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

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.