| The Challenge |
The Outcome |
| An inefficient and unengaging recruitment process was causing delays in time to hire and shrinking talent pools |
Providing candidates with a fair and inclusive recruitment process whilst increasing efficiency for hiring managers. |
“Our industry is changing, now more than ever it’s really important to hire for potential so that we have candidates that possess the qualities to adapt and grow with the business and industry in the future”
Leanne Richards, Recruitment & Development Manager, Early Careers
Challenge
Each year, WSP recruits up to 500 Early Career professionals in the UK. Sifting through all of these can be an incredibly lengthy process. Previously, WSP used the video interview method and a CV to screen applicants, which was long and time-consuming for the recruiters. On top of this, they were experiencing a high dropout rate and a limited homogenous talent pool. WSP came to us with two clear challenges; time to hire and inclusivity. WSP was also looking to improve and streamline their recruitment process.
Back in 2018, WSP decided to partner with Arctic Shores and start hiring for potential. Looking towards the future, WSP was focused on looking at candidates' potential beyond just academic qualifications. They know the industry is changing, and new hires need to be able to adapt, possessing human skills as well as intellectual capabilities.
“We wanted to use Arctic Shores because it’s a fair process for all. We’ve eliminated the CV, and it doesn’t matter what background you’re from. We believe in equal opportunities”
Leanne Richards, Recruitment & Development Manager, Early Careers
Solution
Our assessment stood out to WSP as an alternative to traditional hiring methods, such as video interviews. Backed by state-of-the-art psychometrics and powered by technology, our assessment presented a unique opportunity to hire for potential and streamline the recruitment process. The solution to WSP’s recruitment challenges was to implement our assessment between the application stage and the interviews. Therefore, the solution needed to integrate into the WSP application tracking system to provide a level of automation and reduce the amount of manual hours recruiters would normally spend sifting through candidates. A funnelled process provided a perfect solution with four key benefits;
1. Reduced time to hire
2. Efficiency with high-volume hiring
3. Saving resources
4. increasing diversity within the candidate talent pool.
“Using the assessment has helped to speed up the recruitment process, within days, we can be in touch with a candidate. In this way, engagement with candidates and the overall experience has improved a lot!!”
Leanne Richards, Recruitment & Development Manager, Early Careers
Results
By implementing our assessment into their recruitment process, WSP has managed to save approximately 100 days of recruiters’ time that normally would have been spent on screening candidates (that’s more than 2,500 hours!) Automating this stage of the recruitment process takes a huge amount of pressure off the team, and they now have a candidate pipeline to work from. Whilst bringing efficiency to the process, they have also managed to ensure that no adverse impact has affected minority groups who have applied to WSP, meaning they have achieved their goal of equal opportunities for all. It is hugely important within the engineering space, which already suffers from homogeneous and limited talent pools, to encourage candidates of all backgrounds to engage with the recruitment process fully. More than ever, it is vital to hire for potential, and WSP is a leading employer within this space.
