Arts and Entertainment
Scott Whitehouse, Business Systems Project Manager at Birmingham Hippodrome in conversation with Clare Ryder from Jobtrain.
Birmingham Hippodrome has three core brand values throughout the organisation:
But these brand values were not reflected in their recruitment process prior to Jobtrain. With little investment in their recruitment system and processes that had changed very little, Birmingham Hippodrome were looking for an applicant tracking system partner that would guide them to overcoming their key recruitment challenges.
By way of background, Birmingham Hippodrome is the UK’s most popular single auditorium theatre welcoming, on average, over 500,000 visitors every year. Employing over 460 people, Birmingham Hippodrome recruits a variety of roles from permanent positions to volunteers and internships.
Birmingham Hippodrome had some problems with the experience their candidates had applying for roles. Some applications would fail to submit and deliver safely, whilst many candidates were often left in the dark as to where their application was in the process due to sporadic communication. All this and a lack of reporting features meant they were unable to evidence if this poor candidate experience was putting off customers visiting their venue.
When it came to creating new jobs, Hiring Managers had to negotiate a wholly manual process to get their jobs approved for advertising. Once jobs were live, there was no defined process for managing the applications, shortlisting, interviewing and offering candidates which added unnecessary strain and workload on key stakeholders.
Other areas of the business were already making informed decisions using reporting data – HR and recruitment needed to catch up. Their manual recruitment process meant they were unable to report and obtain insightful information to make educated and informed decisions.
“Jobtrain is “simple to use”, meeting all of Birmingham Hippodrome’s requirements with very little change required.”
The Jobtrain ATS enhanced Birmingham Hippodrome’s candidate experience. Using the clean and simple candidate portal interface, candidates can search jobs, register & apply and complete any onboarding documents online. Sporadic communication is also now a thing of the past with automated emails and text messages to candidates, keeping them informed every step of the way.
Hiring Managers have won too. Multiple systems and processes were used previously but with Jobtrain, it’s moved everything in to one central space. Tailored “killer questions” allow hiring managers to focus only on the very best candidates – supporting the view that 80% of your time should be spent on the 20% most relevant candidates, as espoused in Pareto’s law. Tailored application forms only ask for relevant information from candidates. This has resulted in huge time savings for Hiring Managers, freeing up their time to get on with their day job.
“A thousand times better”
Implementing a new system across a business can often be a fraught one. Not so for Birmingham Hippodrome. Key individuals across the business, from the Head of Visitor Services to the Head of Fundraising, had involvement throughout the process of shortlisting an ATS. Being a part of mapping out the process of how Jobtrain should work for them, really helped bring key stakeholders onboard with their new applicant tracking system.
“The implementation process was clear and fantastic
Implementing Jobtrain was very clear and completed quickly. The Jobtrain implementation team guided Birmingham Hippodrome through the process with good planning and Trello boards, going live in just 12 weeks.”
Being one of the first to go live with our newly designed candidate experience, Birmingham Hippodrome rates it as the “best possible experience” for their candidates.
“Best possible experience for candidates”
Reporting was a game changer for Birmingham Hippodrome. From not being able to report on any recruitment activity, our Business Intelligence feature has proven to be a powerful tool in their pocket.
“The reporting features are awesome”
At the FIRM, we presented how Birmingham Hippodrome, working with Jobtrain, delivered a talent acquisition platform that truly reflects their values. WATCH THE PRESENTATION
The implementation process was clear and fantastic