Winner: Greene King

Major pub retailer and brewer Greene King’s programme has had a significant impact, not just in business but on the local community. As such this has led to higher retention rates within the apprenticeship population and higher engagement scores in the business.

• The hospitality sector is facing a severe skills shortage, with a shrinking pool of home-grown talent. The result has been to look overseas and rely on migrant workers. The Brexit uncertainty has also had an adverse effect on the sector. So like many employers Greene King has had to refine its apprenticeship programme to attract, retain and develop its future talent pipeline.
• Greene King invested heavily in its attraction strategy, employing two school and college engagement officers. Their partnerships with the educational establishments have led to work experience opportunities, where students can get a real taste of what it is like to work in the hospitality industry.
• Around 50% of the apprentices are 16-24-year-olds, so Greene King upskilled its managers, who traditionally feel more comfortable employing candidates with previous experience. All managers are equipped with a Talent Toolkit, which provides them with all the information they need to nurture and develop their talent.
• The 12-month retention rate for apprentices is 47% higher than for non-apprentices, and the 90-day retention rate is 35% better. All of which lead to increased customer satisfaction, which is linked to higher sales for the business.
• A few examples of the strategy’s success: 15,268 applications, 95% increase on previous year; a 94% increase in recruited apprentices on last year; recognition from organisations that work with school and college leavers, highlighting that it has increased the awareness of the hospitality industry amongst their students.

Judges’ comments: “Greene King clearly has a long-term vision for their business and appear to be taking a large number of apprentices on this journey.”

SHORTLIST:

• Able to Enable – Barclays in Partnership with Capp & Co
• DATS Apprenticeship Scheme – DATS Recruitment
• Purple People Academy – Learning Curve Group

 

Winner: Discovery Portal: Accenture in partnership with Capp & Co

A category with strength in submission, according to the judges. Working in partnership with companies means there needs to be a blend of understanding of the market and the business requirement, providing the right solution to deploy the programme and drive success.

• Partnering with Capp, Accenture created an immersive recruitment experience, which transforms the journey for the candidate, putting them in control of how they explore and complete the assessment, and providing them with a developmental learning experience.
• The Accenture Discovery Portal has been created with best in-class design to make it appealing to candidates, and its narratives tell stories that are informative and useful to all potential Accenture employees.
• Capp’s Virtual Reality (VR) Platform at the Assessment Centre delivers consistent, natural responses, as well as an outstanding experience for candidates.
• Candidates said they placed great value on feedback and learning how they can improve for their future applications. So after completing the Accenture Discovery Portal, every candidate, successful or unsuccessful, receives a personalised feedback report on their strengths and what could be built on. This is repeated after the Assessment Centre and the VR exercises, with every candidate receiving a report on how they have performed.
• Candidates were also encouraged to answer a survey and give feedback on both stages of the assessment process to ensure Accenture continued to meet its objectives. Feedback shows that Accenture and Capp have succeeded in breaking new ground with the Discovery Portal, with 90% of candidates saying they did not feel they were taking a traditional recruitment test.

Judges’ comments: “The winning team demonstrated some cutting-edge blending of the business outcome, deep understanding of the candidate experience in a difficult environment and used some great technology in alignment to the selection process, making it smooth and visibility better for everyone.”

SHORTLIST:

• Take Centre Stage: Chivas Brothers in partnership with Pink Squid
• Beat the Game Changers: Vodafone in partnership with Pink Squid

Winner: Building What Matters: Engineering Exceptional Candidate Experience – Atkins in partnership with Amberjack

To become the world’s premier engineering partner, Atkins, in partnership with Amberjack, understood that the true definition of ‘candidate’ experience was to have an effect on all interactions during recruitment.

• Atkins listened to feedback and transformed recruitment at every step, to exceed the expectations of a new, tech-savvy workforce, consumer-centric millennials – the first people brought up with constant-contact as the norm. As a result, it re-engineered its candidate journey into six stages.
• This six-stage candidate journey recruited 282 graduates from 13,431 candidates for seven different talent streams. For those hires there was a 98% first-year retention, underlying the impressive candidate experience throughout the recruitment process.
• The metrics were impressive: 20,000+ human interactions; 8,864 emails, 1,694 calls managed; 100% calls answered in three rings; 100% candidate issues solved same day; 14,710 personalised candidate emails sent; 3,201 coaching/feedback calls.
• The recruitment process is designed to assess candidate fit to Atkins roles, values and culture. It features video and is highly engaging. Every candidate interaction – from the exercises used, to how the company communicates – reinforces the Atkins values. Candidates are not only listened to, but respected. The exceptional experience delivered has been rated highly by candidates (Net Promoter Score of +57.35 against the industry average of +24).
• A great category, said the judging panel, full of innovation and partnering, which illustrates the recruitment industry staying at the front end of modern recruitment techniques and technologies.

Judges’ comments: “The work that Atkins did delivered strong results with clear metrics and clear results. It was easy to see how their investment had paid off.”

SHORTLIST:

• MRL Academy Programme: MRL Consulting
• Strategic People

 

Winner: Toby Babb: CEO, Harrington Starr

The winner illustrated a real advocacy and promotion of the recruitment industry within his client space with the creation of thought leadership channels both print and digital.

• The judges praised Toby for being a serial innovator, constantly thinking from his customer’s perspective, doing things differently, solving challenges with effective solutions and fostering a keen spirit of entrepreneurialism from within his Harrington Starr business.
• In the judging period – and uncertain times with Brexit and the UK’s relationship with the EU – Toby expanded on the newly launched (2017) sister company, North Starr, opening two offices in New York and San Francisco during 2018. He launched Harrington Starr Executive Search in late 2017 and Harrington Starr Tech Consulting, to support the growing use of technology and AI.
• Believing ‘you are only as good as your team’, Toby has fostered a spirit of entrepreneurialism, giving ownership, freedom and responsibility to like-minded employees. Early 2018 saw him instigate ‘Faster, Better, Stronger’, a career programme to inspire and encourage consultants to become the best they can.
• Toby masterminded Harrington Starr’s customer marketing programme, which embeds the company firmly at the core of its customer communities at all levels. He also launched Harrington Starr’s own industry magazine, The Financial Technologist Magazine, which really sets Harrington Starr apart for its competition.
• The consistent growth of the Harrington Starr Group over the past 10 years (over 30% year-on-year) is a good indicator of Toby’s forward-thinking strategy, and pays testimony to the fact that his approach is robust, sustainable and visionary.

Judges’ comments: “He has elevated the perception of recruitment within his marketplace and collaborated widely with both big corporates and start-ups.”

HIGHLY COMMENDED:

• Robert Chingwalu: Owner / Manager, East Point Care
• Nina Lockwood: Founder / Director, Intuitive Interim & Exec Search

SHORTLIST:

• Nicholas Barton: Founder / CEO, The Barton Partnership
• Mark Beavan: Head of Agency, That Little Agency
• Danny Brooks: CEO, VHR
• Richard Cooke: Managing Director, Seven Resourcing

Winner: Craig Morgans: Head of Talent Acquisition and Learning and Development, The AA

The sheer scope of positive change Craig has instigated over the last two years has been phenomenal.

• Craig has turned round a traditional, fragmented recruitment function, driven by people who weren’t talent attraction experts, along with a very much ‘post and pray’ advertising set-up, and an exceptionally low, poor-quality calibre of applications.
• With a remit of transformational change, he’s inspired the business to make major strides – overhauling its employment proposition and dramatically improving its ability to strategically deliver against ambitious business objectives.
• Through forging great relationships across the AA, Craig took time to understand senior figures’ frustrations. He has translated their needs into pragmatic, workable and innovative solutions, which have led to results in many aspects of the business, including employer branding, attraction planning, engagement, selection, hiring and onboarding, and business partnering.
• Craig’s team is unanimous in positive feedback and praise for his leadership and teamworking. Just some of the responses are: “He’s highly collaborative and works closely with the internal team, stakeholders and our recruitment partners to develop a vision and strategy, which we all work towards.” “His original attraction ideas have made a real difference to the number of inductions we’re filling, as we now have a continuous pool of good candidates to draw upon. Gone are the days of struggling as a recruitment team.” “Craig is an amazing leader and always one to think outside the box and come up with innovative ideas to keep his team engaged and hungry to learn more!”
• Craig believes recruitment should be fair, open and consistent, with the aim of finding the right people, with the right skill set, for each role. He has therefore tailored the assessment and selection process to not only attract the best, but also allow for the fact that people with limited working experience may actually be the best choice for a role.

Judges’ comments: “Craig is clearly an inspiring leader who has championed change and innovation over the last 12 months. Craig showed he was diligent in his approach but understood that the basics were important when implementing change and use of data and insight to drive decision-making. He seems to have significant skill and empathy in his role, along with a large dose of humility making him a worthy winner in this category.”

SHORTLIST:

• Adrian Thomas: Head of Executive Recruitment, Civil Service

 

Winner: Charlie Appleyard: Director, Annapurna Recruitment

The judges found the winner’s tenacity and resilience truly inspiring, particularly in coaching other employees and sharing his passion for his job.

• Charlie spearheads the Munich business and is a big advocate in the London office for as many employees as possible to learn German – he has hired a German teacher who comes in three times a week – as a way of creating a culture across the channel and enabling the offices to feel inclusive.
• Charlie created Annapurna HPP (High-Performance Program) to give new employees the chance to optimise their business capabilities at an earlier stage. The HPP sets weekly and monthly targets, which are aligned to what Annapurna’s top performers deliver upon, and was implemented as a way of new starters being able to determine what ‘good’ actually looks like.
• Charlie has been a leading advocate of embracing technology for real business benefit. Every Monday, Charlie records a Hinterview (video interviewing platform) and sends it around the company to give market insights, congratulations and motivation for the week ahead.
• Charlie was the lead project manager for celebrating Annapurna’s 10-year anniversary throughout 2018 and co-ordinated this across the company in his weekly company Hinterviews. The 10-year party was part of his wider employee engagement plan to engage the community in the success of the company so far, encouraging each and every employee to play a key part in Annapurna’s success going forward.
• Charlie’s vision for recruitment: If you empower your employees to be entrepreneurial and give them the opportunity to excel in an organisation, they will flourish.

The standard was very high and it was a close call between all entries. All demonstrated strong leadership skills both internally with growing their companies, as well as externally with regards to giving back to social issues. The judges felt the passion and human side to the sector through all the shortlisted entries.

Judges’ comments: “Charlie showed a passionate belief in how to run a modern community-led recruitment business. His enthusiasm about how he drives his beliefs through his company was clear to all the judges.”

Highly commended:

• Sasza Bandiera: Managing Director, Oyster Partnership
• Raj Tulsiani: CEO and Co-Founder, Green Park

Shortlist:

• Saffa Ayub: Founder / Managing Director, Bramwith Consulting
• Rod Carmichael: Managing Director, CarmichaelUK
• Debbie Caswell: COO, Search Consultancy
• Tanya Loosemore: Managing Director, RGB Recruitment