Introduction

Nestlé UK's Food and Beverage divisions are established market leaders and responsible for some of the world's and UK's best known brands. The business is always looking for innovative ways to keep ahead of the competition, and the HR department is no exception.

The problem

In June 2000 Neil Millan from the Food and Beverage HR team identified a need to improve the recruitment process. Having a high marketing profile meant that Nestlé was being inundated with job applications from speculative candidates. Receiving more than 200 paper CVs a month, the department was under constant pressure.

"The recruitment process was time consuming, unjustifiably expensive and often led to delays in the appointment of new employees"
Neil Millan, Nestlé

The brief

Neil highlighted the following issues, common to many HR departments, as areas for improvement using online recruitment:

• Attracting quality candidates to vacancy adverts published on the corporate website (www.nestle.co.uk).
• Reducing time from advertising to receiving applications by accepting online CV applications.
• Management of candidate CVs and applications.
• Sorting of applications to determine suitability.
• Storage of CVs in an electronic format that could be easily searched.
• Response management.
• Speedy communication with applicants.

In short, Nestlé was looking for a low-cost, out-of-the-box solution that would facilitate all their needs.

The solution

PeopleBank technology

PeopleBank technology provided Nestlé with:

• One-click vacancy publishing to the company's intranet, corporate website and our network.
• Reach to jobseekers who may not have otherwise applied.
• Standard online application forms.
• Sophisticated searching facilities for quick sifting of applications.
• Response management including automated email response tools.
• Storage facilities for unsuccessful applications providing a resource pool for future recruitment campaigns.
• An outsourced solution which required no IT development and was quick to implement.

The results

Nestlé has reduced its recruitment administration for jobs advertised online by more than 50%. PeopleBank technology significantly reduced the cost per hire. Visitors to the Nestlé website have increased by 35%.

"PeopleBank technology is a powerful HR tool, with facilities that seamlessly integrated with our current work practices. The system increased efficiency, sped up the recruitment process and provided Nestlé with a system that not only met our expectations but exceeded them."
Neil Millan, Nestlé

For information about PeopleBank technology email info@peoplebank.com or call 020 7669 5248.