. 

However, diversity without inclusion does nothing for people nor businesses. In order to retain your diverse employees, you’ll need to understand who they are, celebrate their heritage and invest in their growth. It is our responsibility as employers to identify groups who need amplification in the workforce—like AAPIs—and to foster long-term inclusion, representation and respect.

Data & Diversity: Using Analytics to Achieve your DE&I Goals

Diversity sourcing is a top priority in talent acquisition. A recent PwC survey found that 57% of CFOs planned to invest in diversity and inclusion initiatives in the next year. But, with investment comes accountability; you can’t track and report your progress without the proper technology tools. So, as employers continue to prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion, talent leaders need the proper tools to understand the progress they’re making toward reaching their DE&I goals.

Additionally, despite the progress made throughout the last few years, employers still have a long way to go. In fact, according to a survey by Boston Consulting Group, only 25% of employees from underrepresented backgrounds said that they had benefited from their company’s diversity and inclusion programs—despite the fact that most companies have these programs in place.

In this article, we’ll discuss how the right technology tools can help measure and improve diversity, equity and inclusion in your recruitment process.

Optimizing Diversity Sourcing

DE&I hiring efforts start at the beginning with diversity sourcing; you can’t hire diverse candidates without a diverse pipeline. And, to build a diverse candidate pipeline, you need to track who your candidates are and which of your sourcing channels and campaigns bring them into the recruitment process.

To further understand who your candidates are, it’s essential to capture their demographic information in your applicant tracking system (ATS) through self-identification via the employment application. However, because some candidates from underrepresented groups may feel uncomfortable disclosing this information in an application, it’s best practice to also ask for self-identification after you extend an offer or when a new employee goes through the onboarding process.

Then, track the sourcing channel through your candidate relationship management (CRM) software, which is critically important to track your recruitment marketing campaigns, as well as sources. Simply tracking that a candidate came to your careers site through LinkedIn isn’t enough; you need to know if a specific campaign on LinkedIn influenced their decision to apply.

Often, these data points are stored in different systems. But, a reporting tool can help synthesize your data and visualize trends. Specifically, with PeopleScout’s Affinix™ Analytics diversity dashboards, you can track how diverse candidates are entering your pipeline in real time. Then, by tracking how candidates progress through your funnel, you can determine which sources and campaigns bring in the highest-quality candidates from underrepresented groups. From there, you can then adjust your sourcing spend to maximize the channels and promotions that bring in the most and highest-quality candidates.

For instance, you may find that a recruitment marketing campaign you’re running on LinkedIn that features diverse faces and real employee stories is bringing in far more diverse candidates than the same campaign on Facebook. You could then shift budget from the Facebook campaign to the LinkedIn campaign, thereby optimizing your channels. Additionally, you could compare the LinkedIn campaign featuring diverse employees to a different LinkedIn campaign featuring your office space and benefits package to see which type of content resonates best with candidates.

As an example, when one PeopleScout industrial client wanted to add more women to its primarily male workforce, we partnered with the company to build out a recruitment marketing initiative featuring the organization’s female employees. In tracking the results of the campaign, our client was able to see a marked increase in female applicants and hires tied directly to the recruitment marketing initiative.

Optimizing Diversity Sourcing  Data to Gather •	Candidate self-identification •	Sourcing channel •	Campaigns as sources •	Tracking the candidate from application to hire  Goals •	Determine sourcing channels that produce strong candidates from underrepresented groups •	Adjust spend to maximize applicant diversity  •	Measure the success of your diverse campaigns and recruiting strategies

Identifying Barriers in Your Process

Building a more diverse, equitable and inclusive process doesn’t stop with sourcing; if you’re bringing a robust slate of diverse candidates into your pipeline, but very few candidates from underrepresented groups are actually hired, you may have a barrier somewhere else in your process: This could be an assessment with an unintentional bias; a recruiter or hiring manager who could benefit from more training; or an issue with your employment offers. In this situation, the right data can help determine exactly where the issue is occurring in your process and whether changes would result in a more equitable recruitment process.

data accurately. Then, in your reporting tool, you’ll be able to identify if a particular step in your process precipitates a drop in candidate diversity.

For instance, your reporting may show that a recently added video interview step resulted in more candidates from diverse backgrounds dropping out of your funnel. In this case, you could try converting the video interview to a phone or on-demand audio interview to see if it improves results. Similarly, your reporting could show that you have one recruiter or hiring manager with a higher percentage of diverse candidates falling out, which could lead to an opportunity to implement more training. Or, you could see that candidates from diverse backgrounds are successful throughout your recruitment process, but then turn down your employment offers. If that’s the case, then you may want to look at your benefits, offer process or employer value proposition.

Identifying Barriers in Your Process

Data to gather
•	Candidate and new hire self-identification 
•	Candidate progress through the recruitment funnel 
•	Reason for candidate rejection 
•	Recruiter and hiring manager trends 

Goals 
•	Identify where candidates from underrepresented groups are dropping out of your interviewing and screening process
•	Adjust to reduce unconscious bias in diversity sourcing

Using Surveys to Improve Inclusion

Our first examples focused on improving diversity sourcing and equity in the recruitment funnel, but you can also use data to measure and improve inclusion. Your goal is to understand how candidates feel about your hiring process, as well as how new employees feel about your onboarding process and company culture—and the best way to measure this is to simply ask them.

In fact, you can and should survey candidates at different stages of your recruitment funnel. Fortunately, there are a variety of candidate survey tools that you can integrate into your ATS to automatically ask candidates for feedback about their experiences, which can then provide critical insights about points where you may be alienating certain candidates. Yet, very few employers regularly ask candidates for feedback about the recruitment process: According to a survey by PeopleScout and HRO Today, only 29% of employers in North America regularly ask for candidate feedback, while 33% never do so. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), the data is somewhat better, with 42% of recruiters reporting that they regularly request candidate feedback, whereas 24% say that they never do.

Essentially, there are two different ways you can gather and gauge the results of your surveys, and it all comes down to the questions that you ask. A strong survey will have a mixture of both scored questions and open text responses; the scores help you identify trends over time, while the text responses help you drill into specifics.

Surveys can also help measure your success and identify problem areas—especially when coupled with your recruiting data. For example, if you ask candidates how they feel about the interview process and those scores start to trend downward, you can review your recruiting data to see if you notice any changing trends. Likewise, if you see more candidates from underrepresented backgrounds dropping out just before or after an interview, you can evaluate and determine why your interview process is negatively affecting candidates—especially if you also have text responses that provide specific feedback.

Going a step further, you can also survey new hires to measure inclusion in your onboarding process. A Gartner study featured in the Harvard Business Review identified seven factors that can provide a holistic view of inclusion within your organization:

  1. Fair treatment: Employees at my organization who help the organization achieve its strategic objectives are rewarded and recognized fairly.
  2. Integrating differences: Employees at my organization respect and value each other’s opinions.
  3. Decision-making: Members of my team fairly consider ideas and suggestions offered by other team members.
  4. Psychological safety: I feel welcome to express my true feelings at work.
  5. Trust: Communication we receive from the organization is honest and open.
  6. Belonging: People in my organization care about me.
  7. Diversity: Managers at my organization are as diverse as the broader workforce.

Then, if your survey finds that new hires from underrepresented backgrounds feel less of a sense of belonging or less safe expressing their true feelings at work, you can evaluate and improve your onboarding process and, through further surveys, measure the influence of any changes you make.

Using Surveys to Improve Inclusion  Data to Gather •	Candidate and new hire self-identification  •	New hire survey responses  •	Onboarding survey responses  •	Candidate survey responses  Goals •	Identify and remove barriers in your hiring process •	Identify and remove barriers in your onboarding process •	Measure employee engagement and inclusion

As employers continue to work to improve diversity sourcing, equity and inclusion within their organizations, it’s critical to have the right tools in place to identify opportunities for improvement and measure success. Talent acquisition leaders play an important role in achieving those goals, and a trusted RPO and technology partner can provide valuable insights and market trends. To learn more about what talent leaders can do, download our ebook, Progress in Action: Moving Toward a Globally Diverse and Inclusive Workplace.

How to Hire Good Employees: Scalable Talent Assessment

The application process has changed dramatically throughout the years. Yet, some aspects seem eternal—like the fact that employers often start with lots of people at the top of their recruitment funnel and need to make sure they get the right people to the bottom.

But, the world is changing, and the pace of change is accelerating; candidates expect a simple, efficient recruitment process, and employers need workers who are digitally fluent and can adapt easily to change. Reskilling is also becoming even more important.

Plus, there’s also a strong focus on fairness, transparency and equality—with blind reviews of applications, diverse interview panels, and selection processes centered on the need to demonstrate competencies and alignment with the role.

Therefore, in order to adapt to today’s ever-changing landscape, it’s vital for employers to focus on a candidate’s potential to grow and adapt to future needs, as well as the skills and qualities they have today. To that end, throughout this article, we’ll share four steps for building a better assessment process—because not only is assessment the key to a more productive workforce, but it’s also essential to a workforce that’s more resilient and able to stand the test of time.

Step One: Shift from Experience to Potential

In a bid to prepare for the unknown, employers need to shift their focus away from candidates who have prior experience in a role and toward those who have potential. That’s because the employees who can demonstrate flexibility and resilience will be the ones who are best able to ride the wave of uncertainty.

Specifically, McKinsey & Company predicts that higher cognitive skills—such as creativity, critical thinking, decision-making and complex information processing—will be the most in-demand traits in the future. In fact, the need for these skills is predicted to grow by 19% in the United States and by 14% in Europe by 2030—up from already sizable demands. Furthermore, the same research also predicts the fastest rise ever in the need for advanced IT and programming skills, which could grow by as much as 90% by 2030.

As such, organizations that want to be at the forefront of innovation need to start thinking creatively about how they can tap into the vital perspectives of diverse minds. To lead a sector, outrun the competition, and truly innovate, employers need to stop looking for people who fit and start looking for people who add. Likewise, bias—conscious or unconscious—needs to be removed from the process. Besides, although they might seem like they come with a higher risk factor, people who do things very differently can create exceptional outcomes. So, instead of always asking, “Who can do the job?”, employers should be asking, “Who can take us further?”

Step Two: Reap the Rewards of Great vs. Good

Transforming candidate assessment and selection is an investment, but the business case has never been more important. Plus, many of the current processes and tools are subjective and don’t focus on differentiating between good and great hires. With this in mind, are organizations and hiring managers equipped with the tools they need to make the right decisions?


Additionally, better performance predictions will lead to better outcomes, and investing in the right tools can deliver multi-millions in cost benefits. In essence, an employer with a more agile and adaptable workforce is in a far better place to achieve competitive advantage—as well as the kind of employee satisfaction that attracts more high-achieving, agile candidates. In this way, quality hires have a substantial influence on business performance.

However, despite rigorous testing, chemistry sessions and multiple interviews, it can still be quite difficult for employers to understand whether an individual would actually be effective in a role—thereby making bad hires surprisingly common.

Nearly three out of four employers (74%) say they’ve hired the wrong person for a job.
CareerBuilder Survey


23% of workers regret switching jobs.
Go Banking Rates


The average cost of a bad hire is around 30% of the employee’s first-year earnings, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.


41% of companies estimated that bad hires cost them at least $25,000. And, for 25% of companies surveyed, that cost was at least $50,000.


The American Management Association says that, for some roles, the cost of a bad hire could be as much as 10 times an employee’s annual salary.

Conversely, getting great people—the people who go above and beyond the role criteria—is really good news because it has a profound effect on quality of output, which is truly beneficial to the business. What’s more, while great employees are valuable in and of themselves, they also drive wider team performance, inspire others and make it easier to recruit other great people.

Of more than 600,000 researchers, entertainers, politicians and athletes, high performers were 400% more productive than average ones. And, in highly complex occupations—such as software development—high performers were found to be an astounding 800% more productive. 
Report by McKinsey

High potential (HIPO) employees bring 91% more value to the organization than non-HIPOs and give 21% more effort than their peers. 
Gartner research

Step Three: Build Better by Thinking Bigger

So, if we’re going to build a better and fairer candidate assessment process, we need to find a way to:

  1. Measure potential, rather than experience, because we don’t know what the future looks like.
  2. Identify the behaviors that are required to separate those who will actually be successful from those who present well during an interview.
  3. Distinguish between good candidates who meet the criteria and great candidates who will take an organization further.
  4. Give candidates a clear and authentic picture of the organization and the role so that they can self-select out of the process if the opportunity isn’t right for them.
  5. Include candidates who might have non-traditional experiences or career paths and assess them equally.
  6. Assess candidates fairly and without subjectivity or bias.

Finally, employers need to be able to identify and select candidates who are motivated and energized to be productive at work. And, the way that we do all of these things is by assessing for passion, purpose and mindset.

Assessing Passion, Purpose & Mindset

Traditional assessment processes assess for capability, behavior and results. These terms are defined as:

Capability: A candidate’s core intellectual ability and capacity.
Behavior:A candidate’s past behavior and personality-based behavioral preferences, which work relatively well to predict performance.
Results:What a candidate has already achieved in terms of the knowledge, skills and experience that are required to deliver in a role.

Then, when these aspects are combined with new measurements that focus on purpose, passion and mindset, we can better predict the success of candidates and determine the candidates who are more engaged and likely to be a better hire for employers.

Let’s dig into those new descriptors and what they mean.

Purpose

Purpose is a candidate’s alignment with and willingness to contribute to the vision and values of an organization. For example, one study found that, out of 100 variables, employees reported that seeing purpose and value in their work was their most motivating factor—even more so than compensation. Notably, this is especially important for younger workers.

Clearly, ensuring that applicants understand the organization’s purpose and consider how aligned they are with that throughout the assessment process engenders a sense of belonging and partnership that underlies both great performance and job satisfaction.

In this way, assessment tools can be built around the organization’s vision and values so applicants have a chance to form an appreciation of them from their earliest contact with the organization. Then, if they don’t share the same values, they can choose another path. However, applicants who see an affinity with their own values will begin to feel the engagement and inspiration that will drive job success and satisfaction—even before they’re hired.

Passion

Passion is a candidate’s enthusiasm, enjoyment and commitment to mastering the requirements of a role. When an employee is passionate about a role, they’re engaged. Even so, most employers don’t have a method to effectively understand what a candidate is passionate about.

For this reason, during the assessment stage, employers need to find ways to reveal an applicant’s natural passions—which are often in the form of strengths—and find out if these are aligned with the role requirements. Then, they’ll be able to determine whether the candidate is likely to be a high performer who will want to commit the effort needed to succeed in all aspects of the job. Interviews, assessment center exercises, and immersive online assessments are excellent vehicles for exploring and observing applicants’ innate strengths in relation to the role. Similarly, self-evaluation tools can also be used to help applicants consider their own strengths and whether the role will offer sufficient opportunity to use and demonstrate them.

Mindset

Mindset is a candidate’s belief about themselves and their basic qualities, although these beliefs are rarely measured by employers. The two types are defined as:

Fixed mindset: The belief that one’s talents are innate gifts and not malleable.

Growth mindset: The belief that one’s talents can be developed through education and effort.

It’s thought that people with a growth mindset achieve greater success because they’re focused on learning and believe that they can get better and develop new skills. It’s worth noting here that organizations can have a growth mindset, too. For instance, organizations with a growth mindset are more likely to fill vacancies internally, whereas organizations with a fixed mindset automatically advertise in the external market.

When assessing mindset, we’re looking to understand a candidate’s strengths and attitudes in relation to learning, feedback, resilience and adaptability. Of course, there are many ways to do that; just keep in mind that it’s less about what candidates may have done in the past and more about how they approach their work and develop and broaden their competence. 

Step Four: Think Outside the Checkbox

By focusing purely on the capability, behavior and results of candidates as they’re presented in front of the recruitment team, today’s more traditional interview and assessment process can be challenging for both candidates and employers. That’s because, while these measures can predict the future success of certain candidates in specific roles, change is now constant—which means that better, more well-rounded assessments are a must.

For instance, a more blended assessment during the pre-screening allows employers to shortlist candidates based on several different attributes at the same time. The candidate can then forego multiple stages by demonstrating different attributes at the same time. This way, employers can get a clear picture of the different strengths and weaknesses of the entire group of candidates in order to make informed decisions about which candidates are best to bring forward to the interview stage.

The talent landscape and the world around us renders current assessment processes ineffective. As such, employers need to embrace a new approach that both ensures that candidates are assessed appropriately and also empowers them to make good decisions.

To that end, passion, purpose, and mindset can have as much influence on performance as a candidate’s core intellect, achievements and behaviors. And, by building these factors into the assessment of a potential employee, employers can select from a diverse pool of candidates based on each individual’s potential, as well as their current performance.

Unfortunately, most employers aren’t assessing for all of these factors, so they’re missing out on a comprehensive look at candidates. In the end, the question your organization needs to consider is this: In a rapidly changing world, what is the cost of maintaining the status quo?

The Future of Diversity Recruiting: Reevaluating Traditional Methods & Questioning Accepted Wisdom

Diversity recruiting is a hot topic right now. As your organization continues on its journey toward becoming more diverse, equitable and inclusive, it’s important to ensure that you’re relying on the most up-to-date strategies and understanding of candidates’ needs and behaviors. And, while there are many assumptions and diversity recruiting strategies that have become part of accepted wisdom throughout the years, are they still true? Are they still the most effective methods for interacting with candidates? 

In my role as PeopleScout director of employer brand and communication strategy, I deliver actionable insights and consultancy to clients; in essence, I help employers understand, articulate, and measure what makes their organizations unique places to work and then help them better understand and engage audiences from underrepresented groups. As such, I’m very outcome-focused. I don’t want to generate insights for the sake of insights; I want to challenge employers and support them in their journeys. For me, that means constantly interrogating what we think we know, what we just accept to be true and how effective our strategies are and how to manage diversity better.

So, in this article, I’ll examine the traditional wisdom around diversity in recruiting. Specifically, we’ll look at how our understanding of candidates from underrepresented backgrounds has evolved, share updated recruitment methods, and reflect on how factors like intersectionality and social mobility can be part of an effective recruitment process. 

Rethinking Limited Media Targeting & Focusing on Employer Branding 

Traditionally, when employers have wanted to recruit candidates from underrepresented groups, they’ve relied on limited media targeting. For example, if an organization was looking to attract more women, talent leaders would post open jobs on job boards targeting female candidates. And, while this is one strategy to bring in more diverse candidates, it does have its limits. For one, it doesn’t take into account what we know about candidate behavior. 

Rather, by tracking engagement metrics and actually speaking with candidates, we know that just because a person consumes a certain type of media in their everyday life, it doesn’t necessarily mean that a person will use that specialized media in their job search. Take me, for example: I’m Black and I’m female and I’m absolutely proud to be both of those things. But, neither of those has ever formed the basis of my job search. Instead, if I were looking for a new role as a communications consultant, I’d look at platforms offering roles related to my profession. Then, I’d research potential employers to ensure that they were welcoming and inclusive.  

So, instead of focusing on targeting niche, identity-related media and job boards, employers should focus on targeting the right professional or work-related channels with the right messaging. This means going beyond just talking about the responsibilities of the role in the job posting to also focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) within the organization as a whole. When candidates from underrepresented groups are searching for jobs, the right job title might be enough to get them to click on a posting—but whether they actually apply is influenced by what they read and hear about how an organization treats its people. Likewise, whether they continue in a recruitment process depends on how they’re treated throughout the candidate journey.  

Diversity Recruiting Strategies for an Inclusive Recruitment Process 

diversity recruiting

But, what does this look like in practice? Well, if talent leaders at an organization have analyzed the data and decided that they want to focus on certain demographics, the right campaign can be pretty effective if they make interventions at the right point in the hiring process. Below, I’ll outline some examples using the common goal of attracting more women. 

Language in Job Postings 

To ensure an inclusive process, employers should pay close attention to the language used in job postings. For instance, accepted wisdom suggests that women can sometimes be put off by words like “excellent,” “strong,” “driven” or “competitive.” So, to generate optimum engagement, one obvious intervention would be to find alternatives to use in job postings.  

However, it’s not that simple. In my work, I’ve spoken with many senior female professionals who say they expect to see words like that in job advertisements aimed at their level. Therefore, for employers, this means that language does matter—but your solution cannot be a one-size-fits-all. Instead, the language you choose for a job posting should feel inclusive, but should also reflect the job type and career level of candidates.  

Job Criteria 

Many talent leaders are familiar with the research that shows how women are less likely to apply for roles where they don’t meet 100% of the criteria, whereas men will apply if they meet just some of the requirements. Interestingly, anecdotal feedback from women shows that this isn’t because women don’t feel as though they can’t do the job; rather, they just don’t want to waste their time or energy on an application that they believe would be automatically rejected.   

So, to build a more inclusive job posting, employers should list only the essential criteria. Additionally, talent leaders should recognize that, as the list of criteria on a job posting gets longer, the applicant pool for that job will likely become less diverse.  

Representation 

You’ve heard the phrase “representation matters.” In popular media today—whether it’s movies, television or literature—you can see it in action. Similarly, employers must employ the same principles in their recruitment process, as well.  

If we stick with the example of attracting more women, that means employers should ensure that any recruitment communications include voices and stories from women at all levels of the organization. Likewise, employers should also be transparent about their diversity recruitment data and any plans in place to shift the dial around female representation. Then, when female candidates encounter more female voices throughout the process, they’ll realize that not only are they welcome at the organization, but they’ll also have the opportunity to thrive and progress. The same principle can be applied to any demographic group. 

What is Intersectionality?  

Thus far in this article, we’ve discussed diversity in simple, binary terms. But, if you’ve been paying attention to the DE&I space, you’ve likely heard the word “intersectionality.” Intersectionality is about recognizing the connections between social categories—including factors like race and ethnicity; gender identity; neurodiversity; and social class—and how an individual can be a combination of those things and potentially suffer compounded discrimination and disadvantage because of it.  

As a talent leader, you must approach DE&I from an intersectional perspective. Unfortunately, there can be multiple potential failure points in a candidate’s journey due to the intersectional nature of the people applying for roles. So far, I’ve used women as an example. But, the perceptions and experiences of Black women will be different from white women, Latina women or Asian women. Going even further, consider whether your female candidate is also from a socially disadvantaged background. Or, is she neurodiverse? All of these will influence how she interacts with your organization and whether she sees a potential career with you. And from your side as the employer, these combined factors also increase the risk of her falling victim to multiple adverse impacts in your recruitment process. So on the basis that no person is just one demographic, it’s critical that your organization considers intersectionality and ensures your processes are audited to eliminated as many chances as possible for bias to creep in.

For me, employer brands and diversity recruitment marketing campaigns that factor in intersectionality are far more likely to be inclusive. They’ll be the ones showcasing employees across a range of demographics so that candidates can see a variety of different types of people flourishing at an organization. They’re also putting in the work to make any necessary adjustments in the candidate journey, so that everybody has an equal opportunity to do well. That includes training for recruiters, hiring managers and other decision-makers, too.  

The Role of Social Mobility in Diversity Recruiting

Another factor that often gets lost in discussions of diversity, equity and inclusion is the role of social mobility. Social mobility is the link between a person’s occupation or income and the occupation or income of their parents. The stronger the link between a child and a parent, the lower the level of social mobility; the weaker the link, the higher the level of social mobility. For example, if an individual works on a production line at a factory and that’s also what their parents did, then that’s a low level of social mobility. If, on the other hand, the same individual secured a white-collar, managerial role, then their social mobility is high because of their earning potential.  

In diversity recruiting initiatives, social mobility can play into DE&I programs in a number of ways, but, most importantly, it plays a critical role in helping individuals achieve better outcomes. Plus, it also contributes to organizational success because it adds an additional layer of diversity within critical teams.  

There are several ways that employers can engage with social mobility; one is through schools and outreach activities, where you can introduce students in disadvantaged areas to careers that they may not have otherwise heard about. You can also use apprenticeships as a strategy to get early-career talent into roles that might not otherwise be accessible to them, while also allowing them to continue their education. Additionally, those employers that are able to make any of their roles fully remote can engage workers from disadvantaged areas and who may not have access to strong career opportunities within easy commuting distance. 

Making the Change 

For many employers, the strategies I’ve outlined will present a marked change from their standard way of doing business—and that’s okay. It’s important to recognize that change won’t happen overnight. When it comes to engaging with potential candidates from underrepresented groups, it’s about building an inclusive employer brand that appeals to multiple demographics and fosters a sense of potential belonging in an organization. Diversity recruiting also very much about building a brand that focuses equally on messaging, human stories and the candidate journey—and making sure that the different parts of the process truly support bringing in individuals from all walks of life who are the best people to fill your roles.   

HMRC: Creating a New Virtual Assessment Center for Greater Diversity

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.

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

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.