Highbury College

Being market-led and forward thinking, Highbury have an Apprenticeship Programme covering a diverse industry-base including Automotive, Engineering, Business IT and Management and ever evolving apprenticeship opportunities.

Apprenticeship Programmes enable employers to take on either new staff or upskill current employees, with an apprenticeship running between one and four years. These apprenticeships are designed to make it more of an incentive for employers to be engaged with apprenticeships that develop knowledge specific to employers’ requirements.

In April 2017 the Government introduced an Apprenticeship Levy, the aim being to increase the quality and quantity of apprenticeships across all sectors of the economy to drive economic benefits such as addressing skills gaps and shortages. In parallel, Highbury College wanted to streamline their application and recruitment process for both applicants and employers through every stage of their apprenticeship journey. 

The Challenge

Highbury College wanted to make their recruitment process as seamless and burden-free as possible for both potential apprentices and employers. They wanted to offer a one stop shop for initial advertising, interviewing and shortlisting of candidates to ease the pressure on employers - especially small businesses who may have a limited administrative base.

Prior to implementing Eploy, Highbury Employment Services, part of the college apprenticeship services, recruited through a manual paper based system which meant they had no central database of companies or candidates, no historical data to report on and share across the Company and no visibility of CV’s or what had been received and issued. At best they used a spreadsheet or multiple versions of the same spreadsheet which was not fit for purpose. 

Highbury wanted to:

• - Increase their capacity to manage the recruitment experience for apentices and employers.

• - Have the ability to store data with immediate access to management information (MI).

• - Have one place to register to become an apprentice or recruit an apprentice, with a unified brand across the website and apprenticeship portal.

• - Become more efficient across the recruitment process, making the journey easier and faster.

To meet these objectives Highbury embarked on a comprehensive review of modern recruitment platforms to make an informed decision as to the solution that would best suit their requirements.

The Selection Process

After researching the Applicant Tracking System and e-Recruitment market, Highbury College selected Eploy as the best fit for their requirements in terms of system functionality and flexibility.

“In looking for the right ATS & Recruitment CRM provider, we investigated a number of possible systems and vendors. From an initial sift we identified a shortlist of three vendors who we then assessed against a set of criteria of essential functionality. Eploy would enable us to tailor the system and customise to Highbury’s specific requirements and offered us a complete cloud-based e-recruitment platform which was essential to achieving our long-term objectives". Paul Rolfe, Managing Director, Highbury Commercial

Improved Capability

In implementing Eploy, Highbury now have a formalised and automated recruitment process that has improved the applicant and employer experience and saved time at each stage of the process. It is reducing their time to hire for employers and recruitment campaigns can be pulled together within the hour if needed for a really targeted campaign.

The key areas which Highbury rely on the most within Eploy are:

• - Easier ways for applicants and employers to apply with effortless online registrations and applications
• - Managing the complete recruitment process at each stage (campaigns, engagement, assessment shortlisting, interviews etc.)
• - Flexible search for applicants of all available positions by type and location
• - ‘Quick search’ on people available for specific roles
• - Applicants can manage all aspects of their job search and applications
• - Customisable Management Information dashboards to focus on KPI’s and targets which are delivering time savings and efficiencies through improved MI. 

Toby Cartledge, Employment Services Co-ordinator, Highbury Employment Service – Highbury Commercial commented, 

“In choosing Eploy we have improved MI reporting and visibility which in turn has improved communication. We utilise the dashboard reports to measure and monitor our performance and drill down on equal opportunities information, vacancies by industry and live applications at each stage. We’ve been impressed with the interactive nature of the SnapStats to look at trends across the teams and drill down into the high level numbers that prompt action”.

“We wanted to have a more engaging and professional ‘look’ and to be able to store data that we could link to other college systems. We provide apprenticeships for all ages so our chosen solution had to work across every platform. We wanted the candidate portal to be fully and seamlessly integrated into the college website – including the look and feel for continuity of the brand. Our registration and application process is now simplified. Registrants can log in and continue with any incomplete applications and check the progress of applications submitted”.

The new apprenticeship portal, was fully integrated into the Highbury College website to provide a unified look and feel and an online recruitment capability.  

Commenting on the project, Paul Rolfe, Managing Director, Highbury Commercial said “We wanted to further improve the apprenticeship services offered at Highbury through an enhanced apprenticeship portal. What we have now reflects our innovative organisation and has exceeded our expectations. We oversee 1000+ apprenticeships across a hugely diverse range of jobs and are looking forward to placing many more with an enhanced service. The Eploy team understood our needs and worked closely with us throughout the project to deliver our exact requirements for a better candidate experience. Highbury College are an innovative training provider and offer an extensive apprenticeship programme, which forms a valuable part of many workplaces. Eploy’s complete recruitment CRM provided all the tools we needed to offer a modern and intelligent service to our apprentices and employers. We’re thrilled with the launch of our apprenticeship site and have already had some great feedback on the experience. We feel we are well equipped for the future”.

Chris Bogh, Eploy’s Chief Technology Officer commented “Highbury College’s approach to making the apprentice and employer experience as seamless and straightforward as possible has enabled them to move from a spreadsheet based process to delivering a flexible service for both applicants and employers through every chapter of their Apprenticeship Journey. We’re delighted to have worked on this project with them and look forward to a long and successful partnership”.