白小姐论坛

Meet the 白小姐论坛 Change Builders helping to drive progress for our community of staff, students and partners.

Slashing time-to-hire from 127 days to 48 days听

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Through improving 白小姐论坛's recruitment process and introducing a new system, TalentLink,听teams have cut听白小姐论坛's time-to-hire from 127 days to just 48 - improving the process for both applicants and recruiters, and ensuring our institution gets the talent it needs.听

听Pictured: Angela Clark, Head of Recruitment at 白小姐论坛

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鈥淲e had this recruitment system that took candidates at least an hour to apply for a job," recalls Angela Clark, Head of Recruitment at 白小姐论坛. "It wasn't integrated with any of our other systems, the user interface was outdated, and it wasn't very good from an accessibility perspective鈥�. 听

As an employer, we're looking to present ourselves as innovators and disruptors, and our application process is going to be the first experience a lot of people have with us."听

Bringing 25 years of experience in the field, Angela joined forces with the Information Services Division (ISD) and, alongside numerous product teams, testers, business analysts and solutions architects, set to work on delivering a transformative solution.听

Time was tight: 鈥渨e had nine months [to do it]鈥�, explains Delivery Director Michael Marques; 鈥淲e knew it had to land near the start of the academic year to really to be a success, but we had to run through some brick walls to deliver it!鈥�.听

Pictured:听Michael Marques,听Delivery Director at 白小姐论坛

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鈥淎 lot of investment was done on the experience journey from an end user point of view鈥�, adds Senior Enterprise Architect Sharvari Andhare. 鈥淭here was a lot of data flowing in and out [of the project] in a short space of time鈥�.听

Following the new system鈥檚 rollout, the institution鈥檚 time-to-hire, which had averaged 127 days, was slashed to 48 days. Moreover, the average monthly applicant count, which previously totaled 2000, grew听to 9000 鈥� a reflection of the increased ease of applying under the new system. 听

Collaboration made it possible听

The team pulled through in spite of heavy time constraints, and TalentLink went live on 31 October 2022. The team was guided by eight key principles 鈥� 鈥渋s this going to make the candidate experience a better one?鈥�, recalls Michael; 鈥淚s it going to reduce the time to hire?鈥� 鈥� as well as the establishment of a Design Working Group and the inclusion of a strategic integration methodology.听

鈥淭he team worked really hard on this鈥� remembers Sharvari; 鈥渋t was a major undertaking but collaboration made it possible鈥�.听

听Pictured: Left to right听鈥撎鼴ojana Kulundzic,听Michael Marques, Sharvari Andhare and Angela Clark

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Transforming recruitment at 白小姐论坛

"TalentLink has had really massive impacts on our organisation", Angela shares. "Not only does it offer our candidates a better application experience, enabling us to reach a greater number of talented applicants, but it鈥檚 also made it possible for us to increase the diversity of our applicants and recruit quicker than we were previously鈥�.听

"We're no longer forcing people to write War and Peace on why they're good for the job鈥�.听

鈥淭alentLink鈥檚 integrations compared to [the previous system] ROME are significant鈥� reflects Senior Solution Architect Bojana Kulundzic. 鈥淚t used to be that we had HR and recruitment as two separate systems not talking to each other... now you can get the insights you need when you want them鈥�. 听

听Pictured:听Senior Solution Architect Bojana Kulundzic

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TalentLink鈥檚 enhanced data insights have, additionally, empowered the recruitment team to drive positive change based on evidence and insights. "Data is really powerful because it helps us make better decisions on how we spend money and how we operate as an organisation," Angela says; the system's robust reporting and visibility offers a solid foundation for 鈥渋nformed decision-making鈥� 鈥� fostering greater resource efficiency.听

Easing concerns about change

The road to success wasn鈥檛 an easy one though; "People had been worried about us moving to a new recruitment system", Angela remembers, noting that staff were wary of change and uncertain about how it would impact their day-to-day work. 听

Following the new system鈥檚 implementation, staff and external applicants have experienced a positive impact on recruitment, however: 鈥淭he system is quite intuitive鈥� notes Taneta Darko, a Senior Recruiter 鈥渨hen we book interviews with candidates, they now auto populate into the calendars of the panel members, which wasn't happening before 鈥� from an admin point of view, this is really, really helpful鈥�. 听

听Pictured:听Taneta Darko, Senior Recruiter at 白小姐论坛

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鈥淲e鈥檙e sending things out more professionally鈥� agrees Deputy HR, Payroll and Staffing Manager Sarah Barry; 鈥淭alentLink has streamlined processes. It鈥檚 great to have a team behind it to support and sense-check too鈥�.听

The journey isn鈥檛 over

The journey towards progress is, Angela notes, a continuous one, with the team committed to setting the stage for greater achievements in the future. 鈥淸We鈥檙e all about] making life easier for people, and the impact the new system has had on our recruitment process is worth all the struggle we went through to get here鈥�. 听

听Pictured:听Senior Enterprise Architect Sharvari Andhare

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To Angela, it鈥檚 the unity and resilience of teams from across the university which were ultimately responsible for the project鈥檚 success, and community engagement will continue to be important for its future evolution. "This wouldn't have been possible without everyone involved. The power of everybody pulling together and the fact that it's made such a difference makes me really proud of the whole project. We said 鈥渨e are going to make this happen鈥濃�� and we really did".听