Designing Essex County Council's candidate compliance service
Essex County Council were looking to improve the candidate experience for people going through their recruitment process - with a focus on compliance.
Providing flexible support.
When we first started working with the compliance team it was clear they already had some great ideas for how the experience could be improved for candidates while also making it easier for staff. This direction helped to focus our work in key areas of the candidate journey, primarily the information and checks required prior to an offer becoming unconditional.
Improving the candidate journey.
One of the biggest problems for candidates is that they were being asked for the same information multiple times, in multiple places. With this in mind we collated the data points and checks required from candidates so that the team had a comprehensive view of the information required before redesigning the mechanisms for collecting it.
Following user research with recent candidates, it became clear that the journey was disjointed as different bits of the journey were delivered by different teams. Highlighting areas of friction from a candidate perspective helped the internal team to refine key touchpoints, like the wording of emails, to ensure candidates were receiving a smooth and warm welcome into the organisation.
This user research also highlighted some of the challenges from the perspective of staff, because the result was delays for candidates. With this in mind we followed up with user research with staff from the compliance team to better understand the challenges and opportunities from their perspective.
Informing technical choices.
At this point it was clear their current system was not meeting the needs of staff or candidates.
With short term technical solutions being limited, we focused our attention on informing technical choices in the longer term. The council were looking to buy in a new compliance system that was more fit for purpose. With the requirements gathering and procurement processes for this work already in train, our work fed into this programme to ensure the technology was commissioned with users needs, both staff and candidate, at the heart of the decision making.
“The external eyes on something without the bias threw up some really interesting learns and I was really grateful Emma didn't just accept my view but took the time to really work it all through. Working with Emma really made me realise the importance of diversity of thought.”
- Danielle Foster - Head of Talent & Resourcing, Essex County Council