The background
An international bank, headquartered in Europe, was investing significant amounts of time and money in the recruitment and selection of its graduate intake. Each year the bank competes for 250 high calibre graduates, which are vital to the success of the company. However, an increasingly sophisticated graduate talent pool demands an increasingly innovative and relevant selection process. Whilst the bank recognised the need to keep innovating it was concerned about escalating costs, in particular the cost of running its assessment centres which were absorbing senior HR and senior management time and diverting their energies from adding value elsewhere.
The challenge
The bank identified three specific objectives:
It wanted to improve its online recruitment system so that the most desirable graduates were identified earlier in the recruitment process and the bank could gain a competitive advantage in securing their interest.
Secondly, the bank wanted to be seen as an employer of choice and to use the early interactions with applicants as a PR and positioning opportunity.
Thirdly, it wanted to ensure that they could increase the quality of final hires but also reduce the cost per hire at the same time.
SHL were invited to tender a solution that met these requirements.
The solution
The key to upgrading the quality of candidate information early on in the recruitment process, without escalating costs, was in administering a cost-efficient test that gave a high indication of candidate potential. SHL worked with the client to introduce an online numerical reasoning test, known as ‘Access Ability’. This test, and its verbal counterpart, is very quick to complete and is accessed online, forming part of the initial selection process. Employers invite applicants to take the test at their discretion. Each test is different, with questions being pulled from a large question pool of comparable items, which ensures that the candidates cannot repeat the same test.
The results
Introducing Access Ability has enabled the bank to secure high calibre graduates early on in the recruitment process, which is reflected by a 40% increase in the success rate of applicants who were invited to assessment centres. Many of the interviewing managers commented on the reduction of unsuitable candidates they were seeing, which reflected well on the HR team.
SHL was able to ensure that the bank projected a highly professional, sophisticated and innovative face to new applicants through it approach to online assessment and communication.
Finally, and most critically, the implementation of Access Ability has saved the bank £1200 per candidate hire – a saving of over 37%, even after taking into account the cost of investment in SHL’s consultancy and product.