The client, a specialist provider of business process outsourcing services for the UK Life & Pensions industry, in 2012 had just won a major contract and urgently required hundreds of new staff across 10 UK locations within just five weeks. In addition, the organisation was already facing a number of recruitment challenges which required an expert solution in order to overcome them.
These included:
- The absence of a strong employer brand was affecting candidate attraction
- The recruitment process was inconsistent and resulted in a poor candidate and manager experience
- The cost of hire was too high and there was a very heavy reliance on agencies
- There were low levels of internal mobility and employee referrals
- The usage and management of agencies was inconsistent and ineffective
- The lengthy time to hire was impacting the operational effectiveness of the business
- There was no system in place which was able to streamline and consolidate invoicing procedures
- There was a lack of meaningful management information
What we’ve done
Guidant was appointed as the client’s outsourced recruitment partner for all temporary and permanent hiring activity. Our initial objectives of our service were to immediately gain the support of the hiring community and to rapidly implement the service without disruption to the business. Our PRINCE2 qualified Senior Project Manager led the programme in partnership with the client’s nominated implementation representatives and quickly mobilised our service.
From day one of the contract, we took over and subsequently filled 130 live roles. During the first 12 months, we filled over 550 roles and dramatically reduced reliance on agencies. We have achieved excellent feedback on our service, with more than 90% of hiring managers and candidates consistently rating our service as good or excellent.
The key elements of our service are summarised below:
- A fully embedded, dedicated Account Team which is onsite in two locations and maintains visibility across eight others nationally
- Complete management of the end-to-end resourcing process from resource planning, through to sourcing, screening, vetting and offer management
- Guidant utilises its centralised Direct Sourcing Team to reduce reliance on third party agency supply and the associated costs by sourcing candidates directly from the market. A comprehensive suite of candidate attraction channels
- Management and promotion of the client’s employment brand
- Provision of an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
- Comprehensive real-time reporting
Key achievements
Guidant’s service continues to exceed client expectations and provides numerous year-on-year operational and commercial benefits to the client. Please see below for a selection of highlights from our partnership:
- Expensive third-party agency usage has dramatically reduced; nearly 100% of roles are now filled through a combination of direct sourcing, internal mobility and leveraging a new referral programme
- Time to hire has been reduced to less than half of our agreed target
- The cost per hire has been reduced by more than 30% and continues to improve year-on-year
- Greater visibility of resourcing expenditure, demand management, and accurate reporting which all aid future resource planning
- We’re delivering a fantastic candidate experience. 100% of satisfaction surveys completed by candidates said they received a service that was ‘excellent’ or ‘good’Ability to scale-up delivery team to seamlessly accommodate bulk volume requirements owing to seasonal demand
What the client says
“Guidant picked up our recruitment with only two months’ notice and rapidly built a customer focused onsite team to manage the recruitment activities. The challenge involved setting up and embedding a new operating model across a large area at a time of high volume and specialist resourcing needs. Against an initial forecast of 400 vacancies in the first 12-month period, Guidant filled 500 roles within the first 9 months of the contract, including many short notice, high volume recruitment campaigns.
The Guidant Team has also successfully taken on and managed temporary recruitment activity and implemented a much needed new on-line portal, allowing a more simplified and efficient attraction and application process for both internal and external applicants, enhancing our employer brand in the wider market place. Overall, exceptional delivery in a very challenging and stretching environment.”
- HR Business Partner
