Outsourcing to ResourceBank has improved the service we give to the business, has reduced my budget and makes us a key business function because the recruitment of the right people is vital to our future. I wouldn’t hesitate to go down this route again.”
An outsourced recruitment strategy at Northgate Plc, the UK’s leading commercial vehicle hire company, has resulted in higher calibre candidates and significant cost savings.
The company
Northgate Vehicle Hire is the leading commercial vehicle hire company by fleet size in the UK and Spain. The business operates a fleet of 100,000 vehicles from more than 85 sites in the UK, Ireland and Spain.
The challenge
Prior to 2010, Northgate operated 30 separate businesses in the UK and Ireland, each responsible for its own recruitment. The standard of recruitment between the different organisations varied dramatically and there was an over-reliance on agencies so the cost per hire was unnecessarily high. Northgate merged its 30 separate businesses into a single ‘One Northgate’ organisation and, rather than establish an internal co-ordinated recruitment service, Northgate decided to outsource to ResourceBank at the end of 2011.
Solution – white label integration RPO
Following a three month implementation period, ResourceBank established a dedicated team of seven people who form the Northgate Resourcing Centre and reflect Northgate’s brand values at all times. All candidate communication is done under the Northgate brand and candidates are never aware that the Northgate Resourcing Centre is run by an external organisation. Candidate care is paramount and satisfaction is running at 90. Even though it is not compulsory to use the Resourcing Centre, Line managers have quickly seen the benefits and uptake has been virtually 100%, with 450 vacancies filled during the first year – with roles varying from motor vehicle technicians through to rental team staff, customer service assistants, managers and new business managers.
Continuous Improvement
Following the success of the initial project, ResourceBank was confirmed and has been retained by Northgate as its dedicated outsourced recruitment partner. Every year we are challenged to improve and enhance the service. These improvements have included:
- Establishment of social recruiting strategy involving dedicated social careers channels
- Extension of service to cover Van Monster, the retail sales arm of Northgate
- Salary benchmarking survey service to check Northgate’s competitive offering
- Training managers in recruitment skills to improve the managers’ interviewing
- Establishment of a managed service covering IT and new business sales positions
- Design of new careers website (shortlisted for recruitment website of the year)
- Creating an interactive web “benefits calculator” to communicate the value of Northgate employment benefits
- Implementation of cloud based ATS which has enabled the introduction of mobile application for candidates, an integrated candidate welcome portal and an online recruitment portal for managers
- Provision of a proactive executive search service to identify, approach and engage with talent for senior management positions.
In September 2017, ResourceBank was reappointed to an extended three year RPO contract with Northgate
Updated careers site with mobile application functionality
ResourceBank have created a new careers website to attract candidates to Northgate. The site is fully responsive and allows candidates to apply for jobs with their LinkedIn profile.
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