Digital Sourcing Strategy and Centralization Reduced Time-to-Hire by 20%
A leading retailer needed to remake its application process, which was long and difficult for candidates. PeopleScout implemented a shortened, mobile-first application process and expanded the client’s sourcing strategy.
6,800annual hires
85%application conversion rate, up from 35%
20%reduction in time-to-hirereduction in time-to-hire
Situation
A leading retailer engaged with PeopleScout to improve their application process. Despite having a well-known and well-loved consumer brand, the retailer relied on job boards to bring in candidates. The client’s application took 30 minutes to complete, and could not be completed on a mobile device, alienating or inconveniencing many job candidates.
The client knew it was losing a large portion of applicants because of its cumbersome application process. To apply, candidates needed access to a computer to fill out a 30-question application that took half an hour to complete—even for part-time positions.
The client engaged with PeopleScout, looking for a partner with technology and candidate experience expertise to remake the entire recruitment process in order to place the candidate at the center.
Solution
Expanded Sourcing Strategy
PeopleScout worked with the client to carefully craft an expanded sourcing strategy, including targeted digital recruitment marketing centered on attracting, engaging and converting candidates in online spaces. The strategy was focused on people who have an affinity for the client’s brand but may not be actively looking on job boards. Then, PeopleScout was able to drive those candidates to a quick, easy mobile apply process.
Mobile-first Apply
PeopleScout developed a mobile-first application designed to work easily through a smartphone and reduce candidate fall out. The new application is completed by all candidates, regardless of role.
Shortened Application
The new application includes just 11 questions on one page and takes less than eight minutes to complete. The client worked with PeopleScout to reduce the amount of information asked from candidates during the application stage in order to streamline the process.
Results
Half of Candidates Now Apply on Mobile
Nearly two-thirds (65.9%) of all candidates applying to this client now apply through a mobile device. Before working with PeopleScout, the client was excluding or at the very least inconveniencing a large portion of its talent pipeline.
Application Time Reduced From 30 Minutes to Less Than Eight
Applicants can consistently complete the application in eight minutes or less, with some candidates able to complete it in as little as six minutes.
Application Conversion Rate
The application conversion rate rose to 85% with the new shortened mobile application process. The rate for a traditional application is around 35%.
Broadened Talent Pipeline, Improved Candidate Quality and Shortened Time to Hire
The client no longer relies solely on job boards to build their pipeline and relies on a variety of sourcing strategies. This led to hiring of quality candidates, improving the slate-to-hire to one candidate hired for every 1.3 presented and shortened time-to-hire by more than 20%.
At a Glance
COMPANY Leading retailer
PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Affinix
In the United Kingdom, social mobility has gained more attention in recent years, particularly in relation to early career opportunities and their impact on an individual’s life trajectory. Social mobility refers to the movement of individuals or groups between different socio-economic positions within society—either upward (improving one’s social status) or downward. The impact that early career choices can have on social mobility cannot be overstated. The decisions made in the formative years of one’s professional life often set the stage for future opportunities, earning potential and overall quality of life.
Currently, the state of social mobility in the UK presents a complex picture. While progress has been made in some areas, significant challenges remain. The article explores the social mobility landscape and offers ways your early careers recruitment program can make a difference.
Historical Context of Social Mobility & Work
To understand the current state of social mobility in the UK, it’s essential to consider the historical context of social class in the country. Traditionally, British society was stratified, with divisions between the working class, middle class and upper class, which often determined an individual’s life chances from birth.
Over the past century, however, there has been a gradual evolution in social mobility. The post-World War II era saw significant changes, with the establishment of the welfare state, expansion of educational opportunities, and changes in the labour market contributing to increased social mobility. The 1950s and 1960s, in particular, are often referred to as the “golden age” of social mobility in the UK.
Key policies and reforms have played a crucial role in shaping social mobility. The Education Act of 1944, which introduced free secondary education for all, was a landmark policy. The expansion of higher education in the 1960s and 1970s, including the establishment of new universities, also opened up opportunities for many. More recently, initiatives such as the introduction of the National Minimum Wage in 1999 and the Equality Act 2010 have aimed to reduce economic disparities and discrimination.
Current Challenges for Social Mobility in Early Careers
Despite progress, significant challenges remain in achieving social mobility, particularly for early careers talent. These challenges can be broadly categorized into three main areas: education disparities, employment opportunities, and socioeconomic factors.
Education Disparities
Access to quality primary and secondary education remains uneven across the UK, creating a foundation for career inequalities that can persist throughout an individual’s life. Schools in disadvantaged areas often struggle with limited resources and difficulties in recruiting and retaining experienced teachers. This creates a challenging environment where students from working-class backgrounds must overcome significant obstacles to compete with their more privileged peers.
While overall university participation has increased in recent decades, students from disadvantaged backgrounds continue to face significant barriers in accessing higher education, particularly at elite institutions. Those who do secure places at universities often face additional challenges that their more privileged peers may not encounter, including financial pressures, lack of academic support networks and the need to balance studies with part-time work. These factors contribute not only to lower completion rates but also to reduced opportunities for networking, internships and extra-curricular activities that are often crucial for early career success.
Moreover, those who do attend are more likely to drop out before completing their degrees. Recent data from the Office for Students highlights that students from the most deprived backgrounds are significantly less likely to complete their university courses, with only 82% finishing their studies compared to 92% of students from the most advantaged groups. This 10-percentage point gap represents thousands of talented individuals whose potential remains unfulfilled.
The compounding effect of these educational disparities creates a concerning pipeline problem for social mobility in early careers. When students from working-class backgrounds face barriers at each stage of their educational journey, their ability to compete for prestigious graduate schemes and career advancement opportunities is significantly compromised. This perpetuates existing social inequalities and limits the diversity of talent that organizations can access.
Employment Opportunities
The transition from education to employment represents a critical juncture where social mobility often stalls, particularly in the realm of internships and entry-level positions. Recent research by the Sutton Trust reveals a troubling picture of how internships—increasingly essential for launching successful careers—have become a mechanism that reinforces rather than reduces social inequality.
Thirty-one percent of new graduates secured full-time employment through internship experience. However, access to these crucial opportunities remains heavily skewed by social class. The data shows a stark disparity: while 55% of middle-class graduates complete internships, only 36% of their working-class peers do the same. More concerning still, this gap has widened from 12 to 19 percentage points since 2018, indicating that the problem is getting worse, not better.
The financial barriers to accessing internships are substantial. The research reveals that 61% of internships offer inadequate compensation with 23% paying less than minimum wage and 21% entirely unpaid. This creates an obvious barrier for those from less privileged backgrounds. The impact is clear in the finding that 40% of unpaid interns rely on parental financial support—up significantly from 26 percent in 2018—effectively excluding those whose families cannot afford to subsidize their early career development.
The problem is compounded by how these opportunities are distributed. Internships are almost twice as likely to be secured through family and friends who work within an organization compared to through advertised positions. This “hidden job market” creates a double disadvantage for working-class graduates: not only are they less likely to be able to afford unpaid or low-paid internships, but they are also less likely to have the social connections necessary to access these opportunities in the first place.
Socioeconomic Factors
The interplay between educational disparities and employment barriers reveals a deeper structural challenge: how socioeconomic advantages create self-reinforcing cycles that perpetuate inequality across generations. This system of inherited privilege manifests in both obvious and subtle ways, creating what many now refer to as the “nepo baby” phenomenon—where family connections and inherited social capital play an outsized role in career advancement.
Those from privileged backgrounds often have access to “social capital”—a network of relationships that can provide insider knowledge about opportunities, make introductions to hiring managers and offer informal mentoring. This can be as valuable as formal qualifications, creating a parallel pathway to success that remains inaccessible to those outside these networks.
This advantage is compounded by the rising cost of living, particularly in major urban centres where higher paying career opportunities are concentrated. Those from wealthy families can afford to take unpaid internships, pursue additional qualifications, take career risks, and build professional networks through expensive social activities and events.
Meanwhile, those from working-class backgrounds face financial constraints that force them to prioritise immediate income over long-term career development. The rising cost of living, coupled with stagnant wages in many sectors, makes it increasingly difficult to save money or invest in further education and training that could enhance their career prospects.
The impact of these socioeconomic factors extends beyond individual careers to shape entire organizational cultures. When leadership positions are disproportionately filled by those from privileged backgrounds, it can create blind spots in understanding the barriers faced by others and perpetuate hiring and promotion practices that favour candidates with similar backgrounds.
Recruitment Best Practices to Improve Social Mobility in Early Careers
To effectively promote social mobility in early careers, organizations need to implement fair and inclusive recruitment practices, particularly during the critical assessment centre stage. The following best practices can significantly improve fairness and support for candidates from diverse backgrounds, helping to break down the systemic barriers identified earlier in this article.
Contextual Recruitment
Academic achievements and experience must be evaluated within the context of a candidate’s circumstances in order to achieve a fair assessment. Contextual recruitment are practices that acknowledge and accommodate the limiting and complex factors influencing applicants from deprived circumstances.
Tactics to consider:
Contextualized Applications: Implement systems that consider candidates’ achievements in the context of their background. For example, an applicant who achieved ABB at A-level while attending a low-performing school and facing socioeconomic challenges might be considered equivalent to a candidate with AAA from a high-performing school in an affluent area.
Diverse Shortlisting: Review shortlists for interviews and assessment centres to ensure they include a balanced representation of candidates from various socioeconomic backgrounds.
Inclusive Assessment Design
Traditional assessment methods can inadvertently favour candidates from privileged backgrounds who have had more exposure to professional environments, support from education and practice, and guidance on formalised testing. A well-designed assessment evaluates capability and potential through multiple lenses, giving all candidates the opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities.
Tactics to consider:
Accurate and Updated Assessment Criteria: The assessment criteria against which candidates are evaluated often contain implicit and invisible class-based definitions of what good looks like. This can effectively disadvantage candidates from lower socioeconomic backgrounds throughout the assessment process and reduce hiring diversity. Reviewing the criteria for these risk factors and updating them is an important first step in increasing diverse socioeconomic inclusion.
Varied Assessment Methods: Use a mix of assessment techniques (e.g., interviews, group exercises, situational judgement tests) to allow candidates different opportunities to showcase their abilities.
Skills-Based Assessments: Focus on assessing skills and potential rather than prior experience or knowledge that may be more influenced by socioeconomic factors.
Blind Evaluations: Where possible, use blind evaluation techniques to reduce unconscious bias. For example, remove names and educational institutions from written assessments.
Constructive Feedback: Offer detailed, constructive feedback to all candidates, regardless of outcome. This can be particularly valuable for candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds who may have had fewer opportunities for professional development.
Preparation and Support
Many talented candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds may be unfamiliar with corporate recruitment processes or lack the resources to prepare effectively. You can level the playing field by providing comprehensive support before the assessment.
Tactics to consider:
Pre-Assessment Information: Provide detailed information about the assessment process in advance, including what to expect, how to prepare and what will be assessed. This helps level the playing field for candidates who may not have access to insider knowledge or coaching. Include guidance on how candidates should and shouldn’t use Gen AI tools in their preparation to ensure candidates from all socioeconomic backgrounds take the opportunity to use them to prepare.
Practice Materials: Offer free, accessible practice materials and sample assessments to all candidates. These provide proportionately more benefit to those who have had limited access to resources already by virtue of their deprived educational or social background.
Travel and Accommodation Support: For in-person assessment centres, offering support with travel costs can ensure financial constraints don’t prevent talented candidates from attending.
Assessor Training and Diversity
The quality and composition of assessment panels significantly impact the fairness of recruitment processes. Well-trained, diverse panels are better equipped to recognize potential across different backgrounds and experiences.
Tactics to consider:
Unconscious Bias Training: Provide comprehensive unconscious bias training to all assessors involved in the recruitment process.
Diverse Assessment Panels: Ensure assessment panels are diverse in terms of gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic background to bring a range of perspectives to the evaluation process.
Structured Interviews: Use structured interview techniques with pre-determined questions and scoring criteria to ensure consistency in scoring methodologies and reduce potential bias.
Feedback and Continuous Improvement
Creating a fair recruitment process requires ongoing evaluation and refinement. Organizations should establish robust feedback mechanisms to understand what works and what needs improvement.
Tactics to consider:
Data Analysis: Regularly analyse recruitment data to identify any patterns of bias or areas where candidates from certain backgrounds may be disproportionately disadvantaged.
Candidate Surveys: Conduct anonymous surveys with candidates to gather feedback on the assessment process and identify areas for improvement.
Onboarding Support
Supporting candidates through their transition into the workplace is crucial for long-term success and retention, particularly for those from underrepresented backgrounds.
Tactics to consider:
Mentoring Programs: Offer mentoring programs to new early career hires, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds, to support their transition into the workplace.
Skills Development: Provide additional skills training or support for candidates who show potential but may need to develop specific skills to succeed in the role.
Conclusion
While social mobility in the UK continues to face significant challenges, particularly in the realm of early careers, there are promising developments. Early careers recruitment practices play a crucial role in either perpetuating or breaking down barriers to social mobility. Progressive recruitment strategies can help level the playing field and provide opportunities for talented individuals regardless of their background.
By implementing these best practices, you can not only promote social mobility in early careers but also help your organization identify and nurture talent from a wider pool of candidates, benefiting both the individuals and the organization.
Apprenticeship recruitment has taken on more importance in early careers programs in recent years. According to UK Government data, the most recent academic year saw a 7% increase in apprenticeship starts and 10% increase in apprenticeship achievements. Organizations and employees alike are waking up to the fact that many skills can be learned on the job—and that it’s often more relevant training than a university degree.
Whether for workers just starting out or those changing careers, apprenticeships help people gain valuable skills and on-the-job experience as they move toward a career in their field. For employers, field and business apprenticeships are one of the best ways of engaging early careers talent or career changers. Whilst providing opportunities for hands-on experience and training, apprenticeships help businesses to develop a talent pipeline that is equipped with future-ready skills.
In this article, we’ll explore how designing and offering apprenticeship programs can be a smart way for organizations to create their own talent pipeline, close their skills gaps and diversify their workforce.
What is an Apprenticeship?
An apprenticeship is paid employment that offers on-the-job training and is often accompanied by classroom-based learning. Some employers may offer their own in-house training while others offer it in association with a college, university or other training provider. An apprenticeship must last at least a year but can go as long as 5 years. Through in-depth, job- and industry-specific skills training, apprentices gain a nationally recognized qualification or certification upon completion.
Apprenticeship programs are a great choice for individuals who are early on in their careers, who are looking to upskill or who are exploring a career change. Employers are responsible for ensuring that apprentices work with experienced staff, learn job-specific skills and receive time off from work to complete their classroom training.
Different countries have different laws and regulations around apprenticeships including wages and working hours. There are also various funding programs and government schemes available to encourage both workers and employers to embrace apprenticeships. For example, the UK Government introduced the (controversial) apprenticeship levy in 2017 which uses business taxes to fund apprenticeship training.
Types of Apprenticeships
A common misperception is that apprenticeships are just for manual or skilled trade jobs. Whilst there are many apprenticeship programs in the skilled trades, there are also apprenticeship opportunities for all kinds of careers from actuaries to arborists. For example, our client, National Highways, offers apprenticeship opportunities for project management, business administration, legal, surveying and data analysis. Organizations are increasingly embracing corporate apprenticeships and traineeships as a means of diversifying their workforce and creating opportunities for social mobility.
There are different levels of apprenticeship including degree apprenticeships which correspond to an equivalent education level. Completing a Level 2 apprenticeship is the equivalent of completing a GCSE, and a Level 7 apprenticeship is the equivalent of completing a master’s degree.
Benefits of Apprenticeship Recruitment for Employers
Apprenticeship recruitment can be an effective way of growing and upskilling your workforce. Here are just a few of the benefits for employers.
Building a Talent Pipeline
Companies in a variety of industries can build their own apprenticeship programs to help talent see the rewarding career opportunities available within their sector. As apprentices gain experience, organizations establish a pipeline of prospective employees.
Early careers employees see apprenticeship programs as proof of an organization’s investment in their success and are more likely to stay with an organization after completing the program. In fact, 80% of apprentice employers say they have seen a significant increase in employee retention. Clearly, apprenticeship recruitment is an excellent way to “grow your own talent” and reduce attrition.
Closing Skills Gaps
According to McKinsey, a whopping 87% of organizations are aware they already have a skills gap within their workforce or will experience one in the next few years. Apprenticeships offer a way to develop a new generation of workers to help your organization succeed into the future. A structured apprenticeship is an effective way to get a leg up in recruiting and retaining sought-after talent like software developers, data analysts and engineers. Indeed, 86% of employers said that investing in apprentices helped to develop relevant skills for the organization.
A third of employers agree that apprenticeships have helped improve diversity within their business. They are particularly effective for creating career opportunities and boosting earnings for workers from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.
As more people struggle financially with student loans and education costs, apprenticeships have become an accessible career path for workers of all ages and backgrounds and give participants a shot at career success. They allow workers from underrepresented groups to increase their earnings potential—to work and earn money in the field while they learn. If your company cares about being a catalyst for sustained change in the community, apprenticeships are a great way to achieve this.
RPO + Apprenticeship Recruitment
As a leading recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) provider, PeopleScout helps organizations to obtain the talent and skills they need to succeed into the future through early careers recruitment solutions covering interns, graduates and apprenticeship programs. Unlike apprenticeship recruitment agencies, as an RPO partner, our expertise in talent acquisition strategy and workforce planning means we’re better equipped to successfully integrate apprentice programs into your overall talent attraction and training strategy. Plus, we have experts on staff that can design an assessment center that evaluates apprentice candidates against your organization’s values, culture and other requirements.
‘Is there a social value question? What’s the weighting?’ In my role as Bid Director, I come across this in almost every pitch invitation.
For the uninitiated, almost all formal tenders now ask what a bidder will do, over and above the contract, to help support local communities, disadvantaged groups or the population at large.
To be honest, it gives me mixed feelings. In theory, it is important that businesses give back in meaningful ways, especially those receiving money from the public purse. Through collective efforts, combining the reach of the public sector with the skills of the private sector, we can significantly improve lives, and in turn, make society safer, richer and better for all.
However, I also understand the hurdles; not every company has the resources to make a real impact. For example, does an SME business, with few staff, really possess the time, money and resources to run employability workshops or CV writing webinars? When a client asks for time, resources and money from a provider, it runs the risk of social value becoming a ‘necessary evil’ which delivers poor returns for all, rather than a genuine force for good.
“Effective philanthropy requires a lot of time and creativity – the same kind of focus and skills that building a business required.”
– Bill Gates
It’s easy to complain and point out challenges. Anyone can do that; finding solutions is much harder. I believe PeopleScout and Heathrow Employment and Skills Academy provide a great example of combining resources, applying creativity and utilising key skills to deliver social good that benefits all.
The two organisations work in genuine collaboration to help Heathrow’s wider community find meaningful and gainful employment across the whole of the Airport, from shops and restaurants through to engineering and mechanical departments.
Heathrow, and its business partners, advertise available roles via the Heathrow Employment and Skills Academy website. PeopleScout screens candidates to ensure suitability and provide more insight into specific roles to ensure candidates fully understand responsibilities and would be comfortable working within the environment. We then book interviews on their behalf. Just as importantly, PeopleScout provides these candidates with advice and guidance prior to interviews, ensuring they are ready, motivated and equipped to increase their chance to succeed in the recruitment process. This personal and supportive service is most important for people who have been out of work for a long time or who may be making their first ever application for paid employment.
We also work with the Heathrow Employment and Skills Academy to deliver careers and essential skills workshops, employment webinars and community drop-in sessions. These are not projects which are ‘outsourced’ to PeopleScout, they are truly collaborative events that enable us to support the local community, with shared resources and shared goals, utilising the skills of both PeopleScout and Heathrow teams to maximum effect.
We have also re-written advertising content to ensure it is fully inclusive and appeals to different demographics, thereby ensuring no group feels hesitant about applying for roles that could significantly improve their lives.
This combined approach has delivered outstanding success; together, PeopleScout and the Skills Academy have supported over 14,000 applications from unemployed candidates and made over 600 job offers. Plus, 31 new apprentices have started on our shared apprenticeship scheme with our construction supply chain partners in 2024 alone. By working together, applying the methodologies of business with the values of philanthropy, we can drive real social change.
[On-Demand] Job Interviews & Gen AI: Pitfalls & Best Practices to Hire Top Talent
While everyone’s talking about AI in recruitment, we’ve been analysing its real impact on the candidate assessment process. Our data shows that while pre-recorded interviews remain crucial for volume hiring, they’re increasingly vulnerable to manipulation from candidates leveraging Generative AI (Gen AI) tools like ChatGPT or Gemini.
So, how do you accurately assess candidates while ensuring fair opportunities for all?
In this webinar, PeopleScout’s Head of Assessment Design, Amanda Callen, and Talent Solutions Director, James Chorley, break down the issues and share practical strategies for securing your interview and assessment process in the age of Gen AI. Whether you’re concerned about AI’s impact on your current practices or looking to future-proof your process, this session covers pitfalls ahead and best practice you can implement immediately.
In this webinar, we’ll tackle:
Gen AI Disruption: Understanding how Gen AI actually impacts pre-recorded interviews and assessment processes
Smart Mitigation Strategies: Exploring dual assessment approaches to safeguard quality without compromising the candidate experience
Future-Proofing Your Process: Anticipating Gen AI advances to help with reviewing and adapting your assessment tools to stay ahead
Plus, you’ll get a free guide!
You’ll gain a comprehensive understanding of both the challenges to interviews and suggested solutions, leaving with concrete strategies to protect your recruitment process while embracing innovation.
Amanda is a Chartered Psychologist and an HCPC-registered Practitioner Psychologist with over 30 years’ experience of working in occupational psychology consultancy and research within UK and global public, private and third sector organisations.
She is an assessment design and strategy specialist, with a particular interest in diversity, inclusion and fairness in assessment methodologies, and in how AI and new technology is impacting assessment practice and reality.
Amanda is Head of Assessment Design at PeopleScout, where she leads the team of psychologists providing a range of psychology services, including evidence-based diagnostics, assessment data analysis and bespoke assessment methodology design, alongside our consultancy and partnership services.
James Chorley
James Chorley is a seasoned professional with over 16 years of extensive experience in the Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) industry. As a Talent Solutions Director – RPO for PeopleScout, he has a proven track record of success in various facets of RPO, including implementation, first-generation RPO, early careers and assessment solutions. His expertise lies in forging strong client partnerships and delivering tailored recruitment strategies that drive success.
In addition to his RPO expertise, James has a robust background in learning and development. This unique combination enables him to design and implement comprehensive assessment solutions that not only identify top talent but also support their ongoing development and growth within organisations. His commitment to continuous improvement and innovation in recruitment processes sets him apart as a thought leader in the industry.
The aged care sector stands at a critical juncture, facing unprecedented demand as global populations continue to age. According to the United Nations, the proportion of individuals aged 65 and over is expected to increase from 10% in 2022 to 16% by 2050. This demographic shift has placed immense pressure on aged care services, highlighting the urgent need for effective aged care recruitment strategies to meet the growing demand for qualified caregivers.
The challenges in aged care recruitment are multifaceted, ranging from a shortage of skilled workers to high turnover rates and a competitive job market. This article aims to explore these challenges and provide actionable strategies for improving recruitment in the aged care sector. By addressing these issues head-on, you can ensure high-quality care for the elderly in your community while creating rewarding career opportunities for caregivers.
Understanding the Aged Care Sector
Before delving into aged care recruitment strategies, it’s crucial to understand the diverse landscape of the aged care workforce. The sector encompasses a wide range of care options, including:
Residential aged care facilities (nursing homes)
Home care services
Assisted living communities
Respite care centers
Palliative care services
Within these various settings, comprehensive care requires a variety of essential roles, from nurses to physiotherapists to administrative staff. Whether it’s for nursing home hiring or home health recruiting, each role requires a unique set of skills and qualifications. While some positions, such as RNs, demand extensive formal education and licensing, others like activity coordinators may not require certification. Regardless of the specific role, recruiters must assess all aged care workers for interpersonal skills, empathy, patience and a genuine passion for working with older adults.
Current Aged Care Recruitment Challenges
The aged care sector faces several significant recruitment challenges:
Shortage of Qualified Staff: Many countries are experiencing a severe shortage of trained aged care workers and home healthcare workers. This shortage is exacerbated by growing demand for health services, including home health services, long-term care and aged care.
High Turnover Rates: The aged care sector struggles with high turnover rates, often due to burnout, emotional stress and physically demanding work conditions. This level of churn creates a cycle of recruitment and training that strains resources.
Competitive Job Market: With the expansion of healthcare services, aged care providers often find themselves competing for talent with hospitals, clinics and other healthcare facilities that may offer more attractive compensation packages or work environments.
Changing Demographics of the Aged Care Workforce: As the current workforce ages, there’s a need to attract younger generations to aged care roles. However, many younger workers have different career expectations and may not initially consider aged care as a viable career path.
5 Strategies for Effective Aged Care Recruitment
To address these challenges, aged care providers must adopt innovative and comprehensive recruitment strategies.
1. Develop a Strong Employer Brand
Creating a compelling employer brand is crucial for attracting top talent for aged care staffing. This involves crafting a narrative that highlights your organization’s mission, values and the meaningful impact of aged care work on individuals and communities. Use various channels such as your website, social media and recruitment advertising to help your organization stand out as an employer of choice.
To attract younger workers, develop a strong social media presence that showcases success stories of real employees, emphasizing personal growth, job satisfaction and the rewarding nature of caring for older adults through engaging content such as videos, employee testimonials and facility tours. Highlight career progression opportunities within your organization, demonstrating that aged care can offer long-term, fulfilling career paths.
2. Update Recruitment Technology Platforms
In today’s digital age, investing in your recruitment tech stack is essential for reaching a wide pool of potential candidates in aged care recruitment. Yet, many aged care providers are grappling with outdated recruitment systems that are ill-equipped to meet the demands of modern recruitment. Updating your tech stack can significantly enhance agility, streamline processes and provide the seamless candidate experience that today’s aged care professionals have come to expect.
AI-powered sourcing tools can swiftly identify the most promising talent for various aged care roles, from nurses to physiotherapists, in a matter of minutes. Furthermore, advanced analytics equip recruitment teams with valuable data to refine strategies, allowing you to target the right candidates more effectively and improve retention rates in the challenging aged care sector.
3. Implement Employee Referral Programs
Employee referral programs can be a powerful tool for recruiting high-quality candidates to your aged care roles. When employees refer qualified friends, family members or professional contacts to open positions, hiring processes are often faster, recruitment costs are lower and retention rates are higher, as referred employees tend to have a more realistic understanding of the job and organization before joining.
When implementing an employee referral program, it’s important to communicate the details of the program clearly to all employees and make the referral process as simple and straightforward as possible. Offer incentives for successful referrals, such as monetary bonuses, extra paid time off or other perks. Plan ways to regularly celebrate successful referrals to maintain enthusiasm for the program.
4. Offer Competitive Compensation and Benefits
Offering competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits packages is crucial for attracting and retaining top talent in this competitive space. Develop a comprehensive benefits package that addresses the diverse needs of your workforce, including health insurance, retirement plans and paid time off. Consider adding perks that can set you apart as an employer. Flexible scheduling options, wellness programs, professional development opportunities or tuition reimbursement for continuing education can go a long way to enticing talent to aged care.
Regularly benchmark your salary offerings against industry standards to ensure you remain competitive. Beyond base salary, consider offering bonuses to motivate and reward exceptional performance. Remember that investing in your employees through competitive compensation and benefits can lead to higher job satisfaction, improved performance and lower turnover rates in the long run.
5. Engage an RPO Partner for Aged Care Recruitment
Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) has emerged as a strategic aged care staffing solution for providers facing persistent recruitment challenges. For aged care organizations, RPO leads to faster hiring times, improved quality of hires and a more streamlined recruitment process overall.
One of the key advantages of RPO in aged care recruitment is its scalability and flexibility, allowing organizations to quickly ramp up or down their recruitment efforts as needed. RPO providers in healthcare often bring a data-driven approach, offering valuable insights into recruitment metrics and market trends specific to the aged care sector. An RPO partner can also help develop your employer brand strategy, ensuring that your values and culture are effectively communicated to potential candidates.
Choose an RPO partner with a deep understanding of the aged care sector’s unique challenges and requirements. When considering RPO, think about the level of outsourcing that best suits your needs, whether it’s a full-scale solution or a project-based approach for specific roles. With clear communication and well-defined performance metrics, RPO can be a powerful tool for aged care providers to enhance their recruitment capabilities and ensure they have the skilled workforce needed to provide high-quality care.
Conclusion
Effective aged care recruitment is not just about filling positions; it’s about building a sustainable, skilled and passionate workforce capable of providing high-quality care to our aging population. By implementing comprehensive recruitment strategies, embracing tech innovations, and collaborating with an RPO partner, you can address the current challenges and prepare for future demands. By embracing these strategies, aged care organizations can elevate the perception of aged care work, attract talented individuals to the field, and ensure that our elderly receive the compassionate, skilled care they deserve.
The landscape of early careers recruitment is undergoing rapid transformation. As we navigate through economic uncertainties and technological advancements, both employers and emerging talent face new challenges and opportunities.
From the intensifying competition for top graduates to the shift towards skills-based hiring, the insights in our latest infographic will help you stay ahead in the evolving world of graduate and early careers recruitment.
Check out this infographic with key stats from the global early careers market.
As our infographic illustrates, the early careers talent market is at a critical juncture. While competition for top talent intensifies and application volumes surge, many organizations are grappling with resource constraints and outdated tech stacks. However, the shift towards skills-based hiring presents a promising opportunity to tap into a more diverse talent pool.
To thrive in this new landscape, employers must adapt their strategies to meet the expectations of Gen Z candidates while optimizing their recruitment processes. By leveraging the right technologies and focusing on skills over traditional metrics, organizations can position themselves as attractive destinations for emerging talent.
A well-designed early careers program is not just a nice-to-have—it’s a strategic imperative. As organizations vie for top Gen Z talent, those with robust, thoughtfully structured programs gain a significant edge. This article delves into the crucial elements of building a successful early careers initiative, and how engaging an RPO can help you structure your overall program and craft an effective early careers recruitment strategy.
The following guide will explore how to create a program that not only attracts bright, ambitious graduates but also nurtures their growth, aligns with your business objectives, and builds a pipeline of future leaders. From rotational schemes and mentorship opportunities to innovative early careers recruitment tactics, we’ll cover the essential components of how an RPO partner can set your early careers program apart.
The Impact of RPO for a Strong Early Careers Program
Establishing a robust early careers program can be a complex undertaking, but partnering with an experienced recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) provider can significantly streamline the process. An RPO partner brings specialized expertise in designing and implementing comprehensive early careers initiatives, from structuring rotational schemes and mentorship programs to crafting tailored development pathways. They can help align your program with current industry best practices, ensuring it appeals to Gen Z talent while meeting your organization’s strategic objectives.
Moreover, an RPO partner can revolutionize your early careers recruitment strategy, leveraging cutting-edge technologies and innovative approaches to attract top young talent. They can manage the entire recruitment lifecycle, from employer branding and candidate sourcing to assessment and onboarding, allowing you to focus on core business activities. By entrusting your early careers program to an RPO specialist, you’re not just filling entry-level positions—you’re investing in a scalable, future-proof talent acquisition strategy that will drive long-term organizational success and build a strong pipeline of future leaders.
Considerations for Your Early Careers Program
Before you can start thinking about how to recruit this dynamic generation, you need to think about how to structure your early careers program. Your RPO provider will guide you through some of the questions below as they help you create a blueprint for building your early careers program.
Early Careers Program Structure
What are the goals and objectives for your early careers program? Do you want to develop future leaders, or are you trying to find talent with particular skills?
Have you created an early careers success profile? Who is the ideal early careers hire that will meet your program objectives and fit your company culture? What skills and capabilities do they need? What behaviors should they exhibit?
What are your diversity targets for the early careers program?
What will the program look like? Will early careers hires join a particular team or department? Or will they go through rotations with various departments before specializing? How long will each rotation last? What will they do during each rotation?
How long is your early careers program? It could be one to three years, or even longer, depending on your objectives.
Will you hire continuously for your early careers program or bring in annual or semi-annual cohorts? How big is each cohort? You’ll need to balance your program objectives with providing individualized attention and fostering connections.
Do you have a dedicated early careers program coordinator? What about an executive sponsor or steering committee?
Work Environment & Support Systems
Where will your early careers talent work? Are they required to work from the office? Or are you open to hybrid working options to offer flexibility?
How will you ensure retention of early careers talent? Mentoring programs that pair early careers talent with experienced professionals and buddy systems for peer-to-peer support are two ways to foster engagement, inclusion and community.
Development Opportunities & Career Progression
What training will your early careers talent need to be successful in the short and long term? Are these materials already created or do you need to develop them? Does the training take place in person, virtually or a hybrid? Do you need to invest in learning and development (L&D) technology?
How will you measure the performance of your early careers talent? Gen Z loves feedback and will want to have career development discussions early and often. Your RPO partner can help ensure your managers and leaders are prepared with performance criteria and coaching frameworks.
What is the career path for your emerging talent? Is there one set path for your program, or will it depend on the individual? Clearly outline potential career paths within the organization and ensure early careers talent know how to find opportunities for internal mobility once they’ve completed the program.
Remember, an RPO partner will help you create a program that develops talent who align with your organization’s culture and strategic objectives. Plus, they will regularly review and adjust your program to ensure it remains relevant and effective in training and retaining top talent.
Structuring Your Early Careers Recruitment Campaigns
Once you know what your early careers program will look like, your RPO partner will then help you structure the recruitment process. Rolling and block campaigns are two different approaches to structuring early careers recruitment efforts. Both approaches have their merits, and some organizations use a hybrid model. The choice depends on factors like industry norms, organizational needs and the types of roles being filled.
Rolling Campaigns
In a rolling campaign, you recruit early careers talent throughout the year. Applications are accepted continuously, and candidates are evaluated as they apply. This means rolling campaigns can be more resource-intensive to manage and may make it harder to compare candidates directly.
Benefits & Considerations for Rolling Campaigns:
Flexibility for both employers and candidates
Ability to fill positions as needs arise
Potentially shorter time-to-hire due to quicker responses and hiring decisions, which can keep candidates engaged
Opportunity to capture top talent year-round
Continuous recruitment aligns well with ongoing social media strategies, allowing for regular content and engagement opportunities
Fewer applicants at a time means you can offer a more personalized recruitment experience, which Gen Z appreciates
Block or Cohort Campaigns
Block campaigns, also known as cohort recruiting, involve recruiting during a specific timeframe, often aligned with the academic calendar. For example, you might have an intern recruitment campaign in the spring to hire a cohort of summer interns, or you might hire in the spring to capture students as they graduate. Block campaigns are common in industries with predictable hiring needs and can be more efficient for processing large numbers of entry-level positions.
Benefits & Considerations for Cohorts
Set application deadlines and structured hiring cycles appeal to Gen Z’s desire for transparency and help them plan accordingly
Great for internships and graduate programs that follow the academic calendar
Creates a sense of urgency and competition among candidates inspiring them to put their best foot forward
Allows for batch processing of applications making it easier to manage large volumes all at once
Allows for group assessments centers or virtual events, which can showcase your company culture and allow candidates to interact with peers
Can be perceived as fairer and more inclusive, which are important values for Gen Z
Hybrid Approach
Consider a hybrid model that combines elements of both rolling recruiting and cohort campaigns. It might look something like:
Main recruitment drives (cohorts) for graduate programs or internships
Year-round opportunities (rolling) for specific roles or departments
Benefits & Considerations of Hybrid Early Careers Recruitment
Attracts a wider range of candidates, including those who may not align with specific cohort timelines
May require additional resources and careful planning to manage both rolling and cohort recruitment simultaneously
Can help distribute the recruitment workload throughout the year, potentially reducing stress on internal teams during peak periods
May create challenges ensuring consistent assessment and selection processes across both recruitment methods
May complicate budget forecasting for recruitment and training
RPO & Early Careers Programs
By partnering with an RPO, organizations can leverage their expertise to design comprehensive early careers programs that align with their strategic goals and resonate with Gen Z candidates. From innovative recruitment strategies to structured development paths, these programs offer a multifaceted approach to nurturing young professionals. Companies that invest in robust early careers initiatives will find themselves well-positioned to build a dynamic, skilled workforce capable of driving future success.
The healthcare industry is facing a severe shortage of nurses and other frontline clinical staff, creating unprecedented challenges for medical facilities across the nation. This crisis, exacerbated by an aging population and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, threatens the quality, accessibility and continuity of patient care. Whether healthcare organizations require the recruitment of registered nurses (RNs), nurse practitioners (NPs), or certified nursing assistants (CNAs), the need for innovative nurse recruitment strategies has never been more critical.
The shortage spans all levels of nursing, from entry-level positions to advanced practice roles. Hospitals, clinics, long-term care facilities and home health agencies are all feeling the pinch as they struggle to maintain adequate staffing levels. This scarcity of nursing professionals not only strains existing staff but also impacts patient outcomes, increases wait times, and can lead to the reduction or elimination of certain services.
This article explores the depth of the nursing shortage, its root causes, recruiting strategies for nurses for today’s competitive landscape.
The Nursing Shortage: A Growing Crisis
The current state of the nursing workforce paints a concerning picture for the future of healthcare. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that the United States will face a shortage of 195,400 nurses by 2031. There are not enough nurses joining the field, which is not for lack of interested and qualified applicants. As many as 80,000 qualified applicants get turned away from nursing colleges because there are not enough nursing faculty, clinical sites, and resources to support larger class sizes.
Driven by the strain of the pandemic and a shrinking workforce, many healthcare workers are choosing to the leave the field due to burnout. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the rates of RN turnover in the United States have ticked up over recent years, growing from 17% in 2017 to 26% by 2021. More than a quarter of RNs report they plan to retire or leave nursing over the next five years.
With nationwide labor shortages and inflation, healthcare organizations face rising costs for salaries, benefits and contract staffing which strains budgets. Hospitals and health systems are paying an additional $24 billion per year for clinical labor than they were before the pandemic. In general, modern employees require more competitive compensation, benefits and perks to be enticed. This is even more crucial in rural settings where healthcare staff often must be convinced to relocate.
In order to keep patient care standards high amidst staffing shortages, the U.S. healthcare system relies heavily on costly contract and travel nurses which further drives up labor costs for hospitals. According to the American Hospital Association, the portion of nurse labor expenses going to contract travel nurses has grown from 4.7% in 2019 to 38.6% in January 2022.
While travel nurses accounted for 23% of total nurse hours in January 2022, they represented nearly 40% of all nursing labor costs for hospitals. Plus, relying on traveling nurses can be bad for morale as staff nurses realize how much more money travel nurses are making—thus exacerbating retention challenges.
7 Best Practices in Nurse Recruitment
Traditional approaches to nursing recruiting are no longer sufficient in this high-demand environment. Healthcare providers must reimagine their recruitment processes, workplace cultures and career development opportunities to attract and retain top nursing talent across all specialties and experience levels. To address the shortage, healthcare organizations should consider these best practices in nurse recruitment.
1. Modernize Recruitment Technology
Often healthcare organizations are struggling with legacy recruitment technology that is no longer fit for purpose when it comes to modern healthcare recruitment. Investing in your recruitment tech stack helps you gain agility, streamline your processes and access a world-class candidate experience that today’s nurses have come to expect.
AI-powered sourcing tools can help identify the most promising healthcare talent in a matter of minutes. Plus, advanced analytics arm you with the data you need to hone your recruitment strategy.
2. Expand Nurse Recruitment Channels
Expanding recruitment channels is essential in today’s competitive market. Partnering with nursing schools for early careers recruitment opportunities can help secure a pipeline of emerging talent. Utilizing social media platforms effectively can reach nursing candidates where they spend much of their time. Attendance at both virtual and in-person job fairs for healthcare recruitment can also yield positive results.
3. Offer Competitive Compensation and Benefits
Offering competitive compensation and benefits is more important than ever for clinical recruitment. Regular salary benchmarking ensures that pay rates remain attractive in a rapidly changing market. Comprehensive benefits packages, including perks like student loan repayment benefits and robust mental health support, can set an organization apart. For hard-to-fill positions, sign-on bonuses may be necessary to secure top talent over your competition.
4. Create Clear Career Advancement Pathways
Creating clear career advancement pathways is crucial for both recruitment and retention—but don’t just promote it to existing employees. Before joining, nurses want to know that there’s an established path to promotion to assure them there’s room to grow their skills and earning potential.
Use your CRM to share content with nursing candidates throughout the recruitment journey that showcases mentorship programs for new nurses or leadership tracks for more experienced nurses. No matter where they are in their careers, nursing candidates want to know their employer will offer support and guidance throughout their careers.
5. Emphasize Work-Life Balance
In today’s workforce, emphasizing work-life balance is non-negotiable, regardless of industry. But with burnout among nurses higher than ever, it’s important to show nursing candidates upfront that you’re committed to work-life balance.
Offering roles with flexible schedules, including part-time and job-sharing opportunities, can attract a wider pool of candidates. Ensure your job descriptions address paid time off and promotes your well-being perks and benefits.
6. Diversify Your Nursing Workforce
Diversity in nursing is not only an ethical imperative but also a practical necessity in serving increasingly diverse patient populations and supporting multilingual patient care. Developing targeted recruitment strategies for nurses from underrepresented groups can broaden the talent pool.
👉 Check out our DE&I Resource Center for information to help guide you on your diversity, equity and inclusion journey.
7. Engage a Healthcare RPO Partner
To overcome recruiting roadblocks, healthcare organizations can partner with a recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) partner to supplement internal recruiting teams and create sustainable talent acquisition strategies. When implemented correctly, a healthcare RPO program enhances recruiting effectiveness, attracts top talent and reduces cost, providing healthcare organizations with a competitive advantage.
The RPO Advantage for Nurse Recruitment
The nursing shortage is a complex challenge that requires a multifaceted approach. A growing number of forward-thinking healthcare talent acquisition and HR leaders have partnered with an RPO partner to stay ahead of the competition. An RPO program can help your organization implement these nurse recruitment best practices and position you as an employer of choice for nurses.
Banking on Talent: Sourcing Hundreds of Tech Pros for Financial Services
This financial services firm engaged their RPO partner PeopleScout for this three-month recruitment project to source in-demand technology pros for a digital transformation initiative.
5Days to Project RPO Launch
1.5:1Interview to Offer Ratio
46Days from Application to Offer
Situation
A leading financial services organization was undertaking a digital transformation project to adapt to how their customer wanted to bank—shifting from in-branch and to online and in-app. However, with demand for technology professionals in the UK increasing by more than 40%, the client needed support and asked PeopleScout to manage specialist hiring for five role profiles within their technology team, including customer journey managers, technical delivery managers and product owners.
The client required us to launch the project RPO immediately to meet their recruitment goals.
Solution
We mobilized a dedicated specialist tech recruiting team in just five days. The team included experienced tech recruiters which expedited the screening process. In parallel, we devised a recruitment marketing strategy utilizing job boards and social media campaigns to attract applications from qualified talent.
Our tech recruiters proactively sourced and headhunted candidates with in-demand technology profiles and in hard-to-fill locations. We supported the full candidate lifecycle including attraction, sourcing, sifting, screening, interview scheduling and offer management using the client’s ATS and other systems. Throughout the project we worked collaboratively with the client to respond to their changing requirements.
Results
During the three-month project, we conducted in depth, technical screening calls with over 430 candidates, and we were able to shortlist and present 297 qualified candidates for the roles—all while adhering to stringent financial services regulations. We achieved an interview to offer ratio of 1.5:1, and 94% of candidates who received offers accepted.
The client was happy with the consistent support they received from PeopleScout. They commended our commitment to innovative approaches and were pleased that we kept the project on track despite obstacles, all whilst prioritizing candidate experience.
At a Glance
COMPANY Financial Services Organization
INDUSTRY Financial Services
PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Talent Advisory
ABOUT THE CLIENT This financial service company is a long-time PeopleScout client, receiving RPO services for high-volume customer service roles, specialist professional hires and annual early careers campaigns.
