Exclusive Large Scale Managed Campaign - UK's largest transport and infrastructure organisation

Overview:

Through RM6229 1st Executive were engaged, to deliver a retained recruitment campaign of 32 IT Procurement & Commercial Manager vacancies spanning B2 (£45K), B3 (£65K) and B4 (£95K) levels. This was a time critical project, with the need to back-fill a contractor population, in order to create stability across a function of 75 FTE and to reduce the significant cost outlay on contractor resources (c£6m p/a).

Approach:

Marketing;

•Given our clients challenge with their direct advertising campaign (c5% fill rate), key to success was 1st Executive’s ability to create and deliver an impactful candidate marketing pack which brings to life the clients Employee Value Proposition (EVP) highlighting the size, scale, complexity and operational significance of the work undertaken by the ITProcurement Team (£1bn + spend) and wider procurement function, including the culture, values and potential career opportuinties for development.

•Our solution was the creation of a tailored Candidate Brochure, built in collaboration with key stakeholders across our client, with notable contributions from the Head of IT Procurement, as well as colleague testimonials and insight into their D&I commitments.

•Through a comprehensive and consistent, marketing campaign across all routes to market (CRM Database(>120k),LinkedIN, Headhunting, Advertising and Recommendations/Referrals) we were able to generate 73% of applicants from the “passive” community. These were candidates who were not actively in market, applying for adverts or tracking client careers sites.

•The brochure was shared with over 5000 target contacts identified across the wider public sector, generating interest from c420 candidates who were pre-screened by 1st Executive’s dedicated campaign management team.

Assessment;

•Longlisted candidates were assessed by 1st Executive in line with the technical & competency framework agreed with the clients stakeholders and the 1st Executive campaign team as part of the project kick-off meeting.

•A customised client coversheet was created as a front page for all CV submissions, which included candidate interview notes, with key experiences in the CVs highlighted to draw attention to the most pertinent experience in alignment with the relevant role

•The application of our assessment process delivered a CV to Interview ratio of 1:1.5 (vs a UK market average of 1:3.4)

Campaign Management;

•As part of the campaign kick-off meeting, 1st Executive advised upon the utilisation of 2 separate, 6-week campaign “sprints” to drive pace and momentum, to reduce both time and cost to hire

•Project management plan created to ensure clear and transparent delivery milestones for all stakeholders

•Agreed target D&I metrics to align with the clients broader D&I targets, ambitions and commitments

•We monitored & reported on campaign progress, delivering MI data throughout:

• Weekly campaign dashboard (Power BI) presented in presentation format

• Weekly campaign review meetings with the Head of IT Procurement and associated hiring managers to review progress and ensure continuous feedback to optimise processes

Campaign Outcome:

• 5300 Candidate “reach-outs”

• 472 Candidates pre-screened

• 327 Candidates assessed (Technical & Competency screening)

• 89 CVs Submitted

• 59 1st stage Interviews

• 35 Offers

• 32 Offers Accepted (100% of roles filled)

D&I Metrics tracked to meet client targets and presented to HRD

Feedback was a resounding success all round, resulting in continued exclusive partnerships across the wider business.