Tag: #earlycareers

Rethinking Early Careers: Strategies for Graduate Recruitment in 2023

Posted on by nfuqua

As the world changed over the past three years, college and university students had their lives transformed by the pandemic and recovery. Those experiences have changed both their expectations and behaviour when it comes to the recruitment process.

So, as an employer, how can you respond to find, engage and hire the best graduate candidates?

In this episode of Talking Talent, Kate Buchanan, PeopleScout graduate program manager in our Sydney headquarters, joins to share strategies for early careers hiring in 2023.

In 2020, university students saw their entire lives move online. From college classes to job interviews, the path to their future was virtual. Now, the world has shifted again, but some changes became permanent. Technology still remains central to the process; however, the process cannot remain fully digital.

In recent years, many employers experienced increased ghosting and saw more candidates dropping out of the graduate recruitment process. While a fully virtual hiring process moves candidates quickly from application through assessments to offer, it lacks a personal touch. When the process happens completely online, graduates don’t have the opportunity to build relationships, making it easier to ghost employers.

So, how can you respond and ensure those strong candidates stay engaged through their first day on the job? The key is building a process that combines technology and the human touch—with both the speed and ease provided by technology and the relationship building that happens when recruiters work directly with top candidates.

In this interview, Kate shares best practices from recruitment marketing through onboarding that help talents leaders build connections, decrease candidate fall out and minimise ghosting. She explains how the right technology at the right points can improve the candidate experience and make graduates feel like they are already part of the team before they even start.

Holcim: Total Workforce Solution for Building & Construction Recruitment

Posted on by akessler
Holcim: Total Workforce Solution for Building & Construction Recruitment

Holcim: Total Workforce Solution for Building & Construction Recruitment

In a highly competitive talent market, Holcim, a building materials supplier, partnered with PeopleScout for a Total Workforce Solution that blended project RPO and MSP to hire both white- and blue-collar roles for a major infrastructure project in Perth.

Successfully sourced building and construction talent during critical skills shortage
Successfully sourced building and construction talent during critical skills shortage
Campaign incorporating recruitment marketing and passive candidate sourcing
Campaign incorporating recruitment marketing and passive candidate sourcing
Collaboration with vocational training program helped reduce competition with other sectors
Collaboration with vocational training program helped reduce competition with other sectors

Holcim is one of Australia’s largest integrated suppliers and manufacturers of building materials and solutions. Their partnership with PeopleScout started with a national recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) solution, through which we recruited personnel across their entire organisation including corporate, technical and blue-collar roles in metropolitan, regional and remote locations.

Situation

Following this success, Holcim came to PeopleScout for a project talent solution to support building a team to staff a major infrastructure project for the Western Australian Government. The key location was Metropolitan Perth, which presented challenges for the recruitment team:

  1. Australia was experiencing a worker and critical skills shortage following the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, reduced migration and an ageing population. This was making recruiting in the building and construction industry particularly hard.
  2. In addition to the national labour shortage, Perth is the main hub for the WA mining sector and the FIFO workforce, which means Holcim was competing with the top mining companies for talent. Given that FIFO wages significantly outstrip metro-based roles, our team had their work cut out for them to attract the talent Holcim required.

Holcim needed to source 20 permanent roles across white-collar, engineering, workplace safety and supervisory roles. In addition to the permanent roles on offer, our team was tasked with sourcing a contingent workforce of 35 blue-collar roles including welders, production operators and machine operators.

Strategy

First, PeopleScout made the strategic decision to approach this like a true project recruitment activity. We dedicated a full-time resource to focus on the project with our project manager working towards specific timelines and taking an agile approach to sourcing and strategy. Our project leader and Holcim stakeholders met weekly to review and re-evaluate how the project was tracking and where modifications needed to be made to meet project requirements.

Holcim’s requirements fluctuated, and at times our team was required to quickly speed up or slow down the recruitment activity due to the dynamic nature of the infrastructure build. To increase our agility, PeopleScout invested in a significant amount of planning when tackling the Perth labour market and assessing the best sourcing strategies to use.

Solution

Our flexible sourcing approach targeted both passive and active candidates. We ran a campaign incorporating traditional recruitment advertising, internal referral programs and strategic sourcing for passive talent via LinkedIn and Seek databases.

A collaboration with a government-funded vocational training and placement program was instrumental in helping Holcim to fill the contingent blue-collar roles and meant that we did not have to compete with the mining sector to source this talent. PeopleScout team managed the relationship with the placement program and completed all vetting activities before the hiring manager interview, leading to faster fulfilment rates and reduced the burden on the Holcim hiring managers.

Results

With the help of PeopleScout’s total workforce solution, Holcim has been able to meet timelines for infrastructure project, and from a recruitment perspective, we are ahead of schedule and under budget.

AT A GLANCE

  • COMPANY
    Holcim Australia
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Managed Service Program, Total Talent
  • ANNUAL HIRES
    20 permanent roles across white-collar, engineering, workplace safety and supervisory roles; 35 contingent blue-collar roles including welders, production operators and machine operators
  • ABOUT HOLCIM
    Holcim is a global leader of manufacturing and supplying building materials and solutions. Locally led, Holcim supplies aggregates, sand and concrete products to build homes, towns and cities across Australia and New Zealand.
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Webinar on Demand: Overcoming Graduate Reneges and Maximising Your Impact

Posted on by edyson

Webinar on Demand: Overcoming Graduate Reneges and Maximising Your Impact

from PeopleScout in partnership with GradConnection

When Generation Xers and Millennials ascend into leadership positions to replace Baby Boomers, mid and entry-level positions are left vacant. For organisations looking to fill the gap left by retiring Baby Boomers, recruiting and hiring talent from universities is a significant first step.

However, many employers struggle to recruit college graduates. What’s more, challenges in grad recruitment right now such as reneges, low applications and breadth of diversity persist.

PeopleScout in partnership with GradConnection discuss the topic of how to ensure you have a successful recruitment drive and the tools Graduate Managers need to succeed in our on-demand webinar, Overcoming Graduate Reneges and Maximising Your Impact, we examine some of the best practices and strategies for attracting, recruiting and hiring recent graduates.

This 30-minute webinar session covers:

  • The importance of candidate pre-engagement

  • Securing top Talent

  • Supporting Grad Leaders and teams for success

Speakers:

Kate Buchanan, Talent Advisory and Early Careers Lead, PeopleScout

Alex Tyrrell, National Account Manager, GradConnection

Hybrid, Virtual and In-Person Assessments are Here to Stay

Posted on by shunter

Blog series – part 3 of 3

COVID-19 compelled recruitment teams across the board to digitise and fast. 

Here at PeopleScout we have been a champion of digitisation in recruitment for years. Particularly to enhance the candidate experience.

Our first pioneering research on candidate experience was over 10 years ago now and when we repeated the study last year the findings were startling.

 Just 5% of candidates rated their experience as excellent whereas over 30% of employers described their candidate experience in very positive terms. 

As well as introducing Net Promoter Score calculations for one major retail bank, we transformed their candidate experience by measuring and setting goals for the emotional experience of candidates at each stage. In this way we jumped them up the Times Top 100 rankings and achieved and impressive 67 NPS (average is around 50). 

Combined with cessation of in-person events on campus and the speedy up take of virtual assessment, we have been leading the way in ensuring smooth and successful candidate experiences. 

During summer and autumn 2020 we managed and facilitated over 2000 apprentice candidates through virtual assessment centres for government department. The candidate feedback was glowing at consistently over 95% positive:

  • “Although tough, I have enjoyed the Virtual Assessment Centre process. The staff’s attitude alone makes me feel more encouraged and that applying was the right decision. “
  • “This was a really good assessment and the [PeopleScout] staff were helpful and friendly which made the experience more enjoyable than I thought!”
  • “The staff made me feel at ease and I enjoyed it.”

Digital is here to stay. 

The ISE have reported that “virtual careers fairs, in-curriculum online projects, and skill sessions are all likely to feature strongly well into 2021” and we believe longer.

This reflects a trend in the lateral and experienced hiring market where 81% of recruiters say virtual is here to stay [1]. 

The lockdown realities of COVID-19 have eliminated long held concerns about quality assessment over virtual platforms and we are creating end to end virtual recruiting process for many forward-thinking partners.

They are experience both cost and time savings that these changes have brought, freeing them up to invest time in supporting diversity candidates through the process and nurture their talent pipelines.

The human touch will always be essential. This plays out in the communication, feedback, pre assessment briefings, feedback, and onboarding.

We were quick to assess the challenges and responses that early careers recruiters put in place during Lockdown 1 with a series of roundtables leading to articles that became the #3 and #5 most read resources of 2020 [2].

Could this be the end of campus recruitment? [3] Dropping costly ‘milkround’ on campus activity is a conversation we have increasingly each year as organsaitions embrace a fully digital and social marketing campaign.

PwC plan to increase remote outreach instead of relying on the costly ‘milkround’ activities as this will increase the social diversity of their hires. This is of course assuming there will be physical attendance in September 2021, and there is a chance there will not be with new strains of covid coming into circulation. in my experience, a well-constructed, brand congruent, socially enabled marketing campaign will bring the diversity and quality applicants you need.

Just last year we delivered 14% more BIPOC and Asian candidates for one client while saving 47% on digital spend for another.

At the same time, it is increasingly competitive to connect with young people through the digital space. Our research in 2020 with graduates and school leavers revealed exactly how difficult this is. 30pc of your target audience spend only 30 mins in total on their employer research before applying (or not). They are making snap, instinctual, emotional decisions.

In summary, the challenge that we are equipped to solving will be balancing attracting the candidates you want, dissuading the ones your opportunity is not right for, retaining those hard fought for candidates, supporting ones who experience barriers to employment the most, whilst making sure that their experience is remarkable and keeping the costs realistic.

Tough, but not impossible.

This is the final blog in a 3 part series about challenges and trends in early careers in 2021. Read parts 1 and 2 here: 

Blog 1: Early Careers Challenges and How to overcome them. 

Blog 2: Retaining Diverse Candidates in Early Careers Recruitment

References:

[1] https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/future-of-recruiting/2020/future-of-recruiting 

[2] https://insights.ise.org.uk/policy/blog-our-top-10-blog-posts-of-2020/   

[3] http://insights.tmpw.co.uk/post/102go7u/the-end-of-campus-recruitment

nEED HELP WITH YOUR GRADUATE PROGRAM?

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Vodafone: Overcoming a Powerful Consumer Brand

Posted on by jpatel
Vodafone: Overcoming a Powerful Consumer Brand in Early Careers Recruitment

Vodafone: Overcoming a Powerful Consumer Brand in Early Careers Recruitment

To overcome misperceptions about their mission, Vodafone engaged PeopleScout for employer branding and a recruitment marketing campaign to support its early careers recruitment program.

16,000 Applications Received, Beating our Target by 60%
23 % Increase in the Numbers of Female Candidates
27 Places Jumped on the Times Top 100 Rankings

Counterintuitive as it sounds, strong consumer brands can hinder recruitment. Applicants can get an idea of what to expect that doesn’t match the reality of the careers experience being offered. This was the case with Vodafone. For consumers, the organisation is a high-profile mobile phone retailer. But, behind that perception sits a multifaceted tech innovator with a mission to make the future world a better place.

In order to achieve this, Vodafone turned to PeopleScout to help it become a youth employer of choice, because changing the future meant gaining the buy-in of those who would be influential within it for years to come.

RESEARCH

As part of our research phase, we took a deep dive into Vodafone’s future jobs strategy. The client wanted to overcome high levels of youth unemployment by providing up to 100,000 young people with a digital workplace experience at Vodafone. Plus, given that one-in-five young people say they feel under-prepared for the digital economy, the business set another ambitious goal to support 10 million young people with access to digital skills, learning and employment opportunities.

So, how could Vodafone attract Millennials, Gen Z and beyond? These generations are big achievers whose ambitions soar higher than working in mobile phone retail. We needed an attraction strategy and recruitment marketing campaign that changed their audience’s perceptions about Vodafone and all the different kinds of careers—and impacts—they could make there.

THE BRIEF

Vodafone asked us to create a campaign that would spark conversations and stand out as part of their instantly recognisable brand. They needed to generate 10,000 applications to fill 150 graduate roles and 100 intern/industrial student placements across the business. Plus, the overarching goal was to change misperceptions of Vodafone, showing it as a major tech company, not a retailer, and build its reputation as a youth employer of choice. Importantly, we were asked to reach a more diverse audience and increase female applications.

AUDIENCE INSIGHTS

Of our target audience, 90.4% regularly used social media. On top of this, 91% of all social media users access channels via mobile. So, we developed a mobile-first, social media friendly campaign. Further research revealed that many students with the right background and personal qualifications were put off from applying due to a lack of confidence. So, we needed a message that was bold, relatable and empowering.

Just as important as the audience insights were the strategic considerations. Candidates are also customers. When buying products, they expect a streamlined, user-friendly, friction-free process, and they had the same expectation when making career decisions. So, we made every touchpoint (especially the application) as slick and easy as possible.

No contemporary attraction approach can be just about advertising. Long-term connections are far more powerful. So, central to our strategy was to set Vodafone up to engage in conversations and initiatives with high-potential university students throughout their full university lifecycle. In short, the strategy was to start on day one, not year three.

THE CORE MESSAGE

Our message, #GenerationPossible, aimed to capture the spirit of change and possibility and draw on the opportunity young people have to make an impact on the world for the better. Our visual approach used photography that reflected our target audience combined with bold headline statements.

Social media and career site content featured current grads and interns sharing their advice for the next generation of Vodafone employees, with a #GenerationPossible video at the heart of this campaign. Our six-month social media strategy for mobile consisted of 104 social posts with 20 mini-videos/GIFs. We posted, tracked and analysed this content on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Get to Know Us Videos

Our research had identified that our target audience felt like they weren’t good enough or lacked the skills to take on these roles. So, we created a series of videos featuring current Vodafone graduate recruits and interns. Filmed in and around Vodafone’s main campus, these videos gave real-life insights into what they could expect when it came to work, wellbeing, social responsibility, innovation, the assessment centre and the interview process.

Campus Events

Away from social media, we built a series of 41 on-campus events to connect students directly with Vodafone employees. We carefully chose our campuses based on those with the highest female-to-male ratios for tech degrees, as a way to help us drive up female applications.

THE RESULTS

The campaign comfortably exceeded Vodafone’s expectations.

  • We generated over 16,000 applications – beating our target by 60%.
  • We increased the number of female candidates by 23%.
  • We increased Instagram impressions by 89.3% (post-campaign vs. pre-campaign).
  • We saw 1.5 million Facebook impressions.
  • We gained 6.8 million impressions on organic posts on LinkedIn.
  • We created a hyper-targeted paid Facebook campaign which produced 390,510 impressions and 2,541 clicks – all from the target audience.

These numbers are backed up by audience sentiment. We improved Vodafone’s reputation as an employer significantly, jumping 27 places in the Times Top 100 rankings. As a result of its success, Vodafone asked us to develop the concept for their apprentice campaign audience and roll it out through a new assessment process design.

AT A GLANCE

  • COMPANY
    Vodafone
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Talent Advisory
  • About Vodafone
    Vodafone is a a British multinational telecommunications company. They provide connectivity and digital services for over 300 million people to work, learn, stay in touch with friends and family, access healthcare and more.
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Early Careers Recruitment Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Posted on by shunter

Blog series – Part 1

The future challenges organisations face in early careers can be summarised succinctly:  

How to hire well and hire diversely during a deluge of applications. 

Here are the top 3 ways this has an impact on recruitment:

  • Maintaining excellent candidate experience despite an unprecedented level of applications
  • Retaining diverse candidates through the recruitment process
  • Hybrid virtual and in person assessment being here to stay

First up and the most significant pressing challenge is that early careers recruiting teams are being deluged with applications. This creates a great opportunity to find exceptional talent but, it also brings challenges.

The quantity of applications has never been higher, and here at PeopleScout we have recorded increases of 300% for some roles.  

This phenomenon has come about because of two competing forces creating pressure for recruiting teams: fewer roles and surge in available candidates.

On the one hand there are up to 40% [1] fewer early careers roles available for young people to apply for. The Institute of Student Employers (ISE) has suggested a more conservative reduction of 23% [2] because of covid-19’s effect on the economy. On the other hand, there are same number (circa 800,000 [3]) graduates graduating and school leavers looking for roles.  In Autumn 2021 there will be more graduates as those who took a gap year post study (estimated to be c 15%) and continued their education look for work.  

Some analysts expected in a higher number of deferrals of university places which would ease the bottleneck however this did not turn out to be the case. UCAS reported only a 2pc increase in deferrals for the 2020/21 university intake [4]. 

The net effect is candidates are applying for upwards of 20 roles reach – pre credit crunch numbers – as they cast their net wide.

For employers, the is pressure is felt in under resourced recruitment teams – where 51% of HR staff furloughed across all three lockdowns have been in the resourcing function – who must process these candidates quickly and fairly and maintain a high level of candidate experience. 

Are you finding it hard to keep up with business demands on recruiting?

We understand that more than ever, pressure on teams to manage application volumes. If your organisation needs talent beyond your in-house resources, consider an ‘on demand’ resourcing solution. We are extending many clients resourcing teams they they need it, for as long as they need it. This gives them superior scalability and additional expertly trained recruiting staff. 

It also delivers consistent candidate & hiring manager experience. 

Your candidate experience must remain excellent no matter how many applicants are in your pool or how many you need to reject to prevent damage to your reputation in future years of recruiting. 

Consumer facing brands experience the cost of poor candidate experience more keenly than others. We solve this for candidates by pushing forward towards even more authentic content from staff and about our clients.

We use feedback tools to give feedback back to applicants and gather vital intel throughout the journey. Our 2020 research on candidate experience revealed that ¾ of candidates surveyed have never been asked to give feedback – so all that valuable intelligence is not typically being garnered unless we put it in place for customers.

Conversely, we found that 9 out 10 candidates would be willing to give the feedback if asked. And interestingly, when we investigated the stats, when they are asked for feedback it increases their perception of the organisation. They see you as a learning organisation. Simply the mechanism of asking for feedback enhances your brand reputation.

To manage application numbers, a reliable tool are self-selection filters that enable candidates to deselect themselves earlier in the process – or understand why they are not selected. 

These differentiate one application from another as well as being practical. 

We all know that the recruitment process is two way – they are deciding about you and you about them however it is not always experienced like that in the early stages. By opening the process and empowering candidates with information and insight (that does not affect the integrity of your assessment) we find the candidates that companies truly seek stay in the process. 

For example, with British Airways, we introduced a match me tool to ensure that only those candidates who truly understood the reality of travelling consistently and being on standby continued to apply. As a result, post start dropouts decreased, and candidate satisfaction increased. Happy all round: client and candidates. 

Coming back to brand, you must be attentive to your specific employer brand and values during the recruitment process of course. 

Your brand and values need to flow through your communication with candidates and the experience they have. 

Technology is also a means for managing and streamlining processes when you have significant rapid increases in applications. But which tools are right for you and how do you justify the investment when the economy is so volatile?

Our technology is available to you (and award winning, of course) however we are tech agnostic at our core and consult with plethora of technology available to put together the best fit tech stack for you.  Tech Stack evaluation is a light piece of consultancy that can improve efficiency by 20%. 

In summary: 

1 – Gather feedback at every stage, 

2 – Use self-selection filters

3 – Brand and values must flow through communication and the candidate experience 

4 – Tech stack review and update

The Future of Graduate Recruitment is Digital

Posted on by nfuqua

The graduate recruitment process has grown increasingly digital in the past few years, but the entire process for 2020 was held online due to the pandemic. However, the virus didn’t create this change; it simply sped up a process that was already happening.

As a graduate resourcing consultant, 2020 is my fourth graduate recruitment cycle. I currently work on the Lendlease team at PeopleScout, supporting our client by sourcing bright minded graduates who will help to shape and deliver the future of the construction and property industry.

And, despite the uncertainty in the world right now, I am confident that this move to digital graduate recruitment will stick.

Graduate Roles are Still Important

Graduates are the future of every business. Lendlease has a two-year graduate program, and the people hired for those roles use that program to grow their skills and experience before moving on to other roles within the business. We have even seen some of those graduate hires grow to become senior leaders at Lendlease.

Furthermore, it is critically important to continue recruiting for graduate roles during this uncertain time. Graduates futureproof the business by bringing in diverse, new talent with different perspectives, new ideas and an understanding of current trends. By actively filling these roles, we are preparing for the future beyond COVID-19.

But, the Process Needs to Change

Normally, the planning for a graduate recruitment cycle begins in the previous year. For 2020, we started planning in November and December of 2019. We prepare through January and February, and then the campaign goes live in March. In previous years, we would attend career fairs, flying to different universities and presenting information about Lendlease in person. Throughout the next few months, candidates would apply and interview online, and finally attend an in-person assessment center.

But, in 2020, we needed to adapt rapidly. We stuck with our normal timeframes, but moved the entire process online – career fairs and assessment centers included. Earlier this year, I attended one of the virtual career fairs.

The fair was run by a university, and nearly 1,500 students registered. We advertised on social media to get students excited to speak with Lendlease. On the day of the fair, about 300 students visited the digital booth – making it one of the most popular. I was able to present to larger groups of students at once – something that isn’t possible at a traditional booth. Students also came with questions, which I was able to answer and talk with them about one-on-one.

The virtual fair I attended was held using Zoom video technology, along with the help of a third-party provider to ensure everything ran smoothly on the day of the event. Each employer had a unique booth and logo, so students could easily identify them and talk with employer representatives. Many graduates registered to come talk with us, allowing us to target hundreds of students in just three hours without having to travel.

Best Practices to Make the Transition Smooth

For the process to be successful, consider the types of technology you use. For virtual career fairs, the university may already have a preferred platform. However, you will still need to consider virtual interviews and virtual assessments. At PeopleScout, we use Affinix™, our proprietary talent technology. With Affinix, we can schedule and conduct virtual interviews – live or recorded – on a candidate’s own time.

Likewise, it is important to focus on communication. Graduates want to hear from you. Something as simple as a message to check in can be powerful. Communicating with candidates, even if it means admitting you don’t have all the answers, builds trust in an uncertain time.

We Won’t Go Back

With the COVID-19 crisis, we are always facing new surprises. However, with graduate recruitment, the surprise was how well the process worked – even with changes taking place under a tight timeline. We had to adapt quickly, but we saw that the digital process works. Students responded well to online career fairs. We saved money by avoiding air travel and lodging. We communicated with and assessed candidates in ways that kept everyone safe.

Based on our experience, 2020 won’t be a one-off year in which graduate recruitment looks different than normal. It will be the first year where digital graduate recruitment is normal.

A Technology-Driven RPO Solution

Posted on by nfuqua

A large media group in Australia engaged with PeopleScout to develop a solution designed to deliver a seamless approach to their proactive and reactive recruitment needs and provide them with a competitive advantage.

Scope and Scale

For the client, candidate care is key, so the model was designed to ensure engaging communication strategies along with consistent EVP messaging. All of this had to be underpinned by technology allowing the recruiters to access proactive sourcing tools, easily and efficiently move candidates through the process and manage multiple requisitions at one time. Ultimately this results in better quality candidates, faster, for the business.

Situation

By implementing a centralised talent acquisition model, aligned to the different brands in the group, the senior leadership team now has access to reporting that gives them a clear picture of where their requirements are, any bottlenecks or challenges and this, in turn, helps with business planning. Prior to the introduction of an RPO, time-to-fill averaged between 42 and 60 days which placed a significant amount of additional pressure on teams and business units with the potential to generate a domino effect of increased vacancies.

Solution

  • Full, end-to-end talent acquisition services
  • Strategic sourcing across every brand and business unit
  • Executive search for senior roles
  • EVP development and implementation
  • Hiring manager training
  • Third-party supplier management
  • Executive reporting
  • Talent community development
  • Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ) design and implementation
  • Contract generation for graduates and all solution hires

The deployment of PeopleScout’s complete sourcing and talent management solution in conjunction with our RPO team made an immediate impact on the time-to-fill metric. With advanced sourcing capabilities, powerful automation, a streamlined onboarding solution, detailed reporting insights and CRM capabilities, the solution generated productivity gains that allowed for an improved candidate experience, the optimisation of marketing strategies and more effective talent pooling.

Results

Time-to-fill dropped from 60 days to an average of 27 days.

Integrating an experienced recruitment team with media and digital marketing expertise allowed for a smooth transition for the RPO team and the client and established a conversion benchmark above 82% of roles briefed versus placements.

PeopleScout is also focused on process improvement and to target goals around improved staff retention and candidate quality through the introduction of cognitive and behavioural testing, video interviews, a reference checking technology platform and a suite of new technology tools, including artificial intelligence.

Client Feedback

“Since partnering with PeopleScout we’ve seen consistent improvement in the marketing of our brand to potential employees, increased productivity through process improvement and the introduction of new tools and technology as well as a reduction in vacant roles. We regularly receive feedback from candidates that their experience of the job interview process … is the best they’ve ever experienced period.”

“Media agencies operate in a fast-paced, high-volume environment where resourcing needs constantly fluctuate and reactivity is key. In this context, PeopleScout’s scalable approach is a huge advantage as it allows us to quickly recruit staff when we win new clients and focus on longer-term strategic work when volume is lower. The PeopleScout team has quickly developed an intimate understanding of our industry and business challenges and are seamlessly embedded in each of our agencies, allowing them to sell our EVP to candidates.”

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Recruiting Graduates Without a Campus

Posted on by nfuqua

As organisations around the globe confront the challenges presented by travel restrictions, even the most seasoned talent leaders find themselves in uncharted territory. We’re talking to our experts here at PeopleScout about the issues that are most pressing during this uncertain time.

We are focused on the safety of our employees and clients, friends, families and loved ones. However, it is important for many organisations to keep their talent acquisition functions moving – whether to provide essential services or to serve our communities by providing jobs. Many organisations are also now adapting to a newly virtual workforce.

In that spirit, this podcast shares insights from PeopleScout Resourcing Consultant Zuzana Sevcik on how to recruit graduate candidates when students aren’t on campus.

Zuzana is currently working on our Lendlease team in graduate recruitment to source bright-minded graduates that will help to shape and deliver the future of the construction and property industry.

She has an educational background in Business and HR and successfully established and managed a start-up company. Now Zuzana has discovered her passion for graduates and is currently working on her fourth graduate recruitment cycle.

We work with clients like Lendlease, Omnicom Media Group and Arnotts to improve their vision, strategy and efficiency within their Graduate Programs.

We can offer free advice on how to engage candidates across the breadth of disciplines and more:

  • Reaching a wider audience
  • Receiving a greater diverse response
  • Engaging brand messaging
  • Comprehensive attraction strategy

fresh thinking, new perspectives and endless possibilities

Complete the form below and our experts will be in touch.

Improving the Assessment Process in a Graduate Recruitment Program

Posted on by skatz

Situation

PeopleScout were asked to assist and advise our client on two Graduate Recruitment programs within their Accounting and Construction business units. Our client hoped to recruit between 30 and 40 new graduates, based on business requirements, commencing in 2014. The client felt that their graduate selection process was time consuming, the company’s capabilities framework was not being used during the graduate screening process, and a large number of the high volume of applications they received were unsuitable and unmanageable.

Key Requirements

  • Recent graduates with Honours or Distinction degrees, specialising in either accounting, finance, business studies, engineering or construction.
  • Graduate skill sets aligned with their capabilities framework
  • Demonstrated interest (outside of university) in the subject matter
  • A can-do attitude
  • Initiative and self-awareness
  • Strong relationship building skills and an ability to communicate articulately
  • Ability to think outside of the square, and solution focused
  • Commercial awareness and appreciation
  • An agile learner and an appetite to learn and grow
  • A future (thought/people) leader

Approach

PeopleScout introduced a more structured approach to graduate assessment and introduced new rules which were utilised during the process.  These assessment rules included:

Validity– the assessment must relate to the competencies and address essential skills and knowledge. It is an indication of how well an assessment actually measures what it is supposed to measure.

Reliability– this means that the assessment tool and process will produce consistent outcomes when applied by a range of assessors in a range of contexts.

Fairness– This means that the assessment will not disadvantage any person and will take into account the characteristics of the person being assessed.

Flexibility– This means that the assessment tool and process allows for assessment in a range of assessment contexts. PeopleScout redesigned the following processes and applications as part of this project:

  • Reengineered the graduate screening process
  • Streamlined both graduate recruitment programs to improve time efficiencies
  • Created a Competency Matrix for Graduates, ensuring alignment with the company’s new capabilities framework
  • Created market leading tools for advertising, introduced a social media web page specifically tailored towards prospect graduates.
  • Introduced Psychometric Testing and Assessment centres, utilised new assessment instruments to assess graduates under the new capabilities framework
  • Tailored springboard to match this new process
  • Redesigned applications and screening forms used throughout the screening process

PeopleScout also built and delivered an induction to assessment centre delivery program for hiring managers, so they were aware and educated of the process and expectations of them during the assessment centres.

Result

Through the use of the new graduate screening process, Lend Lease achieved greater time efficiencies, a higher calibre of graduates and an assessment centre that is streamlined and structured but flexible enough should any changes need to occur in the future. The Graduate Recruitment Program was completed successfully with 33 hires.

In 2018, we completed over 300 graduate hires for this client and achieved a 50/50 gender split on all graduate shortlists.