Case Study - Attracting the hard to hire

“Qualified social workers are in great demand and I am convinced that this dedicated micro site will give us the competitive edge we need to attract them to come and work here in Walsall.  

“This should help reduce our reliance on agency staff, save vitally needed resources and ensure that the people of Walsall get the first class service they deserve” - Dave Martin, Executive Director, Walsall Council.

No longer will social workers face the onerous task of filling in long application forms.  Now, thanks to Jobsgopublic in Walsall at least, expressing an interest in working for the council is just a few clicks away.

Qualified social workers are being encouraged to visit the council’s new micro site where in a matter of minutes they can outline their qualifications, experience, what areas they want to work in and attach their CV.  The council then gets in touch with them to discuss current or future opportunities.  Unqualified people can also register and get information about becoming a social worker

The result - in just six weeks 35 social workers have signed up and two have already been hired.  This is particularly impressive when compared to the handful of responses that traditional and extremely expensive advertising campaigns tend to attract.

Walsall’s Senior Recruitment Officer David Duncombe is delighted.  David said: “Social work vacancies are tough to fill, so why make it difficult for people to apply?  I wanted it to be easy for anyone curious about a career with us to register, so that when they have we can talk to them about what a great place Walsall is to work and the benefits we offer.

“The results are fantastic.  I had hoped it would give us a real edge over our competitors and it does.

“In addition to the numbers of social workers attracted, the cost savings when compared to traditional methods of recruitment advertising are very significant and allow us to focus many more resources on front line services.”

The real savings however, according to David, will be in the reduced agency costs as permanent staff fill the vacancies previously occupied by expensive temporary staff.

David said: “When I first joined Walsall, e-recruitment was nothing more than a list of jobs on the internet, which people could download.  Since then we have developed an interactive facility enabling job seekers to search for opportunities, download job descriptions and person specifications and apply on line.

“However, what I really wanted was for us to be seen as market leaders in social work recruitment and I believe that this site does that.”

So successful has it been that David is now looking at the potential of extending it to other hard to hire professions such as environmental health and planning.

Created by JGP, the product is the only one of its kind specifically created for the UK Local Government market.  It was originally piloted with the London Borough of Lewisham.

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