Adopting a phased attraction strategy to achieve “More for Less” within the NHS
15 September 2023
A highly cost-effective recruitment marketing strategy that enabled Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) to recruit 130 midwifery clinicians and qualified social workers for an impressive £82.84 cost per hire
HR and recruitment teams regularly manage hiring requests on a reactive basis, i.e. replacing staff as and when notices are handed in. Often with the HR firefighter hat on, positions need to be filled quickly. When this happens, the priority is to attract suitably qualified candidates who are available in the here and now. CJA does so using our extensive management information and high-quality copy and design. This approach works for individual posts, but when whole new departments are being created, or there is a regular need to recruit the same types of roles, a more proactive approach can be far more cost-effective.
When approached by the NHS hosted Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch to assist in recruiting 100 + maternity investigators, CJA recognised HSIB would not have the capacity to recruit and onboard all 100 in one go. Equally, the most talented professionals they wished to attract would not all be available immediately. A more proactive and phased approach was therefore needed and one that recognised the candidate journey from generating initial interest right through to onboarding.
Central to the success of growing this whole new investigatory service was ensuring there was a dedicated site where all candidate attraction tools could be pointed towards. A site to which candidates could be regularly encouraged to return to when they were ready to take the next step on the candidate journey.
A mixture of passive and active job seeking advertising kick-started the campaign, directing suitably qualified candidates to the site to explore the opportunity in more detail. Those who were able to apply there and then were encouraged to do so. Meanwhile, those who were not able to apply at that moment but may want to later in the year were encouraged to register to a GDPR compliant email newsletter to be updated on future phases. The combination of the phased approach and ongoing engagement with these candidates resulted in half the posts being recruited off the back of the email alerts alone, with this ‘low cost’ approach drastically reducing investment in advertising. The result of this approach was 130 investigators were recruited for a complete spend (including website and advertising costs) of £10,770 for the 12 months. This equates to an impressive £82.84 cost per hire.
Do you have an ongoing need to recruit specific specialist posts or are you looking to set up a whole new division? If so get in touch with us to discuss how we can assist in devising a highly cost-effective recruitment marketing strategy.
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