The challenge:
Our client needed to recruit high-calibre, digital, analytical and IT security candidates as part of their ambitious technology roadmap strategy.
However, due to a restructuring exercise which impacted their capacity to run recruitment exercises internally, they needed a partner who was able to lead the campaign. Around 60 niche roles needed to be filled between May 2021 and July 2022.
They required candidates to be located out of either their Darlington or Liverpool offices, which significantly reduced the number of actively available and experienced talent for what are considered niche roles in the market.
In addition to this, salary bandings were set once they were graded, meaning there was no room for negotiation. Competition was fierce and candidates were able to request higher salaries from private sector employers.
The recruitment process was both rigorous and highly structured, increasing the risk of candidate attrition. This included the need for a lengthy security clearance process once a candidate had been offered a position.
The solution:
Our recruitment campaign overcame the challenges presented via the use of a variety of tools at our disposal to engage the best, most diverse, talent across the UK.
This included the use of market intelligence software to identify where to find talent and inform our sourcing strategies, X-Ray and Boolean searching tools to identify talent from hundreds of job boards, proprietary search and match technology to instantly filter and engage our database, and access to hundreds of relevant job board to promote vacancies to the widest, suitable audience.
We also created a fully branded microsite to drive applications to the client. These tools provided our teams with the means to rapidly identify and engage with 1.6 million active change, transformation, and IT candidates based across the UK.
In terms of the Darlington and Liverpool locations, because of restrictions created by the coronavirus pandemic, our team were given the flexibility to extend the remit and source candidates nationwide. This ensured that those who were successful were the best fit and most experienced.
When the public health restrictions lifted, we were able to negotiate hybrid working roles with our client’s hiring managers and HR, with agreed dates/days that candidates must be on site.
As the salary bandings could not be negotiated, we designed sourcing strategies which focused on our client’s wider benefits, such as culture, diversity and inclusion, paid volunteering days, pension, and medium to long-term career progression opportunities.
In terms of the time to hire challenge, we advised stakeholders on best practice candidate selection processes, balanced with the client’s requirements and underpinned by civil service recruitment principles. This ensured we offered an engaging and well-timed recruitment journey to all candidates.
Finally, by providing security clearance administrative support, we removed this burden from our client and in turn reduced the timeframes involved with successful candidates receiving their full clearance.
The results:
Since Reed Talent Solutions was awarded the contract in 2021, we have placed roles across the full technical spectrum of digital staffing categories, with key roles including business analyst, delivery manager, IT service manager, senior product manager, performance analyst and many more.
We have successfully sourced all the client’s required requirements within agreed timescales and have provided added value by reducing their time to hire candidates, through providing a more hands on approach to their recruitment process than previous suppliers.
We conducted a CV sift and managed in-depth competency-based interviews ensuring candidates met all specified criteria and undertook all referencing of successful candidates.
We also improved the diversity of hiring for our client. Our team took the time to understand the diverse characteristics for their aspired to hire, with particular emphasis on the recruitment of candidates from ethnically diverse backgrounds and those with disabilities.
We worked to civil service recruitment principles during our recruitment process and encouraged diverse, inclusive shortlists while introducing initiatives such as anonymous CVs to prevent unconscious bias.
Offer decisions were made against defined criteria, and as such we were able to produce the following results:
Male to female applicant ratio- 70:30
Female placements – 37%
Ethnically diverse background placements- 27%
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