Edinburgh Training and Conference Venue

How Edinburgh Training and Conference Venue dramatically reduced time spent on recruitment and found better team members

Background

Edinburgh Training and Conference Venue (ETCV) is the largest independent provider of conference and training facilities in Edinburgh, with dedicated IT equipment for both computer-based training and video conferencing on-site. Clients often select the venue for the first time because it has a fantastic location in the heart of old Edinburgh, close to transport connections. They typically continue to use the venue because the team consistently deliver a fantastic service, summed up by their strap line “If we can, we will”.

The Problem

There were two key issues that ETCV felt they needed to deal with:

1. Sifting CVs was too time consuming due to the volume of CVs received.

Whenever a new position was advertised, 100’s of CVs flooded in. It took a long time to go to establish which candidates might be worth talking to further. Better-looking CVs were still just indicators of a better candidate so ETCV conducted lots of telephone interviews to help pick out the best candidates for interview. Finally, there would be several face-to-face interviews, followed by expensive yet basic psychometric testing, before a candidate was at last selected.

2. Many successful applicants proved unsuitable.

Having gone through this time-consuming process, it was too often the case that the chosen applicant was not a suitable match. They did not delight in giving great service, they were uncomfortable in their work environment, they didn’t last.

General Manager, Derryck Riding, felt there had to be a better way:

“You have to work with people before you really find out if they will be any good at the role itself, not to mention the group dynamics, which in a small company like ours is very important. It was so frustrating devoting all that time to fill a position, only to see that time thrown in the bin when that person just didn’t work out.”

The Solution

e-Talent was chosen because it solved both issues that ETCV faced.

Time saving and candidate management

With every candidate directed to e-Talent’s online application process, the mountain of CV’s was gone. In its place was an automatically generated shortlist, highlighting the most suitable candidates using a simple traffic light system – candidates with a green light were the ones worth looking at.

Derryck comments:

“Now we only have to glance down the highest scoring candidates on e-Talent and we instantly have an idea whether they are worth interviewing. I can actually get on with other things I need to do in the business!”

Suitable applicants chosen through personality and behaviour testing

Finding a system with the unique in-built combination of personality and behaviour testing resulted in huge progress when identifying those candidates with the right temperament and personality characteristics. In addition, the low cost meant that the testing was being done at the beginning of the recruitment process rather than at the end.

“Just because a candidate has the right experience and skill sets, it doesn’t necessarily follow that they have great work ethic or like people! e-Talent handed us this information on a plate and made it very clear for us to see which candidates had the right stuff – before we even considered interviewing them. Since using e-Talent, we have found that we’re only interviewing good candidates. And once people understand e-Talent they are amazed to find out how accurate it is about themselves.”

Additional Outcomes:

“Candidates hired through e-Talent have stayed for at least 18 months or more, whereas in the past some new recruits only stayed for a few months if not weeks.

Having used e-Talent for a couple of years and seen the difference it’s made, we’re now willing to re-advertise if the right applicants don’t come forward straight away. Previously, we would have appointed someone from among the high volumes of CV’s – now we appreciate the huge time and cost savings in waiting for the right candidates.

We have also found that adding an extra test to determine a candidate’s values has been extremely helpful. If their values are not aligned with our business, they are unlikely to fit in. A good example would be whether a chef has “economic” as a value. Being “economical” means they will be extremely careful about how they manage the kitchen in order to avoid unnecessary waste.”

Why not speak to us today to find out what e-Talent can do for your business?