BEST CANDIDATE EXPERIENCE 2018

Winner: Out of This World Candidate Experience: Mars in partnership with Amberjack

Food manufacturing giant Mars aimed to ‘be the company millions want to join, stay and grow with’. To meet this ambition, it realised it needed to tackle candidate. Through partnering with future talent expert Amberjack, Mars was able to make its candidate messaging clearer, personal, more consistent, and authentic. The company has also simplified recruitment into four phases, making the process easier to understand. The entire recruitment process sits on an immersive digital platform called Ambertrack, which provides a continuously branded, fast experience that delivers campaign visibility and measured experience. Candidates have personal mobile-enabled account areas that house all their correspondence, graphically show where they are in the process, and allow them to select interview or assessment centre slots that suit them. The results have been outstanding.

• Last year, Mars’ recruitment campaign comprised seven early careers streams that totalled 41 hires from 2,635 applications.

• Candidates are more likely to share their recruitment experiences on social media and with family and friends. Because Mars recruits young people who are more likely to use and share their views on social media than older audiences, exceptional candidate experience was imperative for the company.

• The company’s new approach is built on insights and feedback captured from candidates in previous campaigns. These outputs translated into a strategy that focused on delivery of an improved candidate journey through an engaging process supported by clear communications. Mars managed candidate expectations, delivered a fair and honest process, and provided fast feedback. The honest and friendly human engagement during the recruitment process kept candidates fully up-to-speed with their progress, knowing what was going to happen next and what they needed to do.

• Independent quality assurance ensures exceptional delivery, consistency and fairness.

• The entire recruitment net promoter score (NPS) was +61 (where a score of +60 is exceptional), underlining the class of the experience delivered in just eight weeks. Time-to-offer is just 60 days, there have been 2,635 applications, 41 hires, no reneged offers, and 100% retention of the first-year intake.

Highly Commended:

Go North East Bus Driver Routeway: Go North East in partnership with Jobcentre Plus and Gateshead College

Judges’ Comments:

“Our winners were clear that retention of people is a clear business benefit and the right thing to do, and stood out for their marriage of automation with a human interface.”