Proving the potential of in-house talent acquisition with our client, Verifile.
Summary
We delivered a full and flexible recruitment service for our client, Verifile through a period of rapid growth, doubling its headcount from 80 to 160 people.
Challenges
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- Unpredictable growth and activity levels post-pandemic
- Volume recruitment for largely entry-level operational roles
- Thorough recruitment and vetting procedures
Results
- Effectively fulfilling business peaks to help sustain business growth for Verifile
- Fully flexible model to adapt to Verifile’s recruitment needs
- Establishing a best practice talent acquisition approach
Introducing our client, Verifile.
Background screening business, Verifile was founded 16 years ago arising from the need for employers to have an honest and clear picture of their new recruits. Verifile carries out thorough background screening including credit and criminal checks through to detailed international searches. We asked Fraser Sellar, Verifile’s Service and Operations Director to reflect on his experience working with us throughout a busy recruitment period.
A low-risk solution to meet unpredictable growth levels.
Recruiter On Demand started working with Verifile as the UK emerged from the Covid pandemic and markets began to recover. Fraser reflects on this time as one of uncertainty. Verifile needed to resource its operations centre as business picked up rapidly, yet wider economic factors and numerous lockdowns still had the potential to derail activity levels.
In our early conversations, the Verifile team were reassured that Recruiter On Demand could provide the experienced recruiters they needed, without the risk of a long term commitment:
“Recruiter On Demand really filled a gap whilst we didn’t know how much we were going to grow or if this was just going to be a spike and then get back to normal.”
~ Fraser Sellar, Service and Operations Director, Verifile
It transpired that Verifile’s growth was here to stay and over a period of 8 months, we delivered a constant stream of recruitment to the business. We were able to demonstrate the advantages of in-house talent acquisition rather than traditional recruitment agencies. By continuously working on the operational vacancies we built up a steady stream of applications and grew a database of candidates who Verifile could return to.
Embedding our recruiters in the client business.
As you’d expect for a business specialising in thorough employment checks, Verifile’s new hires are put through a thorough testing and selection process. Our own team members completed these tests as part of their induction to the Verifile account so that they’d be able to accurately represent the tests to candidates.
We’ve primarily recruited for entry-level roles for Verifile, largely dominated by repetitive operational tasks such as data entry. It was really important to the business though that we brought in a high calibre of candidates who needed to pass through thorough testing and who understood the wider opportunities within the business. Having our team fully engaged in the Verifile business and operating within their systems and processes helped to provide the service and candidate experience we excel at. Understanding the business well has been the key to selling these roles to potential candidates.
Flexing recruitment levels and activity.
While recruitment levels remained unpredictable, we allocated one recruiter to Verifile activity for 2-3 days per week on a trial basis. As always with our service though, levels of activity were entirely under our client’s control:
“Even though we initially agreed on a three month period, James agreed if you want to switch it off next week, just switch it off, that’s entirely up to you. I really wanted to get an idea of what we needed as we went forward and they were really flexible with that.”
Effectively, we provided an in-house recruitment function for the Verifile business making it straightforward to support in other areas where we were needed. A Recruiter On Demand team ran a full recruitment function for Verifile over a 9-month growth period. This included an additional project to recruit for Verifile’s customer success team:
“They reacted to a requirement we had. They were able to bring on somebody else alongside BAU to specifically work on that project. That flexibility was important.” (Fraser Sellar, Service and Operations Director, Verifile)
Setting out the beginnings of a high-performing recruitment function at Verifile.
At the outset of Verifile’s high growth period, they placed high value on the speed and flexibility that Recruiter On Demand could provide. There was a heavy workload to tackle in the operational centre and we were able to get to work quickly to build up their Bedford team.
Verifile quickly saw that our experienced recruiters were able to deliver a strong pipeline of candidates.
“The recruiters were really very good. The recruiter knew the Indeed platform inside out and was able to run tests for us and keep a strong flow of applications. They were posting and reposting roles.”
The flurry of activity and the ability of our team to manage the full candidate cycle including testing stages helped Verifile to see the real potential of a dedicated recruitment resource. As the business has grown and moved into a more stable period they’ve taken the decision to build an in-house recruitment team. We’re proud to have set a high standard for their recruitment metrics and experience and we’re on hand to support Verifile through future activities.
We’re here for Verifile’s additional recruitment needs.
While the business manages BAU operational recruitment now, we have a solid footing and are proud of the relationship we have with Verifile. We’re always thrilled to showcase the benefits of an in-house talent acquisition team as it has so many long-term benefits. Meanwhile, we’re still here to help and support you as required, as we understand the planning challenges that come with peaks and troughs in recruitment activity.
Fraser values the flexibility and also the relationship:
“I would use them in the future because of their flexibility and also the relationship part. James is always very pleasant and doesn’t push the hard sell. He just lets us know they’re there, so if they can help that’s great.”