National Grid
The Challenge
National Grid Transco (NGT), after completing their merge and relocation of their head office needed to invest in the recruitment of new employees. To do this they needed to enhance their marketing material and website to promote a new scheme called Fresh Talent.
NGT needed to find a way for their existing Human Resource team to efficiently manage applications for new positions, the majority of which would come via the Internet. They needed to do this without incurring large costs, both in terms of man hours and the cost of developing their existing website. They also needed a way to automatically screen the candidates based on specific criteria to further speed up the short-listing process.
They needed the ability to print detailed management reports to highlight information such as, what influenced candidates to apply, what schemes they were applying for, their degree types, gender, ethnic origin etc. These reports would enable them to judge the success of their marketing campaigns and to ensure that their equal opportunities policy was effective.
The Solution
Eploy corporate recruitment software was chosen following the successful implementation of systems for both National Grid and Transco in previous years, working alongside their existing recruitment team. The requirements for this new system however were more demanding.
National Grid Transco were particularly interested in the use of the extensive contact management features built into eploy. Eploy was completely customised to fit seamlessly into their existing web site in terms of the look and feel, but also, to comply with the strict guidelines provided by NGT. The eploy development team worked closely with NGT to customise the system until it was agreed by all parties that the specifications had been completely met. This included liaising with HR, the Legal department, the IT department and an external Web Development / Design Team. Only one prototype was needed to complete the project and after two weeks or intense testing the final version went live.
The Result
Eploy gave NGT the ability to source large numbers of candidate registrations via the Internet through cost effective advertising online and through traditional media. Candidates directed to the website received information on positions and applied directly with data being instantly searchable and candidate shortlists created automatically. This process was further enhanced by the use of automatic rejections based on specific criteria.
Candidates registering through the system could even re-visit the site to amend their details until they check the final application button to submit their details, allowing them to take time with their application. Eploy enabled selected candidates to quickly and easily be contacted via the system to invite them to interviews, assessment days etc. Candidates could either be contacted instantly by email, SMS text message, or by post. Unlike other recruitment systems there was no need to import and synchronise data from the web into a standard office based database. All contact made with the candidates was stored and diary actions quickly set up for scheduling phone calls, interviews etc.
The NGT recruitment team used the reporting functions in eploy to quickly produce detailed reports via the website and keep track of the entire process from beginning to end.
NGT decided to roll out eploy for other recruitment schemes including Advanced Modern Apprentice, Business Admin, Year In Industry, Student Opportunities and Trainee Engineers.
Applications were managed efficiently using the full suite of recruitment tools that eploy provides. These include CV Indexing (Any CV uploaded through the system is linked to a candidate, the content of the CV is stored in the database and can be fully searched), Automatic / Intelligent CV Data extraction, Application Management, Candidate Tracking, Mail Merging and Management Reporting.
Testimonial
"The eploy team were consummate professionals who advised and guided the National Grid Transco human resource department during the implementation of the Graduate Opportunities system. They were more like part of the internal team rather than an outsourced software provider.
The finished result far exceeded our expectations of recruitment software and its capabilities and the online functionality increased the services that we can offer through the National Grid Transco web site. Thousands of applications were efficiently managed and processed and the comprehensive reporting enabled the HR team to identify areas where marketing and recruitment processes could be improved."
Katie Best, For National Grid Transco Graduate Intake
