Job application process cuts down paper trail and stores
candidate data.
Derbyshire County Council has cut its contact points for job
applicants from 500 to one by introducing a system for online job
applications.
People interested in any of the 5,000 vacancies the council
advertises each year can now apply online. Before the council
implemented the recruitment system from Abacus eMedia, job
applicants had to request paper application packs. More than 60,000
packs were sent out each year at a cost of more than
£120,000.
The system also enables the council to build a database of job
applicants. Candidates are using the online register of jobs to
apply for other positions after they make their initial job
application.
As a consequence, the council is sending out less than half the
number of paper-based packs that it did before Abacus was
implemented. Total savings from the system are more than
£100,000.
David Hickman, head of the council's change management team, said,
"We knew that 40% of all hits on the council's site were
recruitment-based, which brought it to the fore as an area for
improvement. We identified significant administrative cost and
staff efficiency savings that could be made if we were to
centralise recruitment processes."
Because candidates file their applications electronically, Abacus
can automatically collect management information. The council can
then analyse its recruitment practices to ensure that it meets
equality targets.
When any of Derbyshire County Council's six departments hire
someone, the database and the management information functionality
provide the recruiters in those departments with a comprehensive
profile of the new employee.
Council chiefs were particularly keen to widen the range of people
who were applying.
Council personnel manager James Luckraft said, "The most direct
benefit from an HR perspective is that we are widening our pool of
applicants. And the number of applications that we are receiving
online has exceeded expectations."
The online recruitment system also helps the council to match any
of its 37,000 staff that it may make redundant with other available
posts.
Derbyshire County Council has integrated Abacus with its existing
website and its Call Derbyshire Contact Centre.
