Improvements on the way for Army’s ‘quite clunky’ recruitment process
15 January 2014
The British Army’s head of recruitment tells Recruiter that steps are being taken to improve its recruitment process, described by defence secretary Philip Hammond recently as “quite clunky”.
Wed, 15 Jan 2014The British Army’s head of recruitment tells Recruiter that steps are being taken to improve its recruitment process, described by defence secretary Philip Hammond recently as “quite clunky”. [Image: MoD/Crown Copyright]
Following comments made by Hammond on BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Today Programme that the process was “quite clunky”, Brigadier Andrew Jackson, director recruiting and training (operations) British Army, admits that there have been problems.
He tells Recruiter there is “anecdotal evidence from army units that some people who applied before March last year have been lost in the system”.
And he adds: “There have been delays in how people have moved through the pipeline, and also frustration from our customers who are dealing with applicants on a day-to-day basis, particularly our customers in the Army Reserves.
“We haven’t achieved what we needed to in term of number of applications,” says Jackson, though he wouldn’t comment on figure in a Daily Telegraph report that revealed a 35% drop in applicants attending selection and interview days in the first four months of the army’s partnership with Capita.
Capita took over the operational aspects of the Army recruitment in March last year after winning the £440m 10-year contract.
Jackson says that some of the problems have been caused by the recruitment process. But he says that changes being introduced through the implementation of “a target operating model” and by increasing the number of staff at the Army’s National Recruiting Centre in Wiltshire are designed “to put us on a better footing”.
The measures include refreshing all the recruiting pages on the army’s “clunky, old-fashioned, out-of-date” website, and updating the application form, which is “a legacy form on a legacy system” to make it easier for people to navigate their way through it. These software changes will be complete by the end of this month, says Jackson.
He adds that the Army Reserve is on track to hit its target of hiring 1,800 new recruits this year.
Jackson says that its new recruitment campaign launched last weekend, ‘More than meets the eye’, will kick start recruitment both in to the regular army and reserves, as it looks to reach its 30,000 target for the Army Reserve force by 2018.
Jackson confirms that “Capita would be building the new IT platform”, taking the place of the Atlas consortia, which originally won the contract to deliver it.
In a statement, Capita tells Recuiter: “A comprehensive Capita ICT solution, rather than the planned solution involving a third-party supplier, has been considered and agreed, including delivery of the majority of the IT hosting platform, which will result in single ownership of the end-to-end recruiting process, a simplified integration of systems and more certainty of delivery dates.
“Capita is actively supporting the army to ensure its IT systems, both short term and long term, meet the needs of this complex project.
Following comments made by Hammond on BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Today Programme that the process was “quite clunky”, Brigadier Andrew Jackson, director recruiting and training (operations) British Army, admits that there have been problems.
He tells Recruiter there is “anecdotal evidence from army units that some people who applied before March last year have been lost in the system”.
And he adds: “There have been delays in how people have moved through the pipeline, and also frustration from our customers who are dealing with applicants on a day-to-day basis, particularly our customers in the Army Reserves.
“We haven’t achieved what we needed to in term of number of applications,” says Jackson, though he wouldn’t comment on figure in a Daily Telegraph report that revealed a 35% drop in applicants attending selection and interview days in the first four months of the army’s partnership with Capita.
Capita took over the operational aspects of the Army recruitment in March last year after winning the £440m 10-year contract.
Jackson says that some of the problems have been caused by the recruitment process. But he says that changes being introduced through the implementation of “a target operating model” and by increasing the number of staff at the Army’s National Recruiting Centre in Wiltshire are designed “to put us on a better footing”.
The measures include refreshing all the recruiting pages on the army’s “clunky, old-fashioned, out-of-date” website, and updating the application form, which is “a legacy form on a legacy system” to make it easier for people to navigate their way through it. These software changes will be complete by the end of this month, says Jackson.
He adds that the Army Reserve is on track to hit its target of hiring 1,800 new recruits this year.
Jackson says that its new recruitment campaign launched last weekend, ‘More than meets the eye’, will kick start recruitment both in to the regular army and reserves, as it looks to reach its 30,000 target for the Army Reserve force by 2018.
Jackson confirms that “Capita would be building the new IT platform”, taking the place of the Atlas consortia, which originally won the contract to deliver it.
In a statement, Capita tells Recuiter: “A comprehensive Capita ICT solution, rather than the planned solution involving a third-party supplier, has been considered and agreed, including delivery of the majority of the IT hosting platform, which will result in single ownership of the end-to-end recruiting process, a simplified integration of systems and more certainty of delivery dates.
“Capita is actively supporting the army to ensure its IT systems, both short term and long term, meet the needs of this complex project.
