Best innovation in recruitment

Chorley and South Ribble BCs

Chorley and South Ribble Recruitment Strategy

Chorley and South Ribble has taken an innovative and strategic approach to the recruitment problem. By understanding that recruitment is a specialism, and by changing the emphasis away from the transactional process, they have transformed how the councils recruit. The appointment of a recruitment specialist has enabled the councils to recruit in a way previously only available by utilising expensive external recruitment agencies. Their opportunistic, data-led approach has resulted in demonstrable improvements across all recruitment metrics.

Dorset Council

Redefining recruitment at Dorset Council: towards a digital and inclusive future

Dorset Council has embraced a transformative recruitment approach, integrating advanced digital marketing strategies and comprehensive internal education to enhance recruitment efficiency and candidate engagement. Our digital shift includes precision targeting and measurable analytics, enabling strategic and effective campaign adjustments. A significant focus on educating hiring managers in digital recruitment marketing improves job advert quality and social media engagement. These initiatives, coupled with the implementation of an advanced Applicant Tracking System and a proactive Early Careers strategy, position Dorset Council as a forward-thinking employer, ready to attract top talent while maintaining efficiency and fostering inclusivity in our recruitment processes. Watch our social media showcase here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu5HYh41yZw

East Sussex CC

Leadership Recruitment Initiative

East Sussex County Council is transforming leadership recruitment to boost application rates and diversity. Historically, leadership roles received few applicants, with some positions left unfilled. Our innovative solution involved data analysis, which revealed an overemphasis on technical skills over core leadership competencies. Partnering with IT and design, we developed an app that helps managers easily produce high-quality and attractive job descriptions. Directly linked to our established leadership capability framework, it ensures a seamless pathway from hiring to development. The pilot results are impressive: a 50% increase in applications and more women in leadership roles. This innovative approach, focusing on leadership over technical skills, broadens the candidate pool. Our streamlined process can be a blueprint for other organisations looking to improve recruitment strategies.

Hackney LBC

More than a library - retaining a skilled and motivated workforce

In 2023, Hackney Council set itself an ambitious new strategy to make its service provision more than a library and to accelerate footfall back into libraries. It put service innovation, staff development and training and retention at its core.To become the best library service in the UK meant engaging with, and serving, the most disadvantaged community groups in society. Career and skills training for young and old. The promotion of health and wellbeing. Places for entrepreneurs to thrive. The celebration of multiculturalism.All this could only be achieved with the most engaged, skilled and motivated workforce.

Huntingdonshire DC

Planning Team Recruitment Campaign

In an environment where recruiting planners in to local government just gets harder Huntingdonshire District Council sought new ways of attracting talent in to our hard to fill roles. We did this through a recruitment microsite usually only seen for senior level hires. This was a collaborative project across 4 departments in the council and saw excellent results with all roles being offered to talented candidates.

Knowsley MBC

Social Worker Recruitment Initiative

Knowsley Council improved social worker recruitment outcomes through collaboration across HR, communications and social care. The approach included interventions from attraction to recruitment and onboarding. Using targeted and engaging social media campaigns, a new instant booking system for interviews and new branding, the council attracted increased interest and applicants for roles. Changes were made to the candidate journey so that it is consistent with Knowsley’s brand and provides a good candidate experience, helping to keep candidates engaged during recruitment and onboarding. This project increased the profile of the council as an employer of choice and secured 27 new social workers.

Lancashire CC

ASC Workforce Strategy Implementation

Lancashire County Council has implemented strategies to enhance recruitment for hard-to-fill Adult Services roles. They invested in initiatives funded by the Market Sustainability and Improvement Funds, including attending career fairs, redesigning the careers landing page, and acquiring high-quality visual assets. Recruitment processes were streamlined, and a values-based interview approach was adopted, resulting in a significant increase in candidate engagement and retention rates. Overcoming budget constraints, digital overhaul resistance, and ensuring consistent branding were key challenges. These initiatives have improved the candidate experience and set the council apart as an employer, leading to increased application rates and engagement.

North East Regional Employers Organisation

Make a Difference, work for your local council

The Make a Difference campaign was a collaborative piece of work to spread a focus on the numerous positive reasons to consider working in Local Authorities with a focus on the North East of England. The campaign was the first of its kind to focus solely on Local Authorities and push them as an employer of choice by creating a Local Authority brand which can be tailored and used by any councils in promoting their vacancies and improving the public perception of the sector.This was a fresh and effective approach to the problems of recruitment in Local Authorities

Southampton City Council

Building the Southampton Family

Our story covers three years in Southampton’s Children’s Services journey. We are sharing it with humility and pride. The story begins with significant churn, high vacancy rates, low morale and poor outcomes for children. At its peak, vacancies were over 50% and we employed 92 agency workers. Today we have just three social worker and four manager vacancies in a workforce of over 300, and just 12 agency staff. We are blessed with a permanent, high-quality leadership team, and a workforce that is resilient, loyal and kind. There was no magic formula or single radical idea. Rather, with vision, creativity, co-production and relentless focus we found an approach that worked. If it worked for us it can work for others.

Stockport MBC

Team Stockport: Leading the Way in Innovative Recruitment

Stockport Council is an exceptional workplace, celebrated for its steadfast dedication to colleague well-being, development, and inclusion. We foster a vibrant culture where our core values come to life every day. Our outstanding well-being programme ensures a healthy work-life balance. We empower our colleagues with extensive learning and development opportunities, driving continuous growth. Our commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion shines through in our diverse workforce and inclusive policies. At Stockport, we don’t just talk about values; we live them, making us a truly remarkable place to work.

West Sussex CC

Inclusive recruitment in public health

In 2023, the West Sussex Public Health Team undertook a significant initiative to enhance the inclusion and diversity of its workforce by recruiting for two Graduate Public Health Practitioner posts with funding from NHS England. This aimed to provide more opportunities for local individuals from diverse backgrounds with qualifications in public health-related subjects to enter the public health workforce. The lessons learned from these innovations has helped us to nearly double the number of applications in the past year for our specialist roles rom 214 to 591 and also increase the number of people from racially marginalised communities within the team from 5.8% in 22/23 to 37% in 23/24. Also an increase in the number of people hired who have a disability from 3.73% in 22/23, to 7.3% in 23/24. We hope to continue this work to make improvements across the council.

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