There's been a real buzz around the office of late. And it's not just down to the sun (finally) coming out. We're close to finalising a large-scale response handling campaign for vinspired, the national charity that promotes volunteering amongst 16-24 year olds.
V approached us as they needed to fill 113 posts consisting of 1 National Manager, 10 Regional Managers and 102 School Advisors as part of their Youth & Community Action programme. Our consultants had to hit the ground running on this one as the first round of advertising had already gone to press when we got on board. Being quick to respond and flexible isn't an issue for People Unlimited, we set up a dedicated team and implemented our thorough but flexible response handling service giving vinspired the time to concentrate on what they do well, rather than sifting through hundreds of CVs.
Although this was a national campaign for a large number of roles, we've been seeing a trend amongst our clients, both big and small, who are literally being swamped by the number of applications they receive for individual vacancies. It's perhaps pertinent in this economic climate where redundancies have been high and jobs thin on the ground. But also being "conscious", of what you purchase, your effect on the environment, of how your everyday choices can affect the lives of others has become a more visible concern for consumers and businesses alike, means that working for a value-led organisation is becoming de riguer for people wanting to make a change.
This, although very exciting for the industry, presents an issue when it comes to assessing all the applicants for a job, fairly and equally. We've heard cases of clients receiving upwards of 200 applications for a handful of jobs. While it is great to get such a huge response there's the chance that really good candidates will get lost amongst the unsuitable CVs.
So if you don't want to spend many hours reading CVs, answering queries and interviewing everyone, what can you do? This is where response handling comes into play. A service that effectively filters through your applications, highlighting the people you'll want to speak to. Further screening may take place in the form of telephone interviews or assessment tests, to identify those key candidates that have the skills, experience and personality to work well within your organisation.
Response handling is a flexible and scalable solution so may include, for example, creating a microsite and advertising materials, Criminal Record Bureau checking, co-ordinating induction days, producing HR documentation, or simply just handling telephone enquiries.
So with that in mind, are there any reasons not to undertake response handling services?
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