Council extends its use of recruitment system

Recruitment policy and processes could be shared across county

Derbyshire County Council is to extend its use of an online recruitment system that generated savings of almost £200,000 in its first year.

The council is also talking to 12 other public sector organisations about joining forces to share the system, cutting costs further.

James Luckraft, Derbyshire County Council corporate resources personnel manager, says the authority initially installed Recruit software from vendor Abacus e-Media in 2004, to establish and automate a consistent recruitment policy across its 60 departments.

‘Now each department puts job adverts onto our online job pages through the new system,’ said Luckraft.

‘It also directs enquiries through to the council’s central contact centre. And with more than 5,000 vacancies in the council every year, we have managed to reduce the amount we spend on sending out candidate information packs by 50 per cent, or £100,000 each year.’

Derbyshire now uses the online recruitment system for 60 per cent of all its vacancies.
And removing the need to re-key applicant information is also saving the organisation £90,000 a year in staff costs.

‘We now have a stronger, more consistent recruitment brand that channels all applicant enquiries through a single point of contact,’ said Luckraft.

‘Now we are into Phase II of the e-recruitment project, which aims to enhance use of the Recruit software by extending it to nine other councils in the county, the Peak Park Planning Board, the Police, and Fire and Rescue.’