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GDPR Checklist for internal recruiters

The new General Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force during May 2018. It’s time to make sure you’re compliant with this handy GDPR checklist for recruiters.

GDPR obliges organisations to manage personal information more securely and acquire individual consents to store and process that data. It covers electronic data and manual filing systems, so that’s pretty much any information that can be used to personally identify someone.

Internal recruiters handle a lot of personal data, from CVs and application forms to proof of address, conviction information and much more.  Our GDPR checklist for internal recruiters should help you to determine how ready you are.

After conducting research, organisations like Trustarc found that approximately 1 in 4 companies haven’t yet started their GDPR implementation.

GDPR applies to you if your organisation:

  • operates within the EU.
  • operates outside the EU offering goods or services to individuals in the EU.

The fines for GDPR breaches are staggeringly high so getting it wrong could be a very expensive mistake. The maximum fine for non-compliance could be €20 million or 4% of your global turnover!

There’s no exemption for small companies and Brexit won’t change a thing, so let’s get straight into GDPR checklist for internal recruiters. It’s not exhaustive nor is it a project plan, but you may find some points that you haven’t considered so far.

GDPR Checklist

We present the following GDPR Checklist for internal recruiters in easy sections. To gain more detailed information about your GDPR obligations, go to the Information Commissioner’s Office and check out the Guide to General Data Protection Regulation

GDPR Basics

DPO

Know who your Data Protection Officer (DPO) is. Your DPO will know how the procedures for data beaches and can be a great point of reference for GDPR. It is always advisable to have a DPO, but you must have one if your organisation:

  • is a public authority
  • performs large scale monitoring of individuals such as online behaviour tracking
  • carries out large scale processing of special data categories including criminal convictions.
Groups

If you share Personal Information with other organisations, seek written confirmation of GDPR compliance. For example, you may work within a franchise, an Academy Trust or other group of organisations using shared central services. Do not share personal information with another organisation unless you have written confirmation of their GDPR compliance and Consent from the individual concerned. See below for details regarding Consent.

Data Retention Periods

Set data retention limits for each type of information. As good way to start is by creating categories of information based upon sensitivity. For instance, criminal conviction information is very sensitive whilst some photographic evidence of a building project is less so. Retain increasingly sensitive information for decreasing periods.

DPP

Update your organisation’s Data Protection Procedures (DPP) to take account of GDPR.

GDPR Consent and data acquisition
  • Consent
    From now on, demand electronic or written consent before you accept personal information. This is a very specific point in the GDPR regulation. The terms of consent should be very clear, particularly if you hold data for children. Terms should state what information you will hold, for what purpose and shared with whom. The method of consent should be explicit and granular and should not default to consent without action. So, pre-ticked consent boxes are not allowed under GDPR.
  • Inform
    For those who haven’t provided you with consent, inform them that you hold their personal data. State the reason for keeping it and seek consent before 25th May 2018. You may not be able to confidently use personal information that has been collected without consent.
  • Withdrawal
    Create a process that allows people to withdraw their consent at any time. This prevents you from continuing to process their personal information against that point of consent. For example, candidates may withdraw their consent to receive job alerts. In that case you may not alert them to new vacancies.
  • Company Handbook
    Control the future acquisition of personal information by your organisation. For instance , you should update sections of your Company Handbook to deny all but HR and internal recruiters the authority to receive CVs from third parties.
Access and Rectification
  • Right to be informed
    Individuals have the right to know that you have their data. They also have the right to access it and to rectify their personal information. Complete a data audit so that you can determine where you are storing personal information and for whom.
  • Subject Access Request (SAR)
    A GDPR best practice recommendation is for organisations to provide secure, self-service access to one’s personal information (Recital 63). If you don’t support this, establish a procedure so that you can validate an individual’s identity and respond to their request. Processing should be free of charge in most cases.
  • Corrections
    Create a procedure to respond to correction requests. Responding to such requests should be non chargeable in most cases. If you offer secure, self-service access to one’s personal information, self-correction should also be supported.
Deletion
  • Right to be forgotten
    Create a process to manage individual deletion requests because the right to be forgotten is a mandatory GDPR requirement. It is particularly important when the lawful basis for processing personal information is based solely upon consent. Refer to your data audit to check whether you hold personal information on spreadsheets, paper, email, a CRM system etc. If you offer secure, self-service access to one’s personal information, you should consider offering an option to delete one’s personal information.
GDPR Security
  • Security
    Data security is fundamental to GDPR, so being able to evidence secure systems and processes is critical. Email is insecure and you can read Geoff Duncan’s blog to find out why https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/can-email-ever-be-secure/. If you can’t easily secure, control and manage email in line with a GDPR policy, avoid using it to store personal information. If in doubt, our advice is to delete every email containing personal information such as a CV. That in itself could be difficult to manage across any number of employees.
GDPR Terms
  • Terms
    Make available the terms agreed with any individual under which you are storing and using their personal information. You can make those terms available in a secure, self-service system.

What now?

Our GDPR Checklist for Internal Recruiters suggests that you start with a data audit then work through the other points. Once you know where personal data is, bring your employees up to speed with their obligations. You may have a lot to teach people if you find evidence of any of the following:

  • Distributing personal details on paper.
  • Emailing personal information between staff.
  • Sharing personal information with friends in other companies or with friendly recruiters.
  • Allowing paper copies of personal information to travel home with employees.

Also, control your offline or paper copies of personal information. You should work to avoid situations such as employees leaving branded application forms on public transport, or disposing of CVs in household waste.

Get a GDPR compliant Applicant Tracking System

Ensure your future GDPR compliance by implementing an Applicant Tracking System that acquires candidate consent for you. CVMinder ATS has been acquiring candidate consent since it first launched. It also offers secure, self-service to personal information, supporting review and modification.

Among others, Schools and Care companies use CVMinder ATS because it helps them to manage employment checks and other points of recruitment compliance.

CVMinder ATS is the easiest Applicant Tracking System available. It’s simple to use, quick to deliver and easy to learn. Capterra, part of the Gartner Group, has awarded CVMinder ATS best value Applicant Tracking System 2017 and best support 2017.

Don’t delay. If you want to ensure that your recruitment in your organisation is GDPR compliant, please contact us now for more information or to set up a personal demonstration.

GDPR Checklist footnote

GDPR represents a significant change to the way in which organisations manage and process personal information. It’s great news for individuals and will help to tackle poor practice in the recruitment industry.

This GDPR Checklist for internal recruiters is to help you to think about the tasks ahead and structure your approach. GDPR is a live concern and some of the detail is subject to alteration. However, the main GDPR requirements are clear, so don’t wait for future amendments before getting started.

By shaddow, ago
GDPR and 1-Click Apply

GDPR. Is this the end of 1-click apply?

Let’s discuss 1-click apply. We’ll check out the benefits, some disadvantages and why General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gets in the way.

What is “1-click apply”?

“1-click apply” has been offered by job boards such as The Caterer,  Indeed and TotalJobs. It allows jobseekers to submit job applications with a single click. Personal information, a  CV, covering letter and other documents are all packaged and delivered with ease.  It’s so easy that some jobseekers apply for too many jobs too quickly and without thought.

The perceived benefit of “1-click apply”

“1-click apply” promises frictionless job applications that are quick and convenient. That results in more job applications for employers and the evidence is certainly there to support it. The job boards and employers should be happy because everyone wants more job applications. But wait, is there a downside?

The downside of “1-click apply”

HR managers and internal recruiters suggest that “1-click apply” is responsible for a number of unforeseen issues:

  1. There are more irrelevant job applications. There’s no buffer to stop jobseekers looking before they leap. Those applications soak up valuable time.
  2. The best candidates can be hidden in a bigger pile of less useful applications. That’s not great when the market is so competitive.
  3. The proportion of interview no-shows seems to increase. Weaker up-front qualification by the jobseeker can result in poorer interest overall.
  4. What about compliance and GDPR?

1-click applications could be unintentionally reducing the average quality of job applications. They also shoot personal details across to other systems without consent!

GDPR, a “1-click apply” killer?

GDPR is here and it’s a game changer for the recruitment industry. Under GDPR rules, personal information must be secure and less easily distributed. Organisations receiving personal information will be subject to obligations such as:

  1. Supporting individual consent for holding and processing personal information for a specific purpose. Consent must be via a positive opt-in, not to be inferred from silence, pre-ticked boxes or inactivity.
  2. Informing applicants that personal data has been received.
  3. Offering access to personal information to validate lawfulness of any data processing.
  4. Supporting the right to be forgotten.

1-click apply passes personal data from a job board to the receiver’s ATS or email system. Up until GDPR came along, the applicant had no knowledge of the target system and no consents were captured in advance. Receiving systems could be home-grown, supplied by a vendor, living on an office server or hosted in the cloud. Receivers could be in any country and demonstrate varying levels of data security. Whoops!

1-click must change if it is to be GDPR compliant. Thankfully it has for some job boards. For example, Indeed released Indeed Apply. With it, your ATS can instruct Indeed to request necessary consent(s) from the applicant. Critically, applicants give consent before Indeed sends personal information to the ATS.

Indeed Apply is much more than that. It allows an ATS to give it questions that it should ask any applicant. Everything is completed on Indeed before being packaged for delivery to the ATS.

Conclusion

“1-click apply” seems like a good idea.  It decreases friction in the process and encourages more people to complete their applications. However, when made too easy, employers receive thoughtless applications and that spoils the potential gains.

We must also conclude that 1-click it isn’t GDPR compliant. However, adding one or two more clicks to gain the required ATS consent(s) and this does satisfy GDPR. 1-click must therefore morph into quick-click for most jobs boards. Perhaps they should take a lead from Indeed.

So how can we implement 1-click apply ?

You can’t. Potential fines for any GDPR breach are eye watering, so a “safety first” approach is the right approach:

  1. When receiving personal information, ensure that you’re receiving it in an ATS rather than an email system. Have your ATS gain consent(s) in advance of receiving personal information by any quick-click methods.
  2. Ensure each applicant can access and edit personal information in your ATS. Even if a job application came via quick-click methods, the applicant should have a way of accessing it.
  3. Your ATS should prevent the speculative distribution of personal information without the prior consent of the candidate. This point is directed at recruitment companies.
Conclusion

Raw “1-click apply” cannot survive GDPR. But, requesting additional consent(s) for pre-packaged applications is hardly inconvenient. Consider adding some application questions. Questions make applicants pause for a moment and that can reduce the number of irrelevant job applications. The more you ask, the fewer irrelevant applications you’ll receive.

Indeed resolved the GDPR / 1-click issue with the introduction of Indeed Apply. You can get low friction recruitment and full compliance so long as you have an ATS that works with it.

Want to know more?

If you’re looking for an ATS that works with Indeed Apply, check out the article ‘Get more applicants with Indeed Apply‘. CVMinder ATS can build complete application forms on Indeed Apply automatically.

If you you would like to review your recruitment approach and check it for GDPR compliance, then please contact us now. We’re here to help.

By shaddow, ago
Post apprenticeships to Recruit an Apprentice with the best recruitment system for Training Providers

Post vacancies on Recruit an Apprentice automatically

Training Providers find apprentices and place them into apprenticeship vacancies with local employers. Now Training Providers can post apprenticeships on Recruit an apprentice automatically.

Training Providers

Apprenticeships are big business and Training providers are cashing in. Government-subsidised training fees are a big incentive for employers. But, they need an Ofsted regulated Training Provider to deliver the education component of this great pathway into work.

Training Providers include independent companies, Colleges and some larger organisations with training departments. Each acts like a recruitment agent as they attract, qualify and place people.

All apprenticeship vacancies must be advertised on GOV Recruit an Apprentice (RaP). This is a free service, but one that takes quality seriously. All apprenticeships are quality checked by the service. That means that some apprenticeship adverts can be rejected for missing or inaccurate information. Checking can also take time, so Training Providers have complained that their apprentice can be found well before their advert goes live on RaP.

MultiPost

There are other free apprenticeship adverting options. Post jobs for free on GOV Find a Job, for instance. They recently extended their job types to include apprenticeships. You can also make use of free postings on Google for Jobs. In Kent, post apprenticeships for free on Apprentice Kent. Unfortunately, Indeed will only accept apprenticeship vacancies from RaP.

To post apprenticeships on more than one job board takes time. That is time that Colleges don’t have because they offer their services free of charge to employers. They would like to post jobs on RaP and other services with a single click. The answer is an Applicant Tracking System with MultiPost.

CVMinder HUB

CVMinder HUB is a recruiting system for Training Providers. It manages the full recruitment lifecycle and has a MultiPost function. That means that Training providers can post apprenticeships for free on RaP, GOV Find a Job, Google for Jobs and other websites with a single click.

CVMinder also manages work placements, enrolments and includes a powerful employability module. It helps Training Providers to recruit faster at lower cost and do lots more besides.

Want to know more?

If you post apprenticeships on Recruit an Apprentice you could benefit from posting them more widely with MultiPost. Contact us now to find out more.

By Marketing, ago

The Academy of Woodlands ATS

“Ofsted inspector very impressed with our applicant tracking system”

Academy of Woodlands Logo

Executive Summary

  • 463 pupils
  • 108 service staff
  • 23 teachers
  • 1 solution

Providing nursery and primary education in addition to offering its local community some high value services makes for a challenging set of recruitment requirements. CVMinder has enabled Paula, Office Manager, to:

  • Save time when advertising new vacancies
  • Gain wider access to applicants
  • Improve recruitment outcomes
  • Impress Ofsted during their recent inspection
  • Meet the Academy’s compliance and safeguarding obligations

The Client

The Academy of Woodlands has been rated as either Outstanding or Good over recent years. As a turnaround Academy, the passion of the Headmaster, Nic Fidaman, has been instrumental in the Academy’s development, success and growth.  The Academy is very supportive of the local community offering a number of facilities including a coffee shop, dance studio, gymnasium and floodlit football pitch. Due to the expansion of the Academy and its community facilities, there has been an incline in recruitment activity.

Paula Hollands is the Officer Manager at The Academy of Woodlands. As an early adopter, she has been using CVMinder ATS for three years and the system has allowed her to:

  • Recruit for all vacancies across the variety of services provided by the Academy
  • Manage all the Academy’s vacancy advertising
  • Ensure all safeguarding criteria is met

The Challenges

Prior to implementing CVMinder ATS, the Academy advertised all the schools vacancies via eTeach, an education specific Job Board. Adverts provided applicants but Paula faced key issues:

  • Inbox overload, especially for non-teaching vacancies
  • Direct applications via post and other sources had to be handled separately
  • Difficulty in Identifying any previous application history
  • Relevant safeguarding information wasn’t easily captured at the time of application
  • Shortlisting had to be completed after closing date

As the Academy expanded, Paula faced an increase in the number of vacancies. Her workload was increasing in other areas too, so managing every element meant risking losing good candidates to the detriment of the Academy.

The Solution

The Academy of Woodlands decided to invest in the software solution to help alleviate the challenges they were facing. Paula and the team were given a demonstration of CVMinder ATS and saw the benefits from the outset,

“XperiSoft demonstrated CVMinder ATS and we found this extremely helpful. It seemed really easy to use and it became clear that we could solve some problems we hadn’t yet thought about.”

By making applications electronic and integrating CVMinder ATS with the Academy’s website, people could download and return their application online.

“If somebody is interested in working for us, we can have them register their details and find them easily in the future. In fact, CVMinder ATS will alert them with appropriate vacancies so that’s less work for me” explains Paula.

One of the biggest issues for the Academy is that recruitment isn’t continuous so any system had to be really simple to use.

“I don’t need to contact XperiSoft very often because the system is so easy to get along with, but if I do need help with anything, they can see what I see and they can show me what to do. The service is excellent.”

The Results

Ofsted Happy

It seems that Ofsted took an interest in the Academy’s recruitment process during their most recent inspection. Paula showed their inspector CVMinder ATS with a particular focus the pre-employment checks, tracking of safeguarding documents and the storage of historical data.

“Ofsted’s inspector was very impressed with the system and the overall recruitment process within the Academy.”

Functionally beneficial

A number of CVMinder ATS functions have helped Paula to save a great deal of administration time. She can create advertisements from templates, attach regularly used documents and application forms with a click and avoided a great deal of repetition in the process.

“One function I have found extremely beneficial is the ability to clone an old advertisement. Many of our vacancies have the same job description, with just a few differences like the key stage they will be teaching. I can’t clone a vacancy on eTeach, but I can copy my cloned advert from CVMinder ATS. CVMinder really saves me time when posting new vacancies.”

Improved communication with candidates

CVMinder ATS has improved the speed and accuracy of communication with the school’s applicants. Previously, it wasn’t easy to track post and email correspondence, but Paula now communicates with all applicants via CVMinder. She gave an example of how the communication trail has helped with a previous applicant query,

“A nursery officer applicant was offered an interview via CVMinder ATS. Not having seen it, she called to ask how her application was progressing. I could clearly see via CVMinder ATS that I had emailed her on a specific date but she claimed not to have received it. It transpires that she had given an email address that she doesn’t access each day, so I advised her to update her details for future reference on her CVMinder account. It was great to have the information to hand and avoid any bad feeling.”

Marketing to a wider audience

CVMinder ATS allows Paula to analyse a vacancies traction and make changes where necessary. Recruiting for teachers within the area has proved difficult at times, but with CVMinder ATS the school can track where the applicants come from. Seeing individual referrers has helped Paula to develop some new industry connections and they have since registered on CVMinder, expanding the reach of each Academy vacancy.

Paula believes that any School or Academy would benefit from using CVMinder.

“It is concise, easy to use and, critically, helps us to ensure safeguarding within the recruitment process.”

By shaddow, ago

Canterbury College’s Recruitment System

Canterbury College delivers growth in apprenticeships and student work placements with CVMinder HUB

 

Executive SummaryCanterbury College

  • 8,000 students to support
  • 4,000 students requiring work experience
  • 1,500 employer relationships
  • 650 apprenticeship requirements
  • 14 staff
  • 1 solution

Managing the delivery of relevant work experience to 4,000 students whilst providing a commercial recruitment service to 8,000 in total puts a good deal of pressure on Canterbury College’s Active Links team. However, the implementation of the CVMinder HUB solution allows Rhona Williams, Head of department, and her team to manage all student recruitment activities centrally.  Through the use of CVMinder Canterbury College was able to:

  • Manage all employer vacancies, apprenticeships and work placements in one place
  • Measure student employability and target appropriate support
  • Improve student employment outcomes
  • Increase productivity and reduce administration overheads
  • Help the team to meet its KPIs

 

About the client

Canterbury College provides Further and Higher Education services to over 8,000 students. Its Active Links Recruitment Service has grown and has current-day responsibility for acquiring and fulfilling full-time and part time vacancies, apprenticeships and student work placements across Kent.

Rhona Williams has worked at the College for 8 years and is responsible for:

  • the recruitment of all apprenticeship learners
  • development of the employability agenda
  • implementation of the work experience element of student Study Programmes

The team began as a small, almost traditional recruitment service working with local employers to place students into their live vacancies.

“Today we have in excess of 4,000 learners on study programmes, so over 4,000 students require work experience in addition to recruiting for hundreds of apprenticeship vacancies. We work with around 1,500 employers to fulfil these requirements and the team has grown from me and one other into a much bigger department.”

 

The challenges

In the beginning, the fledgling Active Links organisation relied upon Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and electronic files. As professionals, the team attempted to manage everything as diligently as possible, but it was inevitable that growth in both vacancy and application numbers would eventually force a rethink.

“We needed to make the hours count and become more productive. Our early successes brought more work, but we didn’t have a facility for people to upload their CVs, to communicate vacancies to students and process all applications efficiently.  Our very basic candidate management system started to creak.”

Another key issue concerned information sharing. Without a centralised solution, staff holidays and other absences created information gaps in active recruitment campaigns and that can be bad for business.

“As we became more successful and increasingly busy with the added demands of apprenticeships, we really felt the need to have a proper system.”

As Rhona and her team share similar recruitment backgrounds, they made use of their combined industry experience to specify, review and select a system that could meet the challenge of a broad set of requirements.

 

The solution

Functionally, Rhona and her team knew what they were looking for. The chosen solution would have to be flexible and comprehensive but, just as importantly, it must be very simple to use.

“We reviewed a number of recruitment solutions from local and international suppliers, but most of them were targeted at standard recruitment practices and we are recruiting in quite a unique environment. Students don’t generally have a rich career history, so traditional recruitment techniques don’t always work.  Unfortunately, lots of products were pretty rigid and didn’t give us the key features we required. “

CVMinder helps Active Links by centralising all recruitment activities with natural, secure information sharing between staff. In one system there is comprehensive support for apprenticeships, full-time and part-time work and work placements that are linked to study programmes. The Active Links team can alert students to appropriate vacancies in addition to centralising applicants from anywhere, including the National Apprenticeship Service.

CVMinder HUB also embeds employability support. This allows the team to assess a student’s employment skills via self-assessment and an embedded framework for CV, statement and interview measures. The data collected by CVMinder has helped with the successful targeting of extra-curricular workshops and drop-in sessions for students.

Rhona and her team know that the quality of support makes a real difference when an organisation increases its dependency upon any software solution.

“The response and the customer service for CVMinder is really strong”, says Rhona. ”Someone will visit if we need anything and they are always at the end of the phone”.

Overall, Rhona believes the software and its developments have fully supported the team at Canterbury College Active Links. “As we have grown and expanded, so has the software. We haven’t ever reached the point where the software has fallen behind the requirements of a growing business, because CVMinder has evolved with us.”  The team has also benefited from some bespoke additions, such as collecting driving license information, photos and more which the team has found very helpful when searching for people in a very large candidate pool.

“All those little bits and pieces just gave CVMinder a bespoke feel, without the bespoke price tag. It is really competitive in terms of cost for us.”

 

The results

 

Time savings

Having a recruitment solution with additional employability support allowed the team to easily manage the student and employer journey. All information regarding each role and every student is stored within CVMinder and this allows every team member to efficiently access the information they require.

“There’s been a huge reduction in administration time”, says Rhona. “It’s certainly much quicker than trawling through an Excel spreadsheet and paper files. Also, students and external applicants are all very clear on how their details are being managed and they value the transparency.”

 

Improved outcomes

It seems that Students also feel the benefit of using CVMinder as they are alerted with appropriate new vacancies and this improves their likelihood of gaining employment. Additionally, Rhona is able to analyse data collected via student self-assessments and use this to shape and improve the employability provision delivered by the College.

“We have a solution for measuring student employability. We had data before, but it was harder to extract and interrogate, whereas now if someone assesses themselves I can generate a report easily across a group and identify strengths and weaknesses either at individual or group level. That has been really helpful, especially with thousands of students.”

 

Staying on track

CVMinder’s Management Reporting tools allow Rhona to review data and monitor team activity in line with the department’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

“We have a lot of KPIs to work towards and it’s great that I am now able to evidence our achievements. For example, we have over 5,000 active registrations. I have the report to prove it.”

 

Supporting growth

Overall, Canterbury College has benefited significantly by using CVMinder HUB. With a growing team and increased responsibilities CVMinder has allowed Rhona to overcome the unusual combination of challenges with recruitment and employability in education.

The Active Links team really feels the benefits of using CVMinder and they have seen the system grow as they have grown. In summary, Rhona describes CVMinder as,

“flexible, productive and cost-effective. With tightening budgets and increasing student numbers, an investment in any software solution needs to tick those three points and CVMinder delivered on them”

 

By shaddow, ago

Easy Applicant Tracking for Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral chose CVMinder ATS as an easy, affordable recruitment system for Not for Profit employers.

Canterbury Cathedral

Executive Summary

  • 1,400 years of history
  • 800 volunteers
  • 330 members of staff
  • 2 commercial businesses (Hotel and Shop)
  • 1 solution

Canterbury Cathedral is the oldest in the UK, so when Alison Brookman, Head of HR, wanted to modernise recruitment, she knew it would require care and consideration.  This Case Study was written only a few months after CVMinder ATS delivery, but the benefits are already compelling.

Haman Resources and Hiring Managers are collaborating to support the full recruitment lifecycle using CVMinder ATS. So far, Canterbury Cathedral has enjoyed a number of benefits:

  • Improved communication between HR and Hiring Managers
  • Reduced administration overheads
  • Increased the speed of communication with applicants
  • Improved the candidate experience

About Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral is situated in a World Heritage Site set in the heart of Canterbury, Kent. Its commercial interests include The Cathedral Lodge (a 70-room, on-site Hotel) and a gift shop. Hosting conferences, managing the visitor experience and caretaking the larger Cathedral site requires a workforce of approximately 330 staff and 800 volunteers.

Alison has worked for the Cathedral for four and a half years and she and her team

  • Manage all recruitment for the Cathedral, gift shop and hotel
  • Recruit across a number of disciplines including retail, hospitality, construction, administration and IT
  • Source people with specialist skills including stone masonry and stained glass conservation
Recruitment Challenges

Prior to implementing CVMinder ATS, the Cathedral’s recruitment process was predominantly paper based. With Hiring Managers spread between different buildings, the HR Team recognised a time delay in the recruitment process. They relied upon managers to shortlist from paper copies of CVs and Applications.  Alison explains the problem:

“We gathered all application forms delivered by post and email then photocopied them for the Hiring Managers. It wasn’t particularly timely or elegant as we basically gave them large piles of paper on the closing date of any position. Managers would then have to review each application and work towards a shortlist. It was a big job for them, especially for roles with higher applicant numbers, or at a times when more than one role closed simultaneously.”

Alison wanted to find a way of using technology to ease the problem and support a more efficient recruitment approach. Additionally, she recognised an increasing expectation among applicants for an open, online recruitment portal, available from anywhere at any time.

The solution

Whilst reviewing solutions, Alison met XperiSoft Limited at Kent2020. She shortlisted CVMinder ATS and independently met an established local CVMinder user.

“We went to see Canterbury College and they were very positive about CVMinder. They told us that CVMinder had felt tailored to their needs and that customer support was exceptional. That was really appealing to us as the bigger companies were less flexible in this regard.”

The choice for CVMinder ATS was made and we set about configuring their system. During implementation, Canterbury Cathedral received comprehensive training and support and Alison and her team have been very pleased with the standards all round.

“The CVMinder Team provided a full day of training at the outset for both the HR team and our internal IT specialists. That was more than enough to go through the entire system and we even published some vacancies on that day.  During training we identified one or two additional requirements and XperiSoft has already developed appropriate solutions, so it feels like CVMinder has been tailored just for us.  For instance, more senior posts commonly require a panel of 4 interviewers, but CVMinder didn’t have the space for this amount of information. XperiSoft expanded this area for us so that we could communicate it to interviewees and this was delivered free of charge.”

As the system has established itself, the benefits have become clear for Canterbury Cathedral.

The Results

Happy Hiring Managers

The reaction of Hiring Managers to CVMinder ATS was exceptionally positive. None of the Cathedral’s Hiring Managers have a recruitment background or prior exposure to any other Applicant Tracking System (ATS), but were able to effectively use the software from the outset.

“Some Managers started using the system before any training. They really like the way they can shortlist as they go along.  Managers receive a message with each new application so they can make a decision about that person before the closing date. This feature is saving them a lot of time and reducing confidential paper waste.”

Strengthened Communication

On a professional level, the HR department is very pleased with improved applicant communication.

“A key benefit for us concerns response time; we have really sped up our communication with applicants and that really helps with candidate attraction. This morning, for example, I had a number of applicants with whom I needed to communicate the same message, so I was able to email them as a group. In the past this was time consuming, but I just emailed 6 candidates in about 10 seconds”

Keeping up with technology

The HR department believes that its recruitment processes have strengthened and it now meets the expectations of most applicants. Overall, Alison feels that CVMinder ATS is perfect for Canterbury Cathedral and would recommend it on three key points; cost efficiency, ease of use and a more professional applicant experience.

Contact us now to find out why CVMinder is the best ATS for Not for Profit.

By shaddow, ago