“Eploy has been fundamental to the key process of the Student Employment Agency”
Ailsa Costello, University of Derby's Student Employment Agency
The Client
The University of Derby provides higher education courses for around 9,000 full time and 4,000 part time students and employs over 1,500 staff. To assist with finding students opportunities for temporary and part time paid jobs whilst studying and during their vacation periods, the University has established the Student Employment Agency. The Student Employment Agency sources potential employers so that students can gain valuable work experience to improve their present and future employability as well as a valuable source of income. Vacancies are open to all students studying at all of the University of Derby's sites.
Many areas of work are offered including I.T., exam invigilation, after school clubs, warehouse and labouring, marketing and promotional work both within the University and with external companies around the location.
The Challenge
With the sheer volume of students seeking part-time and temporary employment, the University of Derby required an efficient and flexible solution that would enable CVs to be collated and managed and matched to job opportunities. In addition, due to the University's targets for internal and external growth, reports were required to highlight Key Performance Indicators (KPI's). These included:
- Number of students registered and which faculty they are based at
- Number of students employed
- % of students placed overall and from which faculty they are based
- Number of vacancies, internal and external
- Number of active employers
The recruitment solution also needed to be capable of providing email notifications to students to ensure a quick turnaround for the University's clients and allow access from mobile devices.
The Solution
The University's Student Employment Agency implemented the Eploy web based recruitment software solution to replace its legacy Access Database system. This introduced new and enhanced functionality allowing staff to access and engage the Eploy application from any of the University's campuses and remote locations using portable devices. Integral reporting tools and applicant segmentation capability were included to address the need for tighter and more effective management.
The Result
The introduction of Eploy to the Student Employment Agency brought a range of operational and technical improvements that have helped to develop strong relationships with clients and have achieved greater flexibility in the day to day management of the recruitment process.
These included the automation of email notifications to students that facilitates a quick turnaround for the University's clients and the inclusion of additional functionality such as groups and candidate segmentation that have helped with managing larger contracts through a faster matching process.
Allowing candidates to register online with automatic CV extraction has really helped speed up the registration process and delivered many efficiency gains. Also, being able to select and work live on individual vacancies from within the system has improved the short listing process, whilst the adoption of Eploy reporting tools has provided management information to benchmark and track its performance against KPI's.
System access and mobility were significantly improved by introducing a web-based solution. The University's staff can now work from any location with unrestricted, secure access to the Eploy system. Client update information, CVs and the diary function all offer a rich source of practical and easy to use tools.
“With Eploy being a true web based recruitment solution, it has meant that we have greater flexibility away from our desks and at different sites. It will be highly likely that as we continue to be out of the office more and more that we will need to access Eploy on web enabled mobiles for client update information, CVs and the diary function. Eploy has given us a tailored-made customised experience” added Ailsa Costello.
“The University of Derby makes every effort to help place its students in paid employment. This focus demands the same powerful tools that any commercial business would need to undertake recruitment practices effectively and professionally only tailored to meet specific needs of the higher education industry.”
Paul Burgess, Managing Director, Eploy
Visit Derby University's Eploy-powered website at
www.derby.ac.uk/careers.