Winner: Sanctuary Personnel

Sanctuary Personnel is the umbrella company of three specialist public sector recruitment divisions: Sanctuary Social Care, Sanctuary Health and Sanctuary Criminal Justice. There is also a managed service delivery division, Skylakes, which came about as a result of looking at delivering services in a more cost-effective way for clients.

• Innovation is at the heart of Sanctuary, and employees are encouraged to think creatively. All suggestions are reviewed, with the best ideas discussed and feedback given. New recruitment divisions and even new companies have been launched as a result, and clients also benefit from innovative new services to enable them to become more efficient and provide a better service themselves.
• An intensive ‘edge of care’ project set up by Sanctuary division Skylakes supported children of parents who themselves had been in care, to prevent the continuation of the care cycle. The children were assessed by social services to be of lower risk of being taken into care than at the start of the project, and results revealed that out of the 40 children, only one child was taken into care.
• As part of the project with an initial cohort of 40 children, the Youth engagement programme helped children get back into education if they were absconding from school, offered them mentoring support and helped older children with employability skills to prepare them after school.
• This category epitomises the value the industry adds to the public & third sector, helping companies change, improve or save lives by the appointment of people to roles that help society as a whole. The judges felt immensely proud of the work done here, with a number of specialised and urgent appointments often in a very regulated environment, truly making a sustainable difference.

Judges’ comments: “The winner had developed a proposition that clearly articulates what they stand for and what they then do. Sanctuary genuinely cares about the third sector and delivered an ambitious and innovative approach to dealing with some highly challenging and hard-to-fix situations. The Youth engagement programme really stood out in changing minds and perceptions, and made them a worthy winner.”

SHORTLIST:

• Day Webster
• Gravitas Recruitment Group
• MLC Partners
• PeopleScout
• Peridot Partners
• Social Personnel
• The Finegreen Group

 

Winner: Annapurna Recruitment

Annapurna Recruitment works across HR, technology and business change, with offices in the UK, Nordics and DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland).

• The judges said the winner showed real innovation with its Business Transformation Network (BTN) and the clear benefit that this brings to clients and candidates. Spyrker, a commerce technology company operating within the fast-moving start-up scene in Berlin, works with Annapurna to grow its team of developers, sales and HR team. Using the BTN, Annapurna hosted a PHP Industry Experts event in Berlin, where Spyrker showcased its technology and expertise. As a result of such collaborations, Spyrker has increased its candidate talent pool and hired over 20 team members.
• The BTN has been a source of hard-to-find candidates for many of Annapurna’s clients, and has been among the reasons that Annapurna finds itself making the preferred supplier list (PSL) for companies. An example is with global technology services and consulting giant Infosys, which has become one of Annapurna’s key clients through its success with finding individuals and teams through the BTN.
• The judges were impressed with how consultants formed lasting relationships with candidates by helping them build their own personal brand. They do so by giving them the chance to showcase their knowledge at events, webinars or podcasts. These relationships often lead to future placements, when the newly-placed candidate needs to source a team at their new employers, and contacts Annapurna – all as a result of the excellent candidate care that they received.
• Annapurna Giving is the charity arm of the company, emphasising that ‘responsibility’ – privately and corporately – is part of everything Annapurna does: responsibility for candidate care to corporate social responsibility (CSR). In the moral or personal responsibility, Annapurna Giving ensures the company gives back to those in need.
• The judges thought that this category contained a strong set of applications, making it a tough decision to choose a winner.

Judges’ comments: “Annapurna Recruitment demonstrated the ability to develop new specialisms successfully on an international scale.”

SHORTLIST:

• Bramwith Consulting
• Morgan McKinley
• Oakleaf Partnership

Winner: Signify Technology

In the two and a half years Signify has been in business, the technology recruitment company, specialising in Scala programming, has helped 300 software engineers find new jobs in more than 100 tech companies across 17 countries.

• The judges were impressed with Signify’s specific focus with the specialism of Scala from the outset of the agency, proving this was the best way to serve candidates and clients. To become more integrated with the Scala community, Signify created online and physical spaces for Scala engineers to connect and collaborate, often in association with clients.
• To constantly improve the quality of service, the decision was taken to typically hire staff without recruitment experience so they could be trained, developed and nurtured as customer-centric consultants. With around 70% of Signify’s staff new to recruitment, the company aims to improve the stereotypical view of the recruitment industry.
• Pay rises and promotions are linked to customer service scores to ensure this value is threaded throughout the entire organisation. At Signify promotions must come from the ways consultants support and help the community, whether that’s client, candidate or colleague.
• In 2018 Signify began organising Functional Scala Workshops. Borne out of a desire to be part of the Scala community, the recruiter also knew that Scala Engineers are hard to find, in short supply and there’s a serious skills shortage. It made sense to ‘grow’ them. And to make sure the course was accessible to all, Signify provided financial aid and payment plans, as well as an option to be part of the workshops remotely by dialling in.

Judges were impressed by the high standard of entries and there were some great candidate stories, and they would like to highly commend Carestaff Bureau for some great examples of serving the sector and the people who work in it. However, Signify Technology stood out for the breadth of its customer base and the fact that they had placed candidates across Europe.

Judges’ comments: “Signify Technology staff clearly have a genuine desire to do things differently and the recruitment landscape is all the richer for having them. Their personality shines through this excellent entry.”

Highly commended:

• Carestaff Bureau

SHORTLIST:

• Educate Staffing
• Jark Ipswich
• Marks Consulting Partners
• Source Group International
• Vertus Partners
• Xplore Pharma

Winner: Talent International

Talent International (TI) is a progressive and innovative technology and digital recruitment specialist, supplying thousands of contract and permanent technology professionals across the globe.

• TI recognises the contribution that technology start-up businesses provide towards the UK and EU economies. The Talent Unleashed Awards identify companies and business leaders using technology to transform the world, creating disruptive and inventive solutions to business challenges or social issues.
• TI worked with an alliance of police forces to source someone with the technical, leadership and management skills to lead the digital and technical transformation of these forces. TI created a dedicated microsite, and built an online advertising campaign, appealing to candidates with a strong moral compass who felt ‘up for the challenge’.
• To help address the major issue of youth unemployment, TI established its own foundation, Talent RISE. Some of the objectives are to proactively address youth unemployment, to place 500 disadvantaged young people globally into work every year within the technology sector through its international branch network and client relationships and positively affect the lives of 10,000 young people annually through experiences including mentoring, visiting hi-tech companies and skills training.
• An exceptional example of candidate care was for a migrant worker who was relocating for a new role. TI consultants helped secure him and his family a good neighbourhood to move to and settle into, and assisted him and his family in the day-to-day life in the new city through advice and support, discussing details in-depth to ensure the whole family was happy.
• This was a highly competitive category with many examples of impressive case studies, especially around developing new strategies for challenging vacancies in established marketplaces.

Judges’ comments: “The winner shows dedication in enhancing the reputation of the recruitment industry in the technology sector by positively contributing to the talent shortage problem. Talent International has a strong track record for candidate care and is also committed to developing its in-house talent.”

SHORTLIST:

• Amsource Technology
• Darwin Recruitment
• Finlay James
• Hunter Bond
• La Fosse Associates
• Lorien
• Rullion
• Trust in Soda
• Xpertise Recruitment

Winner: VHR

VHR’s dedication to the international aviation industry is impressive and made it a worthy winner in the judges’ opinion.

International engineering recruitment organisation VHR employs 80 staff across five global offices, more than 20 different languages are spoken between them – essential as 72% of its £35m turnover derives from outside the UK.

• In 2016, with no clients or presence in the Czech Republic, VHR consulted aerospace businesses on candidate attraction problems. With the lowest unemployment rate in the EU at 2.4%, the country suffers significant labour shortages. VHR established a base there and now leads 100+ Czech employees working for Czech clients.
• The judges were impressed with VHR’s focus on ethical recruitment in the UAE, where instances of modern slavery are rapidly being reported across many industries. By seconding VHR employees onsite in UAE worksites the recruiter has been able to raise the standards of Middle East and global recruitment, client by client.
• As aerospace organisations recruit thousands to meet the demand for aircraft orders, language training for contractors is becoming vital. As well as its VHR Academy, it is embarking on large-scale language programmes for workers of Czech, Romanian and Bulgarian nationalities to seamlessly integrate into German and French facilities for Airbus, for example.
• VHR has also launched Online Aviation Training courses in partnership with Civil Aviation Technical Training Solutions, a leading training provider for major airlines and aviation workers. This was in response to the results of VHR’s annual candidate survey where 250,000 from its global candidate base wanted to develop their skillsets.
• The judges felt there were impressive companies and a diverse range included in the submissions. The case studies provided evidence the great work and innovation that international recruitment agencies have achieved in the last year.

Judges’ comments: “The business focuses on its future talent with the creation of an in-house Academy running successfully for three years. The recruiter realises the importance of multilingual knowledge and capability to be able to provide a great service to candidates and clients.”

Highly commended:

• Amoria Bond
• Talent International

SHORTLIST:

• Fircroft
• Hamlyn Williams
• Leap29
• NES Global Talent
• Opus Talent Solutions
• Robert Walters
• The Green Recruitment Company

Winner: VHR

VHR demonstrated real expertise in its market, commercial understanding of its clients and ability to service huge, multinational companies on an international scale.

VHR is an international engineering recruitment organisation serving the aerospace & aviation, Formula 1 & automotive, engineering & defence and marine industries across 45 countries. It employs 80 staff across five global offices.

• For many clients, VHR has to interview and recruit workers in multiple countries, and so employees across the five offices speak more than 20 languages between them.
• VHR is led by qualified former engineers together with recruitment industry professionals, which means clients are guaranteed industry expertise, technical understanding and service excellence. This leads to many partnerships lasting more than a decade, including Air Mauritius, Etihad Airways, Virgin Atlantic and F1 team Toro Rosso.
• In January 2018 the VHR Academy was launched. This is a bespoke training programme to transform inexperienced individuals into successful recruitment consultants. By training up consultants to VHR’s high standards from the very beginning, VHR ensures that each and every client receives the best levels of service.
• An example of excellent client service is the support VHR gave automotive manufacturer Porsche with its latest car model launch. VHR recruited for five different suppliers across the engineering supply chain to a short timeframe, often in countries with a low unemployment rate and so hard-to-source available candidates. VHR’s recruitment drive enabled Porsche to meet and even exceed the project deadline by two weeks, meaning the new model could be released to the market in plenty of time.

Judges’ comments: “VHR clearly develops long-term partnerships with its clients and has shown innovation in the aviation industry, which has culminated in special recognition from the CEO of a major international airline.”

Highly commended:

• The Green Recruitment Company

SHORTLIST:

• Astute Technical Recruitment
• CarmichaelUK
• Core Talent Recruitment
• Fircroft Engineering Services
• gap technical
• Rullion

 

Winner: Darwin Recruitment

• The winner, Darwin Recruitment, is an international recruitment business focused on recruiting for perm and contract roles within the digital and data fields. The marketing team of five is to use every discipline and tool available to position Darwin as the partner of choice for digital and data recruitment.
• The marketing service offering has three clear strategies: growing and building the Darwin brand; working closely with the consultants to build their personal brands; and partnering with clients to help enhance, protect and promote their employer brand. The team ensures that all marketing initiatives feed into each strategy.
• The judges were impressed with the role events and webinars play in the marketing strategy. All events are livestreamed, and videos feed into a comprehensive content marketing strategy. Monthly whitepapers and reports also offer in-depth market analysis ranging from monthly recruitment market updates and technical whitepapers to relocation guides.
• As a result of automated and verified process, the team knows the source of every single candidate placed. The team is also able to know the outcome of investments and campaigns. Candidates can be tracked through their customer journey whether they came via email marketing, content download, event, job application or direct methods.
• Revenue from marketing channels this year has almost doubled – £1.12m in 2017 to £2.14m in 2018.
• This was a very popular category to enter, said the judges, and it epitomises the great work the sector is doing to promote the recruitment industry and the companies they support. The judges said the wealth and depth of talent used to deliver embracing, cutting-edge media and technology will ensure that the entrants maintain the leading edge performance in highly competitive global markets.

Judges’ comments: “The winner in this category has taken events globally to the next level, and with very creative use of data & technology this has enabled them to position themselves in a way that truly drives sales and adds to the bottom line.”

Highly commended:

• Harrington Starr

SHORTLIST:

• Acorn Recruitment
• Fircroft Engineering Services
• Meet Recruitment
• PMP Recruitment
• Rullion
• Talent International

 

Winner: JCB

One of the world’s largest privately-owned construction equipment companies, JCB has 22 plants on four continents and employs more than 15,000 people. The firm is experiencing unprecedented growth – the UK workforce grew by more than 1,000 from Oct 2017-Oct 2018 – and therefore has an increased focus on recruitment.

• The company’s five-year plan for significant growth led to the creation of a new in-house recruitment team in 2016 to directly engage with internal and external talent. Quality of hires and cost-efficiency was to be integral to the strategy. From a starting point of zero, the team now consists of four recruitment experts.
• The team faces a number of challenges. With its headquarters in rural Rocester, Staffordshire, the distance from major UK cities can be a barrier to attracting talent. However, amplifying that challenge is the big industry-wide issue, the significant skills shortage in engineering.
• At the end of 2017, the in-house recruitment team was set a target of recruiting at least 80 new engineers for a specific project within four months. A select group of partners was used to find quality candidates; direct approaches through LinkedIn and social media were used for passive candidates, and regional assessment centres were established. The outcome exceeded all expectations, as the team hired more than 100 trained engineers in the period, and eight months on the retention rate was above the industry average.
• The category showcased a very high standard of some excellent in-house teams, demonstrating best practice in their industry and great value to their organisations. The numbers were very close and the judges considered logistical challenges and solutions to come to their decision.

Judges’ comments: “The location of JCB would be a key factor in the impact of any recruitment process. However, the in-house team overcame this challenge using social media, processes and technology. Keeping the wheels of the company turning and growing.”

SHORTLIST:

• Recruitment Team, Bupa Dental Care
• Careers @Evolution: Internal Recruitment Team, Evolution Recruitment Solutions
• Optimus Search
• Global Employer Brand Team, SAP
• The Sodexo UK Recruitment Team, Sodexo

Winner: Love your everyday: Bupa Dental Care in partnership with Blackbridge Communications

Having a proposition that is non-patient focused and perceived as very corporate presented a clear problem for Bupa Dental Care. The company’s solution left a smile on your face, by developing and executing a highly effective beginning-to-end employer brand plan undertaken with proper research that made them stand out.

• In partnership with Blackbridge Communications, Bupa Dental Care set out to build an employer value proposition (EVP) and create a dedicated employer brand that could be flexed for different audiences. One of the aims was to dispel negative preconceptions about corporate dentistry (ie. more profits-focused than patient-focused) and so to attract diverse people, from surgery receptionists through to highly specialised dentists.
• Design was an important feature of the brand development strategy. The photography of employees wearing dental masks overlaid by an illustrated smile demonstrates how Bupa Dental Care’s aim to deliver brilliant patient care is intrinsically linked to people’s job satisfaction.
• Putting employees at the forefront of the campaign meant the different target audiences could be reached with broad-based visual references combined with carefully nuanced messaging. A new careers website was built, and employee videos were created for the site and social media channels.
• The new careers site has seen a huge spike in traffic and 15,667 applications post-launch (compared to 9,337 during the same period the previous year – a 40% increase). And year-on-year there’s been a 38% increase in new hires, with 2,500 accepted offers since the EVP launch.
• Competition in this category was high, with a number of top quality entries and some very creative marketing briefs delivered that helped a number of the applicants reposition or build their brand strategies. Capability and creativity were high in this category, and the judges felt this bodes well for the wider recruitment sector.

Judges’ comments: “The marketing is highly memorable and clearly helped reposition the brand, and delivered on the brief. A great success story.”

SHORTLIST:

• The Audley Way – Forget cocoa. Think Mojito…: Audley in partnership with Omni RMS & Ca3
• This is world moving – Employer Brand: Bombardier Transportation in partnership with TMP Worldwide
• Clearly Hastings Direct: Hastings Direct in partnership with That Little Agency
• Roc Search EVP: Roc Search
• SAP Employer Brand: SAP
• Ready for ANYTHING?: The AA in partnership with PeopleScout

 

Winner: Student Recruitment Reimagined – PwC in partnership with Amberjack

The application of technology to the process and the thought applied to how this could make the company more strategic in its approach led to the judges to conclude this was the stand-out winner in this category. The use of innovation that centred on the candidate proposition was outstanding.

• Working alongside Amberjack, PwC upgraded a process that hadn’t really changed in 10-15 years, making it commercially efficient, exciting and immersive to meet the consumer-centric demands of today’s candidates.
• In identifying the Workforce of the Future, PwC recognised that it is impossible to predict exactly the skills that will be needed even five years from now, so the organisation – and business in general – need to be ready to adapt the skills they assess. And future employees also need to be agile to adapt to the fast-moving world of work.
• The selection process features the latest emerging technology combining AI, machine learning, automation, data-driven insights and predictions to form an immersive, seamless, candidate journey. It is highly personalised, highly tailored and truly insightful.
• Results are a 68% increase in applications compared with the previous year; a projected 400% reduction in time-to-hire; over 5,000 hours of chargeable staff time saved.
• The judges were impressed with the quality of submissions in this category. The three shortlisted companies have all delivered effective solutions to support their business and the wider markets they serve.

Judges’ comments: “This company delivered an all-round answer to a complex recruitment process, which did the job well, delivered significant results, not just on talent attraction, but also significant cost savings.”

SHORTLIST:

• Community Values and Giving Back: New Directions
• SAP Employer Brand Team Sponsors Rob Cross: SAP