Introduction

The Tussaud's Group, based in the UK, is a global developer and operator of leading visitor attractions with 14 million guests a year.

Every year the Group, which employs around 1,500 permanent staff, has to recruit an additional 3,500 seasonal staff for its attractions, which include Alton Towers, Madame Tussaud's, Thorpe Park, Chessington World of Adventures, Warwick Castle and The London Eye.

The problem

The UK's flexible labour market has become highly competitive. As a result, seasonal employers now face a difficult task if they want to recruit the best workers. Matthew Mee, Group Recruitment Manager at Tussaud's, spearheaded an internal review of the recruitment process to ensure they were employing the best candidates in the market.

The review of the Group's HR operations highlighted the following issues:

• Too few quality candidates were applying for positions.
• Communication with applicants was inconsistent.
• Despite the popularity of the attractions, there appeared to be no established Tussaud's employer brand.
• Too much of the HR team's time was spent on recruitment, especially administration and sorting and sifting paper CVs. This was causing an inability to react quickly to 'live' candidates on the market.

Matthew believed these issues could be addressed by putting parts of the recruitment process online and decided to roll out a web strategy in 2002. This was the first group-wide recruitment initiative Tussaud's had ever undertaken.

The brief

Workthing was presented with four key challenges:

1. Improve the speed of the recruitment process for each attraction.
2. Decrease HR time spent on recruitment.
3. Build the Tussaud's Group name and reputation as an employer of choice.
4. Increase the quality of candidates.

The solution

PeopleBank technology

Workthing's PeopleBank technology provided each attraction's website with a fully branded recruitment area which candidates see as an integral part of the site. This facility enables Tussaud's to:

• Post vacancies on each attraction's website as and when they need to recruit staff.
• Automatically reject and shortlist candidates. This is done in two ways: by inserting key questions into the application form the system can automatically reject unsuitable candidates. For example 'Do you have a permit to work in the UK?'. Then, answers to a secondary set of questions are used as a screening tool for the recruiter.
• Acknowledge applications and have consistent and quick communication with both accepted and rejected candidates.
• Increase exposure of Tussaud's name by incorporating their branding into the application form.

To improve the number of quality candidates that apply to Tussaud's, vacancies are posted on:

• Workthing.com and PeopleBank.com to attract UK job seekers
• Activate.co.uk to attract students
• HotRecruit.com to attract international visitors to the UK
• A variety of seasonally focused job boards

All applications received from these sites are processed in the same way as applications that come through each attraction's website.

The results

This year's seasonal recruitment is still in progress. However, significant improvements have already been seen. In total, across the group there have been 236 candidates hired who have applied through the Peoplebank system (30 August 2002).

1. A faster recruitment process

Operations managers throughout the Group are encouraged to use the system, empowering them to take responsibility for recruitment projects and make recruitment decisions with HR guidance. The ability to screen and sort candidates automatically has decreased the amount of HR time spent on the recruitment process.

Miriam Southam, Group HR Assistant, has noticed the difference it has made to her working day:

"The PeopleBank technology has proved a useful advertising media for our current vacancies. The ease of placing adverts, sifting through CVs and replying to candidates by email are all added benefits. Through PeopleBank's straightforward status columns I can quickly assess a candidate's status and the level of response to our adverts. I now find recruitment less time-consuming and that allows me to concentrate on other aspects of my job."

2. Improved employer brand

PeopleBank technology has improved the candidate's experience of the application process. It is seamless and easy to follow, whether applying from a job board or through the attraction's own recruitment site. Successful or not, the candidate also receives email communication from Tussaud's. Both positive application experiences and communication with individuals helps the Tussaud's Group build its reputation as a respected employer brand.

Tussaud's asks applicants to rate their online experience as part of the application process. To date, of the 8000+ applications received, over 75% have rated their experience as either excellent or above average.

3. Significant increase in quality of new staff

In some cases the time it takes to recruit one member of staff has reduced to five days. This significant decrease in time to hire has made the group a competitive, seasonal employer and has laid the foundations for even greater improvements in 2003. The PeopleBank system has given them a real ability to recruit the best candidates before the competition.

Matthew Mee, Group Recruitment Manager, said:

"This is a huge stride forward for our recruitment capability at Tussaud's. Our target audience is significantly larger and our ability to effectively manage response and meet ever increasing business demands has improved immensely."

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