Lancashire Police swamped with calls after recruitment Tweet
1 May 2014
A police force that used social media to inform jobseekers that it was about to open a recruitment drive for 100 police officers has apologised after it was inundated with calls to a 0845 hotline.
Thu, 1 May 2014
A police force that used social media to inform jobseekers that it was about to open a recruitment drive for 100 police officers has apologised after it was inundated with calls to a 0845 hotline.
Lancashire Police used Twitter and Facebook to advise jobseekers to ring a special landline from 11.00 last Thursday. The force also put the same advice on its website. However, following an influx of calls, the line was closed at 15.50 the same day.
A spokesperson tells Recruiter that after sending out 500 recruitment packs, the line was closed at 15.50 that afternoon. “It would be fair to say that far more than 500 people tried to call us,” says the spokesperson.
The spokesperson explains that the jobs weren’t actually advertised on Twitter and Facebook but that these social media were used to inform candidates. “We asked people to ring the line and to ask for a recruitment pack,” says the spokesperson.
All callers who successfully got through on the line, were asked a number of questions to establish their eligibility, with 500 recruitment packs being sent out to eligible candidates within the space of just under five hours.
The spokesperson says that the force “will be reviewing the way it recruits”.
In a statement, Lancashire police says: “The volume of calls received has been unprecedented and we apologise to those people who have been left disappointed.”
Martin Lee, director of sourcing and recruitment for Social Media Research, a Norman Broadbent company, tells Recruiter that he is not surprised by the interest generated initially via social media. However, he suggest that the key to why so many people responded could be because the use of a telephone hotline allowed jobseekers to speak to someone and to ask questions about the job.
The Lancashire Police spokesperson, adds that it is difficult to compare the interest generated by this recruitment campaign with previous recruitment campaigns.
“This is the first time we have had a police officer recruitment drive in the last five years, at a time when social media wasn’t used.”
A police force that used social media to inform jobseekers that it was about to open a recruitment drive for 100 police officers has apologised after it was inundated with calls to a 0845 hotline.
Lancashire Police used Twitter and Facebook to advise jobseekers to ring a special landline from 11.00 last Thursday. The force also put the same advice on its website. However, following an influx of calls, the line was closed at 15.50 the same day.
A spokesperson tells Recruiter that after sending out 500 recruitment packs, the line was closed at 15.50 that afternoon. “It would be fair to say that far more than 500 people tried to call us,” says the spokesperson.
The spokesperson explains that the jobs weren’t actually advertised on Twitter and Facebook but that these social media were used to inform candidates. “We asked people to ring the line and to ask for a recruitment pack,” says the spokesperson.
All callers who successfully got through on the line, were asked a number of questions to establish their eligibility, with 500 recruitment packs being sent out to eligible candidates within the space of just under five hours.
The spokesperson says that the force “will be reviewing the way it recruits”.
In a statement, Lancashire police says: “The volume of calls received has been unprecedented and we apologise to those people who have been left disappointed.”
Martin Lee, director of sourcing and recruitment for Social Media Research, a Norman Broadbent company, tells Recruiter that he is not surprised by the interest generated initially via social media. However, he suggest that the key to why so many people responded could be because the use of a telephone hotline allowed jobseekers to speak to someone and to ask questions about the job.
The Lancashire Police spokesperson, adds that it is difficult to compare the interest generated by this recruitment campaign with previous recruitment campaigns.
“This is the first time we have had a police officer recruitment drive in the last five years, at a time when social media wasn’t used.”
