Industry: Transportation & Logistics

Transport for Wales: Growing the Workforce of a Newly-Created Organization

Posted on by akessler
Transport for Wales: Growing the Workforce of a Newly-Created Organization

Transport for Wales: Growing the Workforce of a Newly-Created Organization

Supporting the launch of Transport for Wales with recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) for specialist engineering, transportation, project management and support roles.

92 % of Candidate Rated the Experience as Excellent
Grew Workforce from 9 employees to 140 During the Initial Engagement
Grew Workforce from 9 employees to 140 During the Initial Engagement
2 Languages, English and Welsh

Situation

Transport for Wales (TfW) was created to drive forward the Welsh Government’s vision for a high quality, safe, integrated, affordable and accessible transport network that the people of Wales would be proud of. As a new rail franchise operator, their initial focus was to grow at speed, recruiting 100 or more key staff within challenging timescales, in preparation for a rail franchise switch over.

As a newly-created organisation, Transport for Wales had no recruitment expertise or talent technology to support their ambitious resourcing plans for roles at all levels, from apprentices and graduates to Directors with every level in between.

TfW selected PeopleScout as their sole RPO partner to build their workforce from just nine employees to over 140 and growing, most of which are permanent with some temporary staff and contractors. Another key requirement was to work in both English and Welsh.

Solution

A Unique Service Model

To establish the Transport for Wales recruitment strategy, we placed a senior recruiter on site with expertise and industry experience who could consult and provide solutions to market challenges and engage with hiring communities and other key stakeholders. The immediate challenge was to identify and hire for key senior positions, starting with the Directors. We then worked with these leaders to build their teams from the top down in order to deliver on their goals.

Best-In-Class Candidate Experience

Our off-site recruiting team provided full-cycle RPO, from sourcing to onboarding services, to ensure that candidates received a best-in-class experience right through to their first day and beyond.

Attracting a Wider Talent Pool

As an RPO provider with a creative flair, we were able to help TfW move away from a more traditional marketing style to something which attracted diverse talent. As leaders in employer brand and candidate experience, this extended into a go-to-market broadcasting strategy that encompassed social media, community management and talent pooling. It also maximized the TfW employer brand story and reduced pressure on budgets.

Results

  • 95% offer fulfilment across all levels of roles
  • Rapid identification and hiring of crucial roles
  • 92% of candidates rated their hiring experience as excellent
  • Talent pools created for future hiring
  • A developed and refined future-proof recruitment strategy

PeopleScout have been excellent in the delivery of the recruitment services into Transport for Wales. They are transparent, hardworking and qualitatively focused. All the team have been dedicated to our growth ambition and have represented our brand well to external candidates. I am delighted to work with the whole team as we share our continued success with our partners.

Recruitment Leader, Transport for Wales

At a Glance

  • COMPANY: Transport for Wales (TfW)
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS: Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Affinix
  • ANNUAL HIRES: 100+ roles across specialist engineering, transportation, project management and admin support
  • ABOUT TfW: Founded in 2016, Transport for Wales (TfW) was set up by the Welsh Government to make sustainable travel a reality in Wales. Their multimodal, integrated transport network aims to increase the number of journeys on public transport by 40% by 2040.
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Transport for London: DE&I Recruiting to Represent Modern London

Posted on by akessler
Transport for London: Early Careers Recruiting to Represent Modern London

Early Careers | DE&I

Transport for London: Early Careers Recruiting to Represent Modern London

Transport for London (TfL) worked with PeopleScout to boost diversity in their early careers program through an employer branding and talent attraction campaign.

2 x Double the Percentage of Minority Ethnic Graduates Hired
16 % Increase in Female Apprentice Hires

London’s population is projected to reach 10.5 million by 2041. Plus, 16 to 18-year-olds are experiencing rising youth unemployment with some of the most deprived areas in the country set in London. 

As the government body responsible for the day-to-day operation of London’s public transport network, naturally Transport for London (TfL) plays a major role in contributing to the capital’s growth, and opening doors for people from disadvantaged areas was absolutely vital. Supporting this growth means recruiting, retaining, and developing a workforce of Londoners who will take part in the design of their city.

Transport for London (TfL) values the importance of diversity and inclusion and social mobility. Being representative of London is something their success is measured on, and the same standards apply to their apprenticeship and graduate schemes.

These early careers schemes had proven successful in the volume of applications received but weren’t reaching talent from all walks of life. TfL needed a diverse pipeline that truly represented modern London. It was time to rethink their entire student attraction activity. That’s where PeopleScout came in.

Situation

TfL needed to recruit 32 graduate roles and 109 apprenticeships. As their talent partners, our primary objective was to champion these fantastic opportunities to a broader apprentice and graduate talent pool in order to increase female applicants and those from minority ethnic backgrounds.

This meant removing barriers to recruitment, challenging stereotypes and overcoming negative perceptions. We needed to change TfL’s attraction process so that people from every pocket of society would be interested in the unique opportunities available. And we needed to re-position their early careers employer brand as a progressive organization in which everyone—regardless of background or financial situation—could excel.

Solution

A New Brand To Make Better Connections

Together, we transformed the way TfL recruit diverse talent. Ensuring skilled people from all walks of life have a chance to shine in the application and assessment process, our creative team used their audience knowledge to build a dynamic unexpected youth brand, “The Next Move”, which was designed to look different from other TfL

Boosting Success in Assessment Centers

communications, using vibrant, colourful graphics that would better connect with female and diverse applicants. We then shaped a comprehensive outreach program and a completely new assessment process with the aim of helping these candidates show TfL who they are and what they’re truly made of.

From experience, we know that young people often need to build their confidence by filling gaps in their knowledge. To address this, we created “Route-into-Work,” a pre-employment course for all candidates to fill gaps in their knowledge and provide them with the tools, insight and confidence to be successful at assessment centers.

A More Targeted Approach

For Tfl’s apprenticeships, we designed a new strategy for our school outreach program, “Moving Forward.” We identified 251 of the poorest secondary state schools and ran over 50 events, with additional events in three of the most deprived boroughs in London: Newham, Tower Hamlets and Haringey.

Results

We achieved amazing results with the graduate recruitment campaign, comfortably filling all of the roles and meeting the social mobility criteria.

Doubling the Percentage of Graduate Hires from Minority Backgrounds

Most importantly we doubled the percentage of minority ethnic graduates from 27% to 54%, and we substantially grew the proportion of female hires from 18% to 29%.

Growing Female Apprentice Hires by 16%

Similarly strong results were achieved in the apprentice pool, as we dramatically grew the proportion of female hires from 20% to 36%. The Route-into-Work program delivered apprenticeship hires, of which 33% were female and 67% were minority ethnic.

At a Glance

  • COMPANY: Transport for London (TfL)
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS: Talent Advisory
  • ANNUAL HIRES: 32 graduate roles and 109 apprenticeships
  • ABOUT TfL: Transport for London (TfL) is the government body responsible for the day-to-day operation of London’s public transport network and management of the capital’s main roads.
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The AA: Bot-Powered, Brand Boosting Innovation

Posted on by edyson
The AA: Bot-Powered, Brand Boosting Innovation

Chatbot for Talent Acquisition

The AA: Bot-Powered, Brand Boosting Innovation

The AA brought PeopleScout on board for a major redesign and rebuild of their careers site, including developing a cheeky chatbot to increase engagement and improve the candidate experience.

30,000 applications, up from 8,000—a 275% increase
60 percent increase in career site traffic year-over-year
17 percent reduction in bounce rate

The AA is often referred to as “Britain’s fourth Emergency Service.” But, being known for doing one thing very well is both a blessing and a roadblock when it comes to attracting brilliant candidates. We developed a new employer brand for the AA to help them overcome this challenge. The next step was a major redesign and rebuild of their careers site. With a totally new way to navigate and a recruitment industry first—a website-based chatbot—we helped them boost not only their employer brand, but their number of site visits and applications.

Situation

Say the AA and a lot of people can’t see beyond roadside recovery. Heading to the careers website, visitors are overwhelmed by choice or jump straight to the same old roles. Which means they miss out on the impressive variety of careers they offer (from customer advisers to digital professionals), and the AA loses the opportunity to engage with excellent candidates.

The AA brought PeopleScout on board for a major redesign and rebuild of their careers site. We were set a sizeable task, to attract and engage more visitors and increase applications – all underpinned with innovation.

Solution

Solution Highlights

  • Navigation Innovation
  • Bleeding-Edge Software
  • Booting Site Traffic
  • Huge Increase in applicants

At a Glance

  • COMPANY: The AA
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS: Talent Advisory
  • ABOUT THE AA: The Automobile Association (The AA) has been supporting motorists in the United Kingdom since 1905. With over 14 million members, breakdown cover is always their number one priority, but The AA has branched out into finance, insurance, leisure and lifestyle services.
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A RECRUITMENT INDUSTRY FIRST

When is a website not a website? When it’s chatbot-powered. We launched a reimagined careers site that could do justice to the new brand proposition, “Ready for ANYTHING?” At its heart is a totally new way to navigate and a recruitment industry first: a website-based chatbot.

BLEEDING-EDGE SOFTWARE

To achieve it, we sought out bleeding-edge software—Microsoft’s Bot Framework—which was still in beta and constructed new bot pathways even as the core code changed under our feet. The result, AAbot, is your guide to the world of AA.

ENTERTAINING, INFORMING & ENGAGING

By asking questions, candidates can access all website information from within the chatbot—utterly tailored to their interest—and, if desired, full job listings. With expressive animations for (almost) any occasion and banter full of cheek and surprise, AAbot is packed with personality. He takes the employer’s tone of voice in a bold, playful new direction. And he shows that functional UX copy can entertain and build a brand, as well as inform.

Results

BOOSTING SITE TRAFFIC

Site visitors are now engaging with the wider AA story and roles. We’ve successfully boosted candidate interest, as site traffic has risen by 60 percent year-over-year, while the bounce rate has fallen by 17 percent.

HUGE INCREASE IN APPLICATIONS

Applications, meanwhile, have increased from 8,000 to more than 30,000, taking direct hire numbers from 55 percent to 95 percent of all applicants. And it’s just the start.

MULTI-CHANNEL APPEARANCES

AAbot is already a breakout star, appearing in digital ad banners and social media communications. You’ll already find him at the Wycombe Wanderers football stadium, emblazoned all over the AA offices and popping up on LinkedIn. And we have big plans to let AAbot loose across the end-to-end recruitment process.

The AA: Ready for ANYTHING? An Experiential Event Drives More Applications

Posted on by skatz
The AA: Ready for ANYTHING? An Experiential Event Drives More Applications

Recruitment Events

The AA: Ready for ANYTHING? An Experiential Event Drives More Applications

The AA engaged PeopleScout to design and host big, bold recruiting events for their call center roles. Through a series of silly, messy tasks, we increased awareness of the AA’s roles and drove more applications.

2 recruitment events
60,000 career site visits
78 percent increase in applications

Thousands more careers site visitors. Hundreds more applications. And how did we do it? With 64 fake spiders, 15 liters of custard and one tube of wasabi paste—among other things. This is the story of how we created a fun, conversation-sparking event that captured the essence of the AA employer brand, raised awareness of their call center roles and helped them make the successful hires they needed.

Situation

The AA has two large call centers in Oldbury (near Birmingham) and Newcastle, England. With ambitious hiring targets to meet, they’d used a range of attraction methods, from job boards and paid social media, to taxi wraps and ads at cinemas. They weren’t getting the results they needed, so it was time for something bigger and bolder.

Solution

We discussed and planned the objectives carefully with the talent attraction team and local stakeholders. We wanted to raise general awareness of the organization in local audiences and encourage them to spread the word, so we needed a way of reaching a large number of individuals easily, effectively and creatively. The AA also wanted us to showcase their fun and friendly culture.

Highlights

  • Raising awareness of roles
  • Reflecting a fun and friendly culture
  • Boosting social media activity
  • Increasing careers site visitors
  • Record-breaking application figures

At a Glance

  • COMPANY: The AA
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS: Talent Advisory
  • LOCATIONS: 2 call centers in England
  • ABOUT THE AA: The Automobile Association (The AA) has been supporting motorists in the United Kingdom since 1905. With over 14 million members, breakdown cover is always their number one priority, but the AA has branched out into finance, insurance, leisure and lifestyle services.
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A BRAND MESSAGING-ALIGNED EVENT

The “Ready for ANYTHING?” strapline is the central message in all of the AA’s recruitment communications activity, so it made sense to take this message and see just who was Ready for ANYTHING? among local audiences.

FUN TO TAKE PART IN. FUN TO WATCH.

With a big prize to incentivize contestants, the event was built around getting volunteers on stage to take part in a mystery challenge. We built The Random Challenge Generator—a big screen flashing through a series of silly, messy tasks. The contestant pushed a big yellow button to stop the screen, which brought up their challenge. We also engaged a celebrity host to help draw the crowds, engage with the audience and keep the fun moving. We ran two of these shopping center-based outdoor events—one in Newcastle, the other in Birmingham.

PROMOTING THE OPPORTUNITIES

Maximizing social media activity before, during and after the event, we also live-streamed the challenges. Filming on the day enabled us to create short videos for follow-up content to promote the AA’s call center roles. On the event days, we gave out flyers encouraging people to get involved and driving to the AA careers site, while digital screen and on-stage announcements also highlighted the AA’s local career opportunities.

Results

UNPRECEDENTED CAREERS SITE VISIT FIGURES

Social media and event build-up activity drove 60,000 career site visits across the weeks events were held. Before, 1,500 to 2,000 people visited the AA careers site each day. For the Newcastle event, this increased to 5,000 in just one day, with a record high of 7,100 in one day for Birmingham.

RECORD NUMBERS OF APPLICATIONS

While the AA saw a huge increase in applications for their call center in Oldbury, they had record breaking figures for Newcastle. With a month-over-month increase from 576 to 1,026—a 78% increase!

High-Speed Hiring for Key Professional Roles

Posted on by Kate
High-Speed Hiring for Key Professional Roles

Travel & Leisure Recruitment

High-Speed Hiring for Key Professional Roles

A major international airline faced time-to-fill challenges in key professional roles within the organization including finance, purchasing, legal, IT, technical operations and human resources. PeopleScout partnered with the client to implement a full-cycle, end-to-end RPO program focused on hiring speed and agility to improve time-to-fill metrics for professional hiring across multiple key positions.

44 % reduction in the time between offer acceptance and clear-for-hire
OFCCP compliance standards maintained in the heavily regulated airline industry
OFCCP compliance standards maintained in the heavily regulated airline industry
100 % class fill rates for customer service hires

Scope and Scale

A major international airline faced time-to-fill challenges in key professional roles within the organization including finance, purchasing, legal, IT, technical operations and human resources. PeopleScout partnered with the client to implement a full-cycle, end-to-end RPO program focused on hiring speed and agility to improve time-to-fill metrics for professional hiring across multiple key positions.

PeopleScout’s solution provides additional hiring support for union roles and manages airport frontline hiring at all airport stations, above and below the wing, including conducting in-person interview events, making hiring decisions, onboarding and campus hiring.

Situation

PeopleScout partners with a major international airline to manage the airline’s multifaceted and unique hiring needs. PeopleScout supports the hiring of all professional hires in the U.S. and conducts on-site hiring events that include interviewing, selection and onboarding to meet the client’s hiring requirements in short timeframes.

Solution

STREAMLINED RECRUITMENT PROCESS

PeopleScout’s full lifecycle RPO program streamlines the recruiting process to meet the client’s needs.

FULL-SERVICE EXECUTION

PeopleScout executes each phase of the recruitment process from screening candidates, candidate notification, scheduling and submitting written offers to onboarding new hires.

CAMPUS HIRING PROGRAM

PeopleScout manages the client’s campus hiring program. PeopleScout oversees event coordination, travel arrangements, relationship building and brand positioning to recruit undergraduate and MBA students.

OFCCP COMPLIANT

To help the client remain compliant in the heavily regulated airline industry, PeopleScout maintains OFCCP compliance standards.

PROGRAM DATA ANALYSIS

PeopleScout sends regularly updated status reports and analyses of program data to deliver insights into performance metrics and identify areas for improvement.

Results

Optimized Screening Process

PeopleScout optimized the initial candidate screening process, resulting in improvements in the interview-to-offer ratio, time-to-fill and overall quality of hire.

Reduced Acceptance Time

As a result of PeopleScout’s RPO program, there was a 44% reduction in the time between offer acceptance and clear-for-hire for union frontline positions.

Engaging Onboarding Experience

PeopleScout’s delivery team enhances the client’s candidate experience and provides the company’s new hires with an engaging and thoughtful onboarding experience. This resulted in the client’s Candidate Experience Awards wins from 2016 to 2018.

100% fill rates

PeopleScout delivers 100% class fill rates for customer service hires.

At a Glance

  • COMPANY: Major international airline
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS: Recruitment Process Outsourcing
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Bombardier: Moving the World’s Engineering Talent with a Global Employer Brand

Posted on by akessler
Bombardier: Moving the World's Engineering Talent with a Global Employer Brand

Bombardier: Moving the World’s Engineering Talent with a Global Employer Brand

PeopleScout helped Bombardier Transportation with a global employer brand and toolkit to help them recruit hard-to-fill roles and meet diversity objectives.

Situation

A worldwide leader in rail technology, Bombardier Transportation had no global employer brand presence. They approached PeopleScout and our in-house creative to develop a employer value proposition (EVP), not only to be used to push out the overall brand message, but also to underpin specific propositions for, and support recruitment activity in, each of their territories around the world. Launched initially in the UK, and now rolling out to other territories,

The new employer brand needed to tackle a negative market misperceptions of redundancies and lost orders. The truth was that they had a full order book and some new and exciting contracts to deliver in the future. With this positive story to share, they realized they had a great opportunity to enhance their position within the market.

Solution

Research & Discovery

We began with extensive research in all key Bombardier Transportation global territories. We conducted interviews with a mixture of senior stakeholders and employees from the main talent groups they needed to recruit from and also carried out external sessions with relevant talent groups.

Foundation & Framework

Using the insights we’d gained, we developed a set of EVP pillars capturing the key themes from the research. This provided the framework for creating our global messaging platform and design.

Guidelines & Toolkit

Working closely with Bombardier Transportation’s Branding and Communications teams, we produced a set of guidelines and a toolkit of materials that could be used globally and tweaked for each individual territory.

Results

Initially launched within the UK, the EVP was rolled out to other territories around the world.

Bombardier Transportation launched its first-ever media campaign using the EVP, using a combination of digital and outdoor media in key hiring locations in the UK. Across the whole campaign, they received over 500 applications and made hires into critical roles that they had struggled to recruit for previously. They were also able to recruit several women into these positions addressing their global diversity objectives.

At a Glance

  • COMPANY: Bombardier Transportation
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS: Talent Advisory
  • ABOUT BOMBARDIER: Bombardier Transportation is a global leader in rail technology, with headquarters in Berlin, Germany. They specialize in rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing.
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The Commercial Driver Talent Landscape – Candidates are in the Driver’s Seat

Posted on by epadmin

Changes in the talent landscape, skills shortages and demographic shifts are making it harder than ever to recruit commercial drivers. Commercial truck drivers are among the hardest jobs to fill in the United States. A downward trend in the number of active candidates available and an increase in the overall number of job postings make for a difficult recruiting climate, according to a recent study by CareerBuilder. With employers competing for CDL candidates, these job-seekers can “drive” their relationship with organizations.

The Driver Talent Landscape

  • More than 3.5 million people in America make their living as truck drivers, via American Trucking Associations (ATA) Trends.
  • The average CDL candidate has six to 10 years of driving experience.
  • The median pay for a truck driver in 2015 was just more than $40,000 a year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  • Trucking is the largest job in 29 states, according to The Guardian.
  • Trucks will transport over 10 billion tons of freight in 2017, and that number is expected to increase in 2018, via ATA Trends.
  • The trucking industry will need to hire nearly 900,000 drivers in the next decade to meet rising demand and cover for the aging workforce nearing retirement age.
  • The average driver is 49-years-old, and retirement is driving much of the current turnover.

Truck Driver Shortage

The industry is currently facing a shortage of nearly 50,000 drivers, and that deficit is expected to grow in the coming years due to low numbers of qualified drivers, an aging workforce and overall industry turnover, according to the ATA Driver Shortage Analysis.That report states that trucking company representatives think attracting and retaining new driver talent is their most crucial strategic initiative, outweighing other issues like regulatory compliance, risk management and revenue growth.

The driver shortage is also due to the out of pocket costs of obtaining a CDL and the physical demands of the job. The local delivery driver position, in particular, is one that requires the employee to not only to drive a truck but physically unload and interact with customers. There is a decrease among millennials who are choosing to do labor-intensive work, so it’s more important than ever for organizations to consider how to attract this generation.

ATA also reports that between 2016 and 2027, the amount of freight moved by trucks is expected to increase by 27 percent. In fact, Fortune named truck drivers the most in-demand job in 2016. Meeting that demand while dealing with the current shortage won’t be an easy task. The ATA proposes a variety of solutions to help address the shortage, including increasing driver pay and offering sign-on bonuses, providing drivers more at-home time and catering to veterans.

Attracting a New Generation of CDL Drivers

The commercial driver landscape is further complicated by the fact that currently, the demand for commercial drivers is increasing as a significant portion of the CDL workforce is nearing retirement age. How can recruiters attract millennials to the industry as they watch the development of driverless cars? How can job hunters prepare themselves for the current CDL talent market and the future driverless talent market at the same time?

Companies that use CDL talent and the talent acquisition professionals focused on recruiting those drivers, must be focused on ways to attract millennials to these in-demand driving positions or risk getting left behind. Responses to traditional print media ads are declining, making it increasingly necessary to use social media, mobile and digital sourcing strategies to attract drivers who are on the road.

Trucks.com reports that more than a third of trucking companies are increasing investments in employee recruiting and improving their HR functions to help attract new talent and speed up the hiring and training process. Companies are also increasing their use of social media to promote open positions, partnering with local CDL schools to attract new graduates and working with the U.S. military to recruit veterans.

What’s Next? Self-Driving Trucks

Another thing affecting the industry is the self-driving car, with both Google and Uber regularly making the news for their tests and industry experts predicting they’ll be common and affordable by 2025.

The freight transportation industry needs to be prepared for the change because as the industry transforms, they need to find the candidates who can be successful in the shift. According to the LA Times, research has shown that artificial intelligence creates more roles for highly educated people. While the demand for drivers may go down, the search for candidates who can build and maintain driverless fleets will provide a new challenge.

Check out our fact sheet, Source the Right Commercial Drivers for Your Organization with PeopleScout, to learn how partnering with an experienced provider can help find the drivers you need in this competitive talent landscape.

Self-driving vehicles are one of the top seven trends impacting the talent acquisition industry. To learn more about how the technology could transform recruiting and to learn more about the other six trends, download our ebook: Seven Tech Trends Shaping the Talent Landscape.