Cornerstone is a Scottish social care charity that supports adults, young people and children with learning disabilities, autism and complex care needs, employing around 1,600 staff from the Scottish Borders to Moray. It has also been a Jobtrain client since 2021. In our latest How Talent webinar, Jobtrain's Director of Strategic Development, Giles, sat down with Lesley, Cornerstone's Director of People, Culture and OD, and Denise Elder, Recruitment Manager, to talk about one of the biggest challenges in the sector: hiring the right people and keeping them.
Cornerstone has cut its time to hire from around 90 days to just under three weeks without cutting corners on safer recruitment. It got there by bringing recruitment in-house, automating the admin behind the scenes and reinvesting that time in genuinely personal contact with every candidate.
Watch the webinar in full below:
Competing when pay is off the table
Lesley began her career as a recruiter in construction, engineering and oil and gas before moving into social care around five years ago. The biggest surprise was how tightly funding restricts pay. With most providers paying at or near the Real Living Wage, salary simply isn't a lever. "People are not coming to work in this sector for a big pay packet," she said. Instead, Cornerstone competes on culture, flexibility, supportive management, enhanced HR policies and an extensive in-house training and qualifications offer.
Honest, values-based attraction
For frontline roles, Cornerstone recruits for values first and trains for skills. Denise's team is deliberately honest in adverts about the services and the people candidates would be supporting, using photos and video to paint a realistic picture. The current advert video features the whole recruitment team, so candidates meet them before they even apply. During Covid, support practitioners filmed their own day-to-day work on their phones: proof that authentic beats polished.
With a limited budget, the team leans on social media, job fairs and partnerships such as the King's Trust Get Into Health and Social Care programme. Word of mouth is powerful too. Colleagues receive £100 for a referral once the new starter has stayed six months, and in the latest welcome survey 100% of new joiners said they would recommend Cornerstone as an employer. Benefits such as £500 towards driving lessons help as well.
Tackling AI-written applications
Like many employers, Cornerstone is seeing more AI-generated answers to application questions. Its application form now includes a short statement reminding candidates that it wants to hear about them, not a polished version of the question. Giles added that scored, multiple-choice questions are far harder to game with AI and often give candidates a simpler experience.
Giving the people they support a voice
After the interview, candidates often attend a meet and greet with the person they would be supporting, tailored to that person's communication needs and comfort. It is a two-way street. Some candidates decide the role isn't for them and some people supported decide a candidate isn't the right fit. "That's absolutely okay," said Denise. It means new starters begin with their eyes open.
From 90 days to under three weeks
Recruitment used to sit within individual branches, which led to inconsistency and delays. When Cornerstone introduced Jobtrain, it brought recruitment back in-house and designed the process around how it needed to work. Automation now handles the standard behind-the-scenes tasks, but the human touch remains: candidates get a phone call, not just an email, inviting them to interview.
"Having Jobtrain has actually allowed us more time to be able to do things like that," Denise explained.
Compliance is still substantial, covering PVG checks, references, SSSC registration, right to work and occupational health referrals. Jobtrain's onboarding hub now tracks every check in one place and nobody is hired until everything is signed off, which has helped Cornerstone cut onboarding times by 50%. To avoid the "black hole" of onboarding, administrators call candidates at least weekly and share their mobile numbers so questions are answered straight away. Candidates also have access to Cornerstone's Welcome Hub on Jobtrain, a person-centred space with newsletters, policies, information about the SSSC and the Care Inspectorate and an introduction to their manager and area.
Neither administrator had recruitment experience before joining, yet as Denise put it, "the feedback that we've had from them is that Jobtrain is really easy to navigate."
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A soft landing for new starters
Exit interviews revealed that early leavers felt thrown in at the deep end. Cornerstone responded by overhauling the first six months. New support practitioners now complete a three-day classroom induction, shadow shifts before working alone and an award-winning Professional Practitioner Programme alongside their line manager, with reflective practice and observations. Training is prioritised by what people need on day one, in week one, in month one and beyond, and progress is tracked monthly.
Listen early with a six-week welcome survey
Around six weeks in, new joiners complete a welcome survey, anonymously if they prefer. Results are shared with associate directors, service leads and the board. It acts as an early warning system: if a new starter hasn't met their manager, the team steps in. It also surfaces fresh ideas, such as a recent suggestion to add voiceovers to e-learning to support colleagues with dyslexia.
Why retention matters most
Once people get past their first six to twelve months, they tend to stay. This year's long service awards included colleagues with 20, 25 and 30 years' service. For the people Cornerstone supports, many of whom have complex communication needs, that continuity is everything. "There's very little that's more important than that," said Lesley.
Advice on choosing an ATS
Cornerstone sat through plenty of demos before choosing Jobtrain, and the partnership is now more than five years strong. "It was cost effective and I think one of the big selling points for Jobtrain was the Welcome Hub," said Denise. Her advice is to start with what you need from your process and find a supplier that will work with you. Regular meetings with the Jobtrain team mean "some of our suggestions have been taken forward, which is great."
"We've been able to tailor Jobtrain to fit in with the compliance that we do," she added. "We found that Jobtrain did everything we needed to do and more. I think the innovation from Jobtrain as well has really supported us to make our processes more streamlined."
Giles's closing point summed it up: your technology should support your process, never dictate it.
Watch the full session
Catch a replay of How to tackle the revolving door of care hiring above and watch the full Cornerstone success story to see how the partnership has developed over five years.
Keep an eye out for Jobtrain's new-look platform, launching in January 2027.