For those that don’t know #TruManchester, it was event run on the 8th/9th September 2010 which differed greatly from your typical conference. No name badges, no suits (apart from a couple of guys that looked like KGB operatives that seemed to be lurking around each corner), no waiting aroud to ask your questions, no sales pitches or blatant self-promotion from companies flogging you advertising or products.

I really liked the idea of having track-topics running simultaneously with the flexibility to dip in and out of each one. I felt a bit rude doing this at first but if something was clearly not to my interest/benefit, it gave me the flexibility to just move on to the next one. A slight criticism is the tracks were positioned a little bit close to each other so if you were sat in the wrong place, it was quite easy to become a bit distracted and I found myself listening to two tracks at once (well that probably says more about my attention span than a criticism)! Everyone tweeting in real-time made it really easy to see which tracks were of most interest and by simply following the #TruManchester hashtag, I could make a decision on which was seemed right for me.

The tracks could’ve been defined a bit clearer. For example, Social Media Circus could’ve been anything from the theory of Social Media, from a client’s perspective or candidate experiences. I personally wanted to know more about ROI from other like-minded people but it tended to lean towards whether or not Facebook is suitable for recruitment at all and one or two seemed to dominate this particular track.

The really big plus point for me was that you actually got to meet and engage with people all the way through the day. There was none of the usual just sitting there being sold to by a job board, a social media provider or whoever else is flavour of the month. It got me thinking about how everything can benefit my business and most importantly, how it can help with our client’s people strategies. What’s more, it was clear from the start that both the track-leaders and attendees were genuinely passionate about improving our market.

I left the day feeling really positive about the whole experience and although most of us probably stayed out a little later than we should’ve done in the evening/early hours, I finally got the opportunity to meet people I’ve been communicating with on Twitter. I found it fascinating that people travelled from all over the world to attend too! I will definitely be attending future events and if you want to learn new experiences about all aspects of recruitment communications from genuine experts, then they are not to be missed!

Big thanks to Bill Boorman for organising and Jobsite for bringing me along. Top effort!

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Case study: Reducing recruitment costs and improving candidate experience with an online application tool at Weight Watchers

Weight Watchers is famous across the world for promoting sustainable weight loss and a healthy lifestyle through education and group support. In the UK they have been operating for over 45 years and are the country’s fourteenth largest grocery brand, with a thriving online business and magazine.

Weight Watchers employs 185 people in the UK and has 1,800 self-employed leaders who run the Weight Watchers’ meetings. In the past the organisation recruited all its employees through agencies, primarily because their small HR team lacked the time to conduct the recruitment process in-house. This all changed in August last year when Weight Watchers launched its online application tool to help streamline the recruitment process.

The decision to move to online recruitment was driven not only by a desire to reduce costs but also to make the most of available technology to improve the candidates’ experience and speed up the application process. Leah Queripel, Weight Watchers HR Manager, reports:

‘As a progressive brand, Weight Watchers’ online application process (delivered by Harbour ATS) is a logical solution that fits perfectly with changing trends and candidates’ busy lifestyles. The online application function helps us bring the power of the Weight Watchers brand to our media advertising campaigns. This tool is far superior to the previous hard-to-manage ‘email your CV to apply process’; the online applications are much simpler to administer and ideal for measuring the exact return on recruitment spend.

‘Now applicants can search for vacancies and apply online through our website via an online tool; they can also register their details if they don’t see a current vacancy that matches their skills, expertise or requirements. Online application questions such as, ‘Are you eligible to work in the UK?’ quickly and automatically filter out unsuitable candidates. Other questions – such as ‘How many years’ customer service experience do you have?’ – can be used to prioritise quality and relevant candidates.

‘Last year many organisations were making redundancies which resulted in an increase of candidates looking for roles. We found we were getting a lot of candidates applying for vacancies that may not have been suited to their skills set, with many being overqualified. We were able to use this opportunity to look at the bigger picture. Due to our succession planning we were able to screen candidates not only for the current vacancies but also assess for roles that were going to arise in the near future. The online system has allowed Weight Watchers to build up a database of 250 people, in addition to the 1,600 candidates who have applied for specific roles, who simply register they are interested in working for Weight Watchers should a suitable vacancy arise including their salary requirements, the region and department they are interested in working in.’ (Leah Queripel, HR Manager)

Today very few vacancies are advertised through agencies. Switching to an online application process has had numerous benefits. The company estimates they have saved £110,000 since August 2009 on agency fees. Their application process has speeded up and the time taken to process applications reduced. The company also attributes improved retention to the new process: ‘When we were using agencies to recruit they would typically contact people in their database to see if they were interested in working for Weight Watchers. Now we have our own database of people who have come to us because they want to work for our brand. Many people who have been through our weight loss programme want to work for us because they really believe in our product and want to be a part of a company that has helped transform their lives. If we have no suitable vacancies at the time, the online process allows us to capture their details for the future.’ (Leah Queripel, HR Manager)

The candidates’ experience has also improved. Applicants can access information about the job and the company online.

‘The online tool also allows us to send many communications from “acknowledgement of application” to “invite to interview” and “regret” emails. We have even had a lot of people replying to thank us for these. They tell us it is really nice to hear something back, even if it is “regret”, and that they don’t hear anything from many companies.

‘Our brand has been strengthened by delivering a superior online recruitment process. We’ve been able to tell our employer story to more people and in more places than ever before. Helping us deliver all this is a specialist online recruitment marketing company (called Beyond Interactive Communications). High and completely measureable success rates mean that we’ve built up a strong and productive relationship over time – and we use their advice to fine-tune our advertising strategy. They also offer excellent rates and can report the exact return on our recruitment spend.

‘The new recruitment section on our website is a culmination of our online ambition to be seen as a modern recruiter in touch with changing lifestyle and media trends. The next step for us is to take advantage of the exciting opportunities offered by social media. No longer will recruitment marketing be a one-way conversation. We will be able to engage with and maintain conversations with large audience groups. This gives us an incredible talent pipeline, PR and employer brand management possibilities.’

Information provided by Leah Queripel, HR Manager, Weight Watchers