On track for success with Network Rail recruiting lessons
6 March 2013
Delegates at the last week’s Smart Resourcing 2013 conference, sponsored by Eploy, heard how Network Rail had learned important lessons about its recruitment processes.
Thu, 7 Mar 2013
Adrian Thomas, recently-departed head of resourcing at Network Rail, said that the organisation had originally hoped for 15,000 applications for 1,000 individual roles, but their recruitment campaign resulted in more than 33,000 applications.
“I cannot emphasise enough how hard it was to deal with that volume,” said Thomas, “you want volume but you don’t want to give a really bad journey to the candidate.”
Mike Bickford, the interim head of resourcing at Network Rail, outlined the lessons learned in dealing with the higher than expected volume of applications.
You can read more about Recruiter's Smart Resourcing event online, and in next week’s March edition of the magazine.
Adrian Thomas, recently-departed head of resourcing at Network Rail, said that the organisation had originally hoped for 15,000 applications for 1,000 individual roles, but their recruitment campaign resulted in more than 33,000 applications.
“I cannot emphasise enough how hard it was to deal with that volume,” said Thomas, “you want volume but you don’t want to give a really bad journey to the candidate.”
Mike Bickford, the interim head of resourcing at Network Rail, outlined the lessons learned in dealing with the higher than expected volume of applications.
- Make sure the job spec is right so that only those who are really suited to it will apply
- Use knock-out questions, such as ‘are you a certified engineer’? Answering ‘no’ meant the end of the process, explained Bickford
- Direct candidates to more suitable opportunities
- Scale down the marketing activities
You can read more about Recruiter's Smart Resourcing event online, and in next week’s March edition of the magazine.
