1.1 INTRODUCTION
This investigation will focus on the outsourced recruitment function of ABC Investment Bank. Co Y is the on-site recruitment vendor for ABC. All applicants who apply directly to ABC for both temporary and permanent positions will experience the recruitment process managed by Co Y.
Because Co Y is a neutral vendor, ABC also sources its candidates from external agencies.
Hitherto, the quality of the recruitment process experienced by the applicants has not been assessed, thereby resulting in incomplete information regarding the overall performance of the recruitment process. This investigation will therefore assess the quality of service provided by the
Co Y recruitment process as an indicator of Co Y ’ performance, as well as compare the quality of service provided by Co Y against that of external agencies.
Section 1 gives a brief background of both ABC and Co Y Plc, followed by an overview of the specific context of this study. The aims of this study will be clearly drawn out at the end of this first section.
Section 2 gives an overview of the current marketplace trends related to outsourcing, the advantages outsourcing offers, its potential caveats, and suggested best practices. The importance of assessing the performance of outsourcing providers will also be conveyed.
Section 3 covers the methodology; this study surveyed 37 ABC employees in total. How this was achieved, as well as details on the sample, will be explained.
Section 4 presents the main findings of this investigation and gives a discussion of the positive findings, and areas for improvement. The Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) is used to obtain the descriptives and frequencies of variables, as well as for conducting an Independent
Sample T-test.
Section 5 concludes, and suggests practical implications. The limitations of this study will also be addressed.
1.2 CONTEXT
ABC
In short, ABC is the biggest wealth manager in the world, a high ranking investment banking and securities business, a major global asset manager, and the leader of the corporate and individual client banking markets in Switzerland. Employing over 69,500 people, ABC ’ offices spread over 50 different countries (ABC website: ABC in a few words, 2006). ABC Investment Bank, which is the focus of this study, gives advice on mergers and acquisitions, strategic reviews and corporate
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restructuring solutions to global corporate, financial sponsor and hedge fund clients (ABC website:
Our Businesses, 2006).
Co Y Plc
Co Y Plc ranks amongst the biggest recruitment specialist and HR services business in the world.
In the United Kingdom, Co Y Plc represents the biggest publicly-listed recruitment group. Its markets extend to over 20 countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and China, and the business is comprised of over 3000 specialist consultants in over 330 offices and 769 business units. Specialist recruitment consultants at Co Y aim to provide its clients with quality candidates for both permanent and temporary positions. The recruitment business is divided according to various industries/sectors, with Accountancy & Finance, Construction & Property and Information
Technology, being the 3 most established and successful units. In 2005, more than 40,000 people were allocated permanent jobs by Co Y recruitment specialists, and more than 40,000 people are allocated temporary assignments every week. With regards to HR shared services, Co Y cover areas such as HR outsourcing, assessment services, online solutions, and salary surveys. (Co Y
Specialist Recruitment Ltd website: About Co Y, 2006; Co Y plc website: About Co Y & Business activities, 2006). This study will focus on the area of HR outsourcing known as Co Y Resource
Management (Co Y RM).
Co Y Resource Management at ABC
Co Y RM is the outsourcing division of Co Y, and was established eight years ago. It manages 35 service accounts and represents the division that is expanding most quickly. Before its establishment, ABC utilized the various business channels of Co Y, along with many other agencies in order to bring in potential candidates to the Bank. Co Y thereby generated revenues from ABC through its different brands. Co Y however eventually offered to provide a 1-stop shop service to
ABC. ABC decided to outsource its recruitment primarily because the Bank does not view recruitment as part of their core business. In other words, recruitment represents an overhead/cost, adding no value to the business. On the other hand, recruitment represents a revenue stream to
Co Y and hence its compatibility with the Bank. Amongst the range of potential providers were
Resource Solutions and Blue Arrow, however ABC selected Co Y to be their on-site recruitment agency due to its experience with dynamic clients, and being one of the only firms in the render process who could handle the volume of ABC ’ accounts. Co Y, for example has a track record consisting of JP Morgan, Deutsch Bank, and Merrill Lynch; these firms, which are all high ranking investment banks, represent their top 3 accounts.
In March 2004, Co Y was officially ABC ’ on-site recruitment agency, employing 16 employees who mainly handle temporary contracts (dealing with 1000 temporary assignments at any 1 stage).
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Permanent recruitment was previously operating at a much smaller scale, with 2 staff in charge of recruiting Secretarial and Support, and more junior positions. In the last 18 months however, ABC expanded its business and therefore the recruitment team for permanent positions has grown and now comprises of 12 employees. They are responsible for recruiting staff into the business areas such as IT, Operations, Finance, Secretarial and Support, and Niche, and now employs 1000 staff per year.
Figures 1 and 2 depict the increase in the scale of Co Y ’ permanent team’s responsibility within ABC.
Figure 1: Original model of Co Y RM at ABC for Permanent recruits
Figure 2: Current model of Co Y RM at ABC for Permanent recruits
ABC Professional Recruiting Model
The ABC Professional Recruiting Model, also known as the Co Y Neutral Vendor Model involves 4 different streams: Campus, Talent Resourcing, Temporary & Contractor, and Permanent. In order to simplify this investigation, only Talent Resourcing will be focused on. Candidates who directly apply through ABC will go through Talent Resourcing and communicate directly with Co Y ’ consultants. On the other hand, other candidates supplied through external agencies will communicate with their respective external agency consultants, but still go through the recruitment process managed by Co Y.
Talent Resourcing
Talent Resourcing is responsible for applications made directly to ABC. It is the direct sourcing team for both temporary/contract and permanent employees. In order to generate candidates, referrals, open days, advertisements through the web and media are all used. Within temporary recruitment, Talent Resourcing is the leading agency supplier for the majority of disciplines. With respect to permanent recruitment, Talent Resourcing achieved 14 placements in the last Quarter.
They have in total, produced savings of 200,000 pounds in the last Quarter.
External Agencies
Although Co Y is the onsite recruitment agency of ABC, candidates do not only enter ABC through
Co Y. It is one of ABC ’ principals to purchase a neutral vendor and therefore ABC still utilises around 35-40 external agencies in order to obtain its candidates. External agencies nevertheless provide benefits to ABC in terms of possessing an established database and ensuring the supply of candidates who prefer using an intermediary rather than applying directly to a firm. The difference
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now however, is that external agencies will have to go through Co Y ’ recruitment process in order to supply its candidates to ABC.
1.3 AIMS
The Director of Co Y and the Director of Professional Recruitment within ABC have expressed interest in obtaining feedback regarding candidates’ recruitment experiences with Co Y. These include for example, information on how the recruitment process can be improved, whether the process is too long, intense, or unstructured, and the professionalism of consultants. Assessing the overall recruitment experience of candidates thereby represents the first aim of this study. As mentioned already, Co Y operates together with a number of other external agencies. Up until now however, no comparison has been made between the quality of service provided by these external agencies and that of Co Y. The second aim of this study is therefore to assess quality of service provided by consultants of Talent Resourcing/Co Y, relative to that of external agencies. Doing so may help to inform areas such as the current performance of Co Y RM, whether the outsourcing was a success, and future decisions on whether ABC should continue with outsourcing or to expand the use of external agencies.
1.4 IMPORTANCE TO ABC AND CO Y
The assessment of candidates’ recruitment experiences is particularly important to Co Y. As many of ABC ’ candidates have applied to other renowned investment banks, any drawbacks to the process could affect their standing in the competition for high quality and highly demanded candidates. By ensuring an efficient and effective recruitment process, and a high quality of service provided by consultants, ABC will be in a stronger position to recruit its preferred candidates as offers given from the Bank are more likely to be accepted.
Furthermore, this investigation will provide valuable findings to both ABC and Co Y with regards to a better understanding of their current performance in recruitment, where their strengths lie, and how the process can be improved. Since Co Y is employed by ABC through a 3 year contract, this investigation could potentially affec t the Bank’s decision on whether the contract with Co Y as their on-site recruitment agency should be renewed.
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2.1 CURRENT MARKETPLACE TRENDS
Due to the paucity of research focusing specifically on recruitment outsourcing, the following will focus on the more general phenomenon of HR outsourcing; many of the issues raised also apply to recruitment outsourcing.
Outsourcing has been defined as “the delegation of one or more business processes to an external provider, who then owns, manages and administers the selected processes based on defined and measurable performance metric” by Gartner (1995). According to Hewitt’s HR Outsourcing: Trends
& Insights 2005 Survey, 94% of the 129 respondents which included companies whose annual revenues spread across just below $1million to $45billion, confirmed that at least one of their HR functions are being outsourced. The findings also suggest an expansion in HR outsourcing by the year 2008. In the survey, HR Outsourcing: Benefits, Challenges and Trends, by The Conference
Board, sponsored by Accenture (NYSE:CAN), similar results were discovered. Over 75% of executives in big North American and European companies are outsourcing at least one of their primary human resources functions and amongst them, 80% assert that they will continue to outsource. Moreover, 71% are anticipating contract renewals with existing providers, 29% anticipate a new bid for their services, whereas no one has stated that they will bring the services back in-house. London – Hewitt Associates and Human Resources magazine have partnered to carry out The Future of Outsourcing survey. The findings collated from 358 UK businesses also suggest that there has been an increase in HR outsourcing, with 20.9% of respondents affirming that their business presently prioritizes outsourcing, and that 34.7% of respondents believe that outsourcing will take precedence in the next two years (Mayes & Mitchell, 2005).
The increasing trend towards outsourcing can be justified by the advantages it offers. According to research carried out by the CIPD, advantages identified by companies for outsourcing their HR functions include an external pro vider’s expertise allowing HR staff to concentrate more on strategic functions, that they provide expertise not found within the firm, that it enhances the effectiveness of the HR function, and hence pushes HR to the top of the value chain. The advanced IT systems, best practice processes, and the economies of scale (achieved through the provision of services for numerous other organisations) of external providers, enables the company to save costs. The quality of services provided by external providers could be more effective than that internally because of the pressures of fulfilling service-level agreements (Clake & Robinson, 2005). Oshima et al (2005) also report that outsourcing HR increases flexibility and responsiveness to the firms’ needs because of unit cost predictability and capability. In terms of cost savings, a report published by the Yankee Group (Fersht, 2005) as reported by Oshima et al (2005), revealed that savings of
20% can be achieved from outsourcing by businesses that have over 10,000 employees. In another example, British Airways improved its efficiency in handling huge numbers of applications and
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achieved over 1 million pounds of savings in ongoing costs by outsourcing recruitment telesales, processing applications and standard assessments (Prickett, 1998).
Indeed, the rationale for ABC to employ Co Y as an onsite recruitment agency reflect some of these aforementioned points. According to Account Director employing Co Y provides the advantages of saving costs, ensuring high quality candidates, and achieving sustainability and flexibility for ABC.
For the hiring manager, high quality candidates and the speed of the recruiting process, rather than costs are amongst the top priorities.
Despite the many benefits of outsourcing HR functions, there remain potential drawbacks as well.
The CIPD fact sheet (September, 2005) emphasizes that outsourcing a function which the firm does not clearly understand will result in the provider coming up with a solution that is inappropriate for the firm, and one that incurs costs. Local knowledge and capabilities may be lost to the provider, and that standar dised processes will match that of providers, which is not necessarily the firm’s preferences. Due to the nature of outsourcing arrangements being long term, the firm might find itself locked into an undesired arrangement. Clake & Robinson (2005) assert that organisations whose IT systems are already very advanced may find that outsourcing might not necessarily create huge costs savings. Moreover, the responsibility of HR leaders could be heightened because of the extra accountability in ensuring other part ies’ performance. In The Future of
Outsourcing survey (HR, October 2005) as reported by Simms (2006), 64% of HR respondents expressed their concern in losing control due to outsourcing, only 36.5% were sure that their outsourcing provider clearly understood their business and fulfilled their requests, and around
36.5% feel dissatisfied with outsourcing. With respect to outsourcing the recruitment function, some businesses have been sceptical. For example, Neglia, Senior Manager of RBC Financial
Group, recruitment strategies, reports that their research reveals an increase in the number of companies returning recruitment in-house due to discovering that, after signing the deal, costs for achieving the desired service level are actually much higher than predicted. These cover issues such as providers lacking the understanding of whether the candidate will match the job (Brown,
2004).
Due to these potential drawbacks, suggestions on how to outsource HR functions successfully have been made. The CIPD factsheet (September 2005) for example, stresses the importance of being sure of the levels and types of service the company requires, specifiying the metrics that specify what is unacceptable and acceptabe within the service level agreement, ensuring the contract with the provider is flexible, and ensuring that the cultural values of the provider match those of the company. Simms (2006) emphasizes the need to monitor the service provided.
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Meetings which help to identify possible problems, and to assess the achievements, workload, customer satisfaction, and candidates’ feedback are important.
This investigation thus focuses on the latter point i.e. to help collect candidates’ feedback in order to assist ABC and Co Y in understanding the current performance of ABC ’ recruitment process, to identify any problems with the outsourcing, and to assist with any future decisions.
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3.1 METHODOLOGY
Access to Co Y and ABC was provided through Stuart Woollard, Head of the Professional Stream at King’s College London’s MSc in Human Resource Management and Organisational Analysis course. Through 3 meetings with the 2 Project Managers, one representing ABC and the other representing Co Y RM, the aims of this investigation were established, and a more in-depth understanding about the context conveyed to the researchers, Susan and I.
The targeted sample for this investigation was 50 current ABC employees who applied through
Talent Resourcing/Co Y, and 50 current ABC employees who were recruited through external agencies. Access to these employees was obtained through the aforementioned Project Managers.
The main research method was quantitative structured surveys. To ensure all the items used on the questionnaire were relevant and unambiguous to the specific context, the finalized questionnaire was verified with the Project Managers before it was sent to the Employee Relations unit. A covering letter ( Appendix 1 ) was attached with the questionnaires distributed ( Appendix 2 ), explaining the purpose and benefits of this research, as well as assuring confidentiality.
Upon approval from the Employee Relations team at ABC, surveys were distributed through the internal ABC email system by Project Manager. Due to data protection with the distribution of email contacts of ABC ’ staff to external parties, it was not possible for the researchers to directly distribute the questionnaires to the targeted sample. All completed and returned questionnaires were emailed to Project Manager, who then forwarded them to the researchers for data analysis.
Collecting quantitative data alone cannot allow one to understand the richness of the setting e.g. mood/politics/environment therefore triangulation i.e. using more than one research method is important. By combining both quantitative and qualitative information, their weakness will be negated and will increase the overall reliability of the study (Ticehurst & Veal, 1999). A face-to-face interview was therefore conducted on Account Director of Co Y RM at ABC in order to gain a better understanding about the specific context. The findings of this qualitative interview have been incorporated to the main body of this report and are therefore not presented in the appendix.
Other qualitative research methods used in this investigation include the use of open-ended questions on the questionnaire, in order to capture information that could not be obtained in the structured questionnaire. To ensure a high response rate, and to prevent employees from being deterred from completing the survey, only 4 open-ended questions were used. These were:
- Strengths about my consultant.
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- Strengths about ABC' recruitment process.
- Areas my consultant could improve on.
- Areas ABC' recruitment process could improve on.
3.2 SAMPLE
37 employees out of 100 responded thereby achieving a 37% response rate. This low response rate could be attributed to the surveys being distributed internally rather than through an external party; employees may have felt that by responding through the internal email system, the anonymity and confidentiality of their answers could not be assured. Moreover, the distribution of the questionnaires occurred just after another comprehensive company questionnaire was distributed within ABC; employees may therefore have been discouraged from completing more paperwork.
Personal information was requested for the purposes of control. However, perhaps due to the insecurity of being identified, not all employees were willing to supply all their personal information.
It was thus not possible to gather personal information for all 37 surveys. Nonetheless, amongst those identifiable, 15 were males, 19 females, the majority aged between 30-39 (51.4%), and educated to Degree level (35.1%). Most of the respondents belong to the Non-Officer rank (59.5%), work in the IT department (45.9%), and joined ABC for 2 months (24.3%). In terms of the recruitment process, the most popular source for finding out about ABC vacancies was through websites other than ABC ’ (40.5%) and through external agencies (27%). More respondents applied through external agencies as oppose to Talent Resourcing/Co Y (25 vs. 11 employees (1 unknown)), and the most popular external agency was Project Partners and Co Y (both 13.5%), followed by Huxley (10.8%) ( Appendix 3 ).
3.3 MEASURES
Validated items used in academic literature were not adopted here because the items in this investigation had to be very specific to the Co Y ’ recruitment process. The items here covered areas such as whether the consultant was approachable, confirmed the details on the CV, and gave constructive feedback after the interview. All items required respondents to state along a 5point Likert scale, the extent to which they agree to a particular statement (from 5=strongly agree to
1=strongly disagree). Reversed items were also used to increase the reliability of the answers stated by the respondents.
The questionnaire was divided into 9 sections, 5 of which covered each of the different stages of the recruitment process:
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1) Sources of application e.g. Talent Resourcing or external agency
2) Recruitment process before the first interview
3) First interview with the business e.g. Line manager/team member
4) Interview with the Human Resources Professional Recruiter
5) Time when offer was made
6) Time when started new job with ABC
7) Other information: covering areas in consultant’s communication skills, the ability of consultants to convey a good insight of ABC ’ culture, integrity of consultants.
8) Candidate’s general opinions of the recruitment process covering strengths and areas for improvement.
9) Personal details
Overall Satisfaction of Each Recruitment Stage
The recruitment process consists of 5 main stages, i.e. points 2 to 6 in the above list. To allow for the comparison between these stages and to assess which stage applicants were most satisfied with, an overall figure was obtained by calculating the means of all items under each recruitment stage.
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4.1 RESULTS
4.1.1 RECRUITMENT EXPERIENCE OF ABC EMPLOYEES
The first aim of this research was to assess the overall quality of the recruitment experience of candidates. This was done by analysing the descriptive statistics available in Appendix 4 . The descriptive statistics revealed that the means for all of the variables were above 3 therefore the evaluations of all variables were all positive. (Recall that respondents evaluated their experiences of the stated variables along a Likert scale, where 1= the least positive experience, 3 = unsure, and
5 = most positive experience).
Recruitment Stages
Start of New Job
Offer Made
1st Interview with HRPR
1st Interview with LM/TM
Before 1st Interview
3.4
3.6
3.8
4 4.2
4.4
4.6
Rating (Mean)
Figure 3: Bar chart showing overall satisfaction of each recruitment stage
With regards to the overall satisfaction of each recruitment stage, Section D (mean=4.37), i.e. the recruitment stage where candidates received their final interview by the HR Professional Recruiter was evaluated by the respondents most positively. In contrast, Section F (mean=3.72), i.e. the time when candidates started their new job with ABC, received the lowest mean. In effect, the recruitment experience of candidates started to decrease after the final round of interview ( Figure
3 ).
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Highest Mean Scores
The 6 highest obtained means pertained to the following items:
Items
The HR Professional Recruiter confirmed the details of my CV with me.
My consultant came back to me with my job offer within a reasonable time frame after my final
Interview.
Mean Score
4.76
4.44
The following staff treated me with honesty: b) Line Manager.
My consultant advised me on what to expect of my (final) interview (with theHRPR)
The following staff treated me with honesty: a) my consultant.
My consultant was approachable (Process before First Interview).
4.44
4.42
4.40
4.39
Table 1: Highest mean scores
2 of the 6 highest-scored items belong to the recruitment stage where the candidate receives his/her final interview.
Lowest Mean Scores
None of the lowest mean scores were below the mid-point. Only 6 out of 32 items did not obtain a mean above 4. These items pertained to:
Items
My consultant gave me all the information I needed regarding my first day at work.
After I started my new job, my consultant did not give me the opportunity to contact them if I had any questions.
My consultant advised me on what to expect of my technical tests.
My consultant gave me a detailed understanding regarding the role requirements.
My expectations of the role requirements were met by my consultant.
Interacting with the following staff gave me a good insight of ABC' culture: a) my consultant
Table 2: Lowest mean scores
Mean Score
3.67
3.76
3.80
3.87
3.88
3.91
As depicted, the 2 lowest mean scores pertained to the last stage of the recruitment process, which is the time when the candidate has started his/her new job with ABC. It should be noted that despite lying between a mean score of 3-4, these scores nevertheless exceeded the mid-point and tended towards 4, thereby indicating a more positive experience, as oppose to being ‘unsure’.
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Communication Skills, Culture & Honesty
4.6
4.4
4.2
4
3.8
3.6
Consultant
Line Manager
Communication
Skills
Insight of
Culture
Criteria
Honesty
HR Professional
Recruiter
Figure 4: Bar chart comparing the communication skills, ability to convey company culture, and honesty between 3 various groups
Figure 4 shows that ABC employees are very satisfied with the honesty of all 3 types of staff
(Consultant, Line Manager, and HR Professional Recruiter) as their mean scores are all very high and similar. In terms of communications skills and the ability to convey the company culture, the same trend occurred i.e. the rating given to the HR Professional Recruiter was the highest, followed by the Line Manager, then the Consultants.
4.1.2 COMPARISON BETWEEN TALENT RESOURCING/CO Y & EXTERNAL AGENCIES
The second aim of this investigation relates to a comparison between the quality of service provided by consultants in Talent Resourcing/Co Y and that of external agencies. This was achieved by running an Independent Sample T-test using SPSS, a statistical program, which tests for any significant differences between the means of these 2 groups. Results of the Independent
Sample T-tests ( Appendix 5 ) reveal that although there are minor differences between the means of the 2 groups of consultants, none of the T-test results were significant at the p<0.05 level. This implies that there are no significant differences in the quality of service provided by the 2 different groups of consultants, therefore the aforementioned findings apply to both groups of consultants.
The fact that the mean scores are all above 3 suggests that consultants from both groups are performing well, and are performing just as well as one another. It should be noted however, that the small size of the sample may have prevented the discovery of statistically significant differences between the 2 groups. One should also be aware of the fact that the sample consisted of more respondents who applied through external agencies than through Talent Resourcing/Co Y, when reviewing the results.
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4.2 DISCUSSION
4.2.1 STRENGTHS
Recruitment Stages
In general, the above results suggest that candidates are satisfied with their recruitment experience at ABC. C andidates are most satisfied with their consultants’ performance at the recruitment stage when they were interviewed by the HR Professional Recruiter. Given that this is the final stage of the recruitment process before ABC decides whether to make an offer to the candidate, this is very encouraging. It reflects that at the most critical point of the recruitment process, candidates are given all the information they need in order to prepare well for the last round of interviews, understand how they performed in the previous interview, and are therefore being given the necessary confidence to perform well.
Individual Items
The variable that obtained the highest mean score related to the HR Professional Recruiter confirming the details of the candidates CV, which suggests that that both Co Y and ABC employees are very focused on the important procedures that accompany recruitment. The second highest mean is related to the efficiency of consultants contacting the candidate with the job offer;
ABC is able to make a decision quickly on the candidates they want to employ, suggesting that the
Co Y recruitment process is an effective one, providing all the information ABC would need in order to make a well informed decision. Although this efficiency is related to contacting the candidate with the job offer, the feedback given by candidates regarding the strengths of the ABC recruitment process ( Appendix 6 ) also stress that the entire recruitment process was efficient overall:
“The process was very quick and accommodated my tight deadlines”
“efficient, quick, ‘painless’”
“pretty quick and slick for such a big organisation”
Efficiency did not only relate to the recruitment process, but the strengths of the consultants in responding quickly to candidates:
“Detail and timeliness of feedback”
“Friendly, helpful, prompt to get back to me”
Given that speed of hire is an important metric for assessing the effectiveness of the recruitment, the efficiency of the Co Y recruitment process are strong indicators that Co Y RM is performing well.
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Another positive finding related to the consultants preparing candidates on what to expect on their
(first) interview. Indeed, this was reflected in the comments given regarding the strengths of ABC ’ recruitment process:
“It was clearly communicated to me and I knew what to expect, I found it very professional which was encouraging”
“The whole process was very straightforward, and was explained to me well”
As this process concerns one of the first times when consultants get in touch with candidates, it immediately creates a very positive first impression on ABC.
Candidates have rated highly in terms of consultants’ approachability (during the time before the first interview). This is promising given that the main source of contact for candidates are the consultants. It is likely that by being approachable, the consultants put the candidates at ease and so the candidates are able to gather all the information they need in order to perform well in the recruitment. As applicants do not realize that Co Y ’ consultants are not actually ABC employees, the professionalism of Co Y ’ consultants instigates a positive image of the Bank, and helps to strengthen the ABC brand. Again, these themes have been repeatedly reported in the feedback:
“Very approachable and professional”
“informative, regularly in touch, v. approachable and friendly”
Communication Skills, Culture, Honesty
The communication skills of the HR Professional Recruiter was most highly rated, as compared to consultants and Line Managers. Because the HR Professional Recruiting team consists of both
ABC staff and Co Y RM employees, this finding does partially indicate the outstanding performance of Co Y RM. Although the communication skills of the consultants were not rated as highly as that of the Line Manager and HR Professional Recruiter, their communication skills were nevertheless positively appraised as their mean score exceeded 3. When asked about the strengths of the consultants, good communication skills were frequently reported:
“Reliable, helpful, good communication – the team did an excellent job while I was temp ing through them”
“Very friendly, good communicator, consistent with follow-up, treats me like a human being!”
The HR Professional Recruitment team is also strongest in terms of the ability to give candidates a deeper insight about ABC ’ culture. It is expected that Co Y RM is able to do so because they are an on-site agency and therefore very familiar with the workings of the company, and also because
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the Co Y RM team has been providing a greater length of service than some of the ABC ’ recruitment staff.
Respondents perceive that all staff representatives are very honest. In particular, the ratings on the honesty of the Line Manager and the consultant, were amongst the top 6 variables that received the highest mean. As the Line Manager is an employee of ABC, not Co Y RM, this finding does not indicate a strength that pertains specifically to Co Y RM but may also be of interest to ABC. The high rating given to the honesty of consultants is very encouraging because it portrays a good image of ABC, as well as ensuring that candidates’ expectations will be met. Indeed, candidates feel that one of the consultants’ strengths relates to their honesty:
“Friendly, honest person”
“Honesty in selling the role to me”
“Honesty, hard work, communication and feedback”
In general, these positive findings are consistent with other assessments that were conducted on
Co Y RM’s performance at ABC. Although no assessment was made by job applicants regarding the quality of the recruitment service in the past, the Hiring Manager and the suppliers (agencies) alternately assess Co Y ’ performance, once every 6 months, using the online survey ‘Confirm It’ through the Co Y workflow button. These surveys have indicated that Co Y has been performing exceptionally well.
For more information regarding the strengths of both the consultants and the ABC recruitment process, please see Appendix 6 .
4.2.2 OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
Recruitment stages
The results emphasize that out of the 5 recruitment stages, the last stage, i.e. the time when the candidate started his/her new job with ABC, received the lowest relative mean score. As depicted in Figure 3, p.12
, the overall satisfaction of the recruitment process started to decrease after the final interview at ABC. 3 of the 6 items that received the lowest mean scores pertained to the stage when candidates first started their new jobs with ABC i.e. getting all the information necessary for the first day at work, having the opportunity to contact the consultant even after starting work, and candidates’ expectations of the role requirements being met by the consultant. These findings suggest that the quality of service deteriorated after candidates were hired, and that candidates no longer feel cared for once they are hired. This may be due to consultants feeling that the most important part of their job has ended i.e. to find the right candidate, or for consultants of external
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agencies, to succeed in collecting the commission/bonus, and therefore ensuring a high quality of service to candidates is no longer as important. This is a potential area for improvement because the inconsistency of the recruitment service provided may negatively affect ABC ’ (or the external agency’s) reputation. Comments expressed by candidates directly relate to the lack of support given after the start of the new job:
“My Co Y consultant did not contact me from the time I was in my role as a temp, up until I was made permanent (4 months). It would have been nice for them to have wished me well and thanked me for all my hard work as a temp.”
“I had very little contact after the offer was made and the contract was signed, it would have been good to phone before my first day or see how the first couple of weeks went.”
It should be noted however, that the mean score for this final recruitment stage still exceeded 3, indicating a good level of service. However, compared to other stages, its ratings were not as high thereby signalling room for improvement. To ensure the Bank ’s positive reputation and to be able to attract more candidates easily, it is important for Co Y RM consultants to provide high quality of service to candidates even after they have started their new job.
Individual Items
The item relating to candidates being informed of what to expect in the technical test also received one of the lower ratings. However, because only 5 employees in the sample gave ratings to this criterion, this result may not offer much significance and therefore will not be discussed further.
Another potential area for consultants to improve on is to give candidates a clearer understanding of the role requirements. When asked about the areas consultants could improve on, a number of candidates suggested the need for more clarity into the role that they are being recruited for:
“Perhaps more information on the exact role/department.”
“Direct feedback after the first interview. Although the role was clarified after the second interview there was some confusion as to what role I was applying for after the first interview.”
“I interviewed without knowing the salary for the job I was going for and still didn’t know the salary when a job offer was made and had tentatively accepted.”
This issue of uncertainty and the lack of information given to candidates also concerned candidates ’ first day at work i.e. the item that receive the lowest mean score.
This could be an area Co Y RM may want to address, because when candidates are unsure about the role, this may potentially damage ABC
’ brand and business performance; In a survey carried
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out by Reed Consulting, 31% of respondents/candidates stated that insufficient information given on the role during their recruitment experience will deter them from supporting the company ’s brand or goods (Brockett, 2006).
According to the mean scores, some candidates felt that their expectations of the role requirements, conveyed by their consultants, were not being met. One serious error brought up in the comments regarded a candidate being employed to a different role he applied to:
“The job profile that I applied for is not the job I am doing currently. It may very well be that the job requirements changed between the time it was advertised, and my joining, thus I should have been advised about it during the offer process.”
The above findings raise the issue of expectations being unfulfilled. Met expectations concern the difference between one’s expectations of a job experience and the actual experience of the job
(Porter & Steers, 1973). Central to Porter & Steers’ met expectations hypothesis is that the failure to fulfil expectations results in dissatisfaction and consequently, quitting of the job. According to a meta-analysis on met expectations, the 3 strongest consequences of met expectations are an employee’s job satisfaction, organizational commitment and intent to leave (Wanous et al, 1992). It is therefore important for Co Y to ensure that the specifics of a role are accurately and clearly communicated, and that the expectations of the role are being fulfilled.
Communications, Culture, Honesty
One unexpected item that received one of the lowest ratings in this survey was the consultant’s ability to convey the company culture to candidates. Given that Co Y RM is on-site at ABC, and that some Co Y employees have been working for ABC longer than ABC employees, they are likely to have a deep insight into the culture of ABC. It is therefore surprising that conveying an understanding of the company culture to candidates was one of the weaker areas revealed by the survey. Possible reasons for this could be due to Co Y RM understanding the culture of ABC so well that when conveying the culture to candidates, they do not notice that they are missing the details a lay person would want to know. Another reason could be consultants not communicating the culture to candidates as well as they could through their interactions. Indeed, Figure 4, p.14 illustrated that the consultant’s communication skill is not rated as highly as the Line Manager or the
HR Professional Recruiter. One respondent also suggested that consultants could improve on their communication ( Appendix 6 ). These may be areas consultants might wish to improve on, especially since they have the most contact with candidates over the whole recruitment process.
18

Open-ended Comments
Another issue that was raised from the comments, but could not be revealed alone in the quantitative results, relate to the efficiency of the reference checks:
“My consultant had to provide ABC with details of my work history for the past 5 years with references, and ABC completed a police check etc. when I joined as a temp. I found it very strange that I had to do the same when I took my permanent role as you already have these details on record and it is a very time consuming process. I understand that you have to be thorough, but this seems like a waste of time for everyone concerned. Is there a specific reason why they can’t just transfer the details from the temporary recruiting team when you accept a permanent role?”
“there was some duplication between ABC HR and Kroll (i.e. I had to copy my
Qualification Certificates twice, once for HR and once again for Kroll”
It appears that candidates find themselves having to provide evidence of their work experiences and qualifications more than once, thereby suggesting possible communication breakdowns between departments within ABC. Another comment which suggests internal communication problems involves candidates being sent the wrong job descriptions:
“I was sent the job description for a different role on the team than the one I’d applied for, and this was a bit disconcerting initially.”
If however, the duplication of procedures is part of a formal, legal procedure, then perhaps to improve the recruitment process, consultants could let candidates know that they are aware of the inconvenience, and to explain that it is a necessary procedure, in order to avoid candidates from being aggravated and assuming that the recruitment process is inefficient.
In general, although the above discussion has pointed out areas for improvement, one should note that when asked about the potential areas for improvement in the ABC recruitment process, or for their consultants, many respondents asserted that none are necessary. As such, this suggests the
Co Y RM recruitment process has been successful.
Comparison
With respect to the second aim of this investigation i.e. the comparison of service provided by consultants of Talent Resourcing/Co Y and external agencies, the results suggest that there are no significant differences in the quality of service provided by the two, and that consultants from both sides are performing well. The aforementioned findings therefore pertain to consultants of both
Talent Resourcing/Co Y and external agencies, and not to only one group in particular. Although there is no difference in service levels between the 2 groups of consultants, any decision ABC would make regarding whether the outsource to Co Y RM was a success, whether to make less use of external agencies, or for any other future decisions, will require consideration of other
19

measures as well. The effectiveness of the recruitment should consider other metrics in addition to the candidates’ satisfaction of the recruitment process e.g. cost per hire, speed of hire, customer satisfaction from groups other than the candidates as well, and the quality of the hire which covers aspects such as the employ ed candidate’s retention, performance, promotions, appraisals, etc
(Vincent, 2006) in order to make a well-informed decision.
20

5.1 CONCLUSION
To conclude, Co Y ’ recruitment process has been very successful; candidates were very satisfied with their recruitment experience at ABC. The stage at which the recruitment process was most successful concerned the time when candidates received their final interview with the HR
Professional Recruiter. Candidates were very satisfied with the speed at which a decision on the offer was made, thereby reflecting an effective recruitment process that is able to assist ABC with a well informed decision quickly. The efficiency of the entire recruitment process, which was clearly communicated by the consultants, the efficiency of consultants in giving timely feedback to candidates, and the approachability of consultants were all highly regarded. Candidates perceived consultants, the HR Professional Recruiters, and especially the Line Manager to be very honest.
The HR Professional Recruiters, comprising of both ABC and Co Y RM employees, scored highly in terms of their communication skills and ability to convey the company culture to candidates.
On the other hand, there are areas of the recruitment process which Co Y could improve on. The quality of the recruitment experience decreased after the final round of interview, and was at its lowest when the candidate started his/her job. Some candidates felt that the role requirements were not clearly expressed to them during the recruitment process, and that their expectations of the role which was conveyed by the consultants were not fulfilled. Since met expectations are strongly related to the employee’s job satisfaction, commitment, and intention to leave, these are important areas to address. The rating for consultants’ ability to convey the company culture, unexpectedly, did not score as high as other variables. Moreover, there appears to be internal communication problems where candidates found themselves having to supply the same information on qualifications and references twice.
Taken together however, it should be noted that despite these suggested areas for improvement, all of the ratings from the survey were positive and achieved a score above 3.5. Therefore on the whole, these are not very serious problems.
It is concluded that there is no difference in the quality of service provided by both Talent
Resourcing/Co Y and external agencies, and that both are performing very well. However, if ABC is to make a well informed decision on the overall performance of the recruitment process, whether the outsourcing was a success, whether to use the outsourcing more extensively, and any other future decisions regarding their recruitment, they should also consider other measures such as the cost per hire, speed of hire, customer satisfaction from groups in addition to the candidates, and the quality of the hire which covers aspects such as the employed candidate’s retention, performance, promotions, appraisals, etc.
21

5.2 PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS
Based on the aforementioned potential areas for improvement, the following suggestions are proposed:
The recruitment process could improve by ensuring that the quality of service provided is consistent throughout, and does not decrease once the candidate is hired. Consultants should maintain a good relationship and keep in contact with candidates even after candidates have started their new jobs in order to ensure they have settled properly as well as to strengthen ABC ’ reputation and branding.
Clear information and understanding regarding the role requirements should be given to candidates during the recruitment process. This may require consultants themselves to first gather as much information as possible on the role on offer so that these can be clearly communicated to the applicant.
To prevent candidates from feeling that their expectations of the role, previously conveyed by the consultants, have not been met (which may affect their job satisfaction and commitment), the use of a ‘realistic job preview’ (RJP) may be helpful. RJP is defined as a recruitment method where both the positive and less positive role requirements and work experiences are truthfully conveyed to the applicant, and has been reported to be associated with positive work-related attitudes and behaviour (Ganzach et al, 2002).
Communications between different departments could be improved in order to prevent candidates from having to supply the same information on references and qualifications twice. If, however, supplying the information twice was a necessary procedure, then perhaps consultants could express their understanding and concern beforehand in order to avoid candidates from feeling aggravated.
Co Y RM’s consultants are likely to already have a deep insight into the ABC’ culture, however, there may be room for improvement in terms of being more aware of how to convey their understanding of the organisational culture to candidates through their interactions. In terms of consultants from external agencies, more information could be supplied to them regarding ABC ’ culture.
As far as the researchers are aware, no previous assessments have been carried out by candidates regarding their recruitment experience, and that this research is the first attempt. As part of an
22

initiative to ensure customer satisfaction and service levels, it is highly recommended that a new
HR policy is introduced where all candidates complete a questionnaire similar to the one devised for this research. This could be completed on-site, right after the final interview with the HR
Professional Recruiter and before the candidate discovers the recruitment outcome, in order to ensure less biased results that are unaffected by the recruitment outcome. More importantly, the findings of these surveys should be reviewed and monitored regularly.
Lastly, based solely on the findings on this research which suggests that Co Y RM is performing very well, one would recommend that ABC continue outsourcing Co Y RM. However, to better determine the overall performance of Co Y
’ recruitment process, to decide whether the outsourcing was a success, or whether to renew the contract with Co Y RM, it is highly recommended that ABC considers other recruitment effectiveness measures e.g. costs, speed of hire, customer satisfaction from groups in addition to the candidates, and the quality of the hire which covers aspects such as the employed candidate’s retention, performance, promotions, appraisals, and more.
5.3 LIMITATIONS
Some limitations of this research include its low response rate thereby resulting in a very small sample size. This prevented sophisticated statistical analysis from being conducted, and limited the number of statistically significant results that could be achieved. Furthermore, with a small sample size, one cannot generalise the findings of this investigation to the whole population. Because this was a cross-section analysis, the findings only reflect a particular point in time (and therefore different findings may result if the investigation was carried out at a different time), and does not enable any inferences regarding the causality of relationships between variables to be made
(Ticehurst & Veal, 1999). Lastly, one of the biggest limitations of this study is that only the employees who have been employed were surveyed; this may explain why all variables received a very positive rating since employees who have been employed are more likely to see the recruitment process in a more positive light. In order to obtain less biased results, it would be important to survey candidates who were not offered a position with ABC as well. However, due to the difficulty of reaching these candidates, this was not done in the present study.
23

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22 nd August 2006]. Available from World Wide Web:
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Gartner (1995). ‘Outsourcing: 14 critical success factors’. Business Issues . February.
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Co Y Specialist Recruitment Ltd: About Co Y (2006) [online]. [Accessed 1 st August 2006].
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Hewitt Associates: Survey Highlights – HR Outsourcing: Trends and Insights 2005 (2005).
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Boardroom Agenda ’ . Hewitt Associates. 17 October 2005 [online]. [Accessed 22 nd August 2006].
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The Conference Board: Eighty Percent of Companies That Outsource HR Functions Would Do So
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<www.conference-board.org/utilities/pressDetail.cfm?press_ID=2373>
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25

Appendix 1 - Cover Letter
Dear all,
ABC has partnered with Kings College London to develop a survey investigating the recruitment experiences of new employees. As relatively recent hires, we would like to hear about the quality of the service you received throughout the recruitment process by your consultant. Your response will provide valuable information for the recruitment team regarding the strengths of their recruitment process and areas for improvement.
Attached is a copy of the questionnaire we would like you to complete, this should take approximately 10 minutes. Please be sure that all the answers you provide will be confidential and treated with anonymity from ABC staff.
Please kindly complete the questionnaire by XXX and return to this email address at project manager@ABC.com
Please let me know if you have any questions and I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
26

Appendix 2 – Questionnaire
Section A: Sources of your application to ABC
27

Section A: Sources of your application to ABC
Please underline the appropriate response
1. Which business area did you apply to? Operations
2. How did you find out about the role you applied to? ABC Website
IT Secretarial FCD
Other (pls. state):________________________________
External Agency
Friend
Other (pls. state):___Co Y_________________________
3. How did you apply to ABC? Talent Resourcing/Co Y
External Agency (pls. state name):__________________
Section B: The following statements concern the process before your first interview
For the rest of the sections, please place an ‘x’ next to the number that best suits your response (e.g., 5x )
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree Unsure Disagree Disagree N/A
1. My consultant gave me a detailed understanding regarding the role requirements. 5
2. My consultant gave me a clear understanding of ABC' recruitment process. 5
My consultant did not keep me updated on the status of my application. 5
4
4
4
3
3
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
-
-
-
3. My consultant was approachable.
4. My consultant confirmed the details of my CV with me.
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
-
-
Section C: The following statements concern your first interview with the business e.g. Line Manager/ Team Member
1. Were you given a test on your technical ability? (If 'No', pls. skip statements a-c) Yes No a. The technical ability tests were relevant to the role I applied to. 5 4 3 2 1 - b. My consultant advised me on what to expect of my technical tests. c. My consultant informed me the results of my technical tests.
2. My consultant advised me on what to expect of my interview.
5
5
5
4
4
4
3
3
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
-
-
-
3. My consultant did not give me constructive feedback regarding my interview. 5
4. My consultant was able to answer any follow-up questions after my interview. 5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
Section D: The following statements concern your interview with the Human Resources Professional Recruiter
-
-
1. My consultant was able to answer any follow-up questions after my interview. 5
2. My consultant advised me on what to expect of my interview.
3. My consultant gave me constructive feedback regarding my interview.
5
5
4. My consultant was able to answer any follow-up questions after my interview. 5
5. My consultant did not prepare me well for the interview. 5
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
28

Section E: The following statements concern the time when your offer was made
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree Unsure Disagree Disagree N/A
1. My consultant came back to me with my job offer within a reasonable time frame after my final interview. 5 4 3 2 1 -
4 3 2 1 - 2. My consultant gave me all the information I needed regarding my job offer. 5
3. My consultant gave me a clear understanding of what to expect between the time my offer was made and the start date of the job.
4. It took a long time until I received my written contract.
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
-
-
Section F: The following statements concern the time you started your new job with ABC
1. My consultant gave me all the information I needed regarding my first
5 4 3 2 day at work.
2. After I started my new job, my consultant did not give me the opportunity to contact them if I had any questions.
3. My expectations of the role requirements were met by my consultant.
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
1
-
-
-
Section G: Other Information
1. The following staff have excellent communication skills: a) my consultant b) Line Manager c) Human Resources Professional Recruiter
5
5
5
2. Interacting with the following staff gave me a good insight of ABC' culture: a) my consultant b) Line Manager c) Human Resources Professional Recruiter
3. The following staff treated me with honesty: a) my consultant b) Line Manager c) Human Resources Professional Recruiter
Section H: Your feedback
5
5
5
5
5
5
1. Strengths about my consultant:
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Strengths about ABC' recruitment process:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Areas my consultant could improve on:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Areas ABC' recruitment process could improve on:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
29

Section I: Information about yourself
Please underline the appropriate response
Please note that this section is NOT mandatory. Any information that you provide will be strictly confidential. It will not be used for any other purposes other than this survey.
1. Gender: Male
2. Age: Below 20
Female
20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60 and above
3. Employee Rank: NO AD D
4. How long have you worked at ABC? _____Year(s) _____Month(s)
5. Highest level of education received: 'O'Level/GCSE
'A' Level
HND Qualification
Diploma
Degree
Masters
PhD
ED MD
Other (pls. state): ________________________________________
Thank you very much for your participation. Please kindly return the completed questionnaire to
30

Valid
Missing
Total
Tenure (months)
Valid
Missing
Total
Education
Valid
Missing
Total
Business area
Gender
Valid
Missing
Total
Age
Valid
Missing
Total
Rank
Missing
Total
Appendix 3 – Frequency Table
0.5
1
2
3
4
5
6
8
10
13
30
Total
System
O Level/GCSE
A Level
Degree
Masters
PhD other
Total
System
Operations
IT
Secretarial
FCD
Fixed Income
IBD
Total
System
Female
Male
Total
System
20-29
30-39
40-49
Total
System
NO
AD
Total
System
Valid Percent
8.6
22.9
25.7
17.1
2.9
2.9
2.9
5.7
2.9
5.7
2.9
100.0
Valid Percent
18.2
6.1
39.4
27.3
3.0
6.1
100.0
Valid Percent
14.3
48.6
25.7
2.9
5.7
2.9
100
Valid Percent
44.1
55.9
100.0
Valid Percent
32.4
55.9
11.8
100.0
Valid Percent
66.7
33.3
100.0
Percent
16.2
5.4
35.1
24.3
2.7
5.4
89.2
6.0
100.0
Percent
Percent
8.1
21.6
24.3
16.2
2.7
2.7
2.7
5.4
2.7
5.4
2.7
94.6
5.4
100
13.5
45.9
24.3
2.7
5.4
2.7
94.6
5.4
100.0
Percent
40.5
51.4
91.9
8.1
100.0
Percent
29.7
51.4
10.8
91.9
8.1
100.0
Percent
59.5
29.7
89.2
10.8
100.0
Frequency
3
8
9
6
2
1
2
1
35
1
1
1
2
37
Frequency
6
2
13
9
1
2
33
4
37
Frequency
5
17
9
1
2
1
35
2
37
Frequency
15
19
34
3
37
Frequency
11
19
4
34
3
37
Frequency
22
11
33
4
37
Cumulative Percent
44.1
100.0
Cumulative Percent
32.4
88.2
100.0
Cumulative Percent
66.7
100.0
Cumulative Percent
8.6
31.4
57.1
74.3
77.1
80.0
82.9
88.6
91.4
97.1
100.0
Cumulative Percent
18.2
24.2
63.6
90.9
93.9
100.0
Cumulative Percent
14.3
62.9
88.6
91.4
97.1
100
31

Source
Valid
Missing
Total
Channel
Valid
Missing
Total
External Agency
Valid
Missing
Total
ABC website
Other website
External agency
Friend
Other
Total
System
Talent Resourcing/Co
Y
External agency
Total
System
Project Partners
Bayley Needham
Jonathan Wren
Co Y
Mcgregor-boyall
Paragon Personnel
Huxley
Victoria Wall Assoc
Badencoch & Clark
Jobserve
Appointments
Bilanguage
Total
System
Frequency
4
15
10
1
5
35
2
37
Frequency
11
25
36
1
37
Frequency
5
2
2
4
5
2
2
1
1
1
1
26
11
37
29.7
67.6
97.3
2.7
100.0
Percent
13.5
5.4
5.4
13.5
5.4
5.4
10.8
2.7
2.7
2.7
2.7
70.3
29.7
100.0
Percent
10.8
40.5
27.0
2.7
13.5
94.6
5.4
100.0
Percent
Valid Percent
11.4
42.9
28.6
2.9
14.3
100.0
Valid Percent
30.6
69.4
100.0
Valid Percent
19.2
7.7
7.7
19.2
7.7
7.7
15.4
3.8
3.8
3.8
3.8
100.0
Cumulative Percent
11.4
54.3
82.9
85.7
100.0
Cumulative Percent
30.6
100.0
Cumulative Percent
19.2
26.9
34.6
53.8
61.5
69.2
84.6
88.5
92.3
96.2
100.0
32

Appendix 4 – Descriptive Statistics
Variables N Minimum Maximum
B1: My consultant gave me a detailed understanding
31 regarding the role requirements.
2
B2: My consultant gave me a clear understanding of ABC' recruitment process.
30 1
5
5
B3: My consultant did not keep me updated on the status of my application.
B4: My consultant was approachable.
B5: My consultant confirmed the details of my CV with me.
C1a: The technical ability tests were relevant to the role I applied to.
C1b: My consultant advised me on what to expect of my technical tests.
30
31
31
5
5
1
3
2
4
3
5
5
5
5
4
C1c: My consultant informed me the results of my technical tests.
C2: My consultant advised me on what to expect of my interview.
C3: My consultant did not give me constructive feedback regarding my interview.
C4: My consultant was able to answer any follow-up questions after my interview.
D1: My consultant was able to answer any follow-up questions after my interview.
D2: My consultant advised me on what to expect of my interview.
D3: My consultant gave me constructive feedback regarding my interview.
D4: My consultant was able to answer any follow-up questions after my interview.
D5: My consultant did not prepare me well for the interview.
E1: My consultant came back to me with my job offer within a reasonable time frame after my final interview.
4
30
29
27
34
31
31
31
31
32
4
1
2
3
4
2
2
2
1
3
4
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
E2: My consultant gave me all the information I needed regarding my job offer.
E3: My consultant gave me a clear understanding of what to expect between the time my offer was made and the start date of the job.
E4: It took a long time until I received my written contract.
F1: My consultant gave me all the information I needed regarding my first day at work.
F2: After I started my new job, my consultant did not give me the opportunity to contact them if I had any questions.
F3: My expectations of the role requirements were met by my consultant.
G1a: The following staff have excellent communication skills: a) my consultant.
G1b: The following staff have excellent communication skills: b) Line Manager.
G1c: The following staff have excellent communication skills: c) HR Professional Recruiter.
G2a: Interacting with the following staff gave me a good insight of ABC' culture: a) my consultant.
G2b: Interacting with the following staff gave me a good insight of ABC' culture: a) Line Manager.
G2c: Interacting with the following staff gave me a good insight of ABC' culture: b) HR Professional Recruiter.
G3a: The following staff treated me with honesty: a) my consultant.
31
30
36
30
34
33
35
36
35
35
36
35
35
3
3
1
1
1
1
2
3
4
2
2
2
4
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
4.31
3.91
4.11
4.29
4.40
4.03
3.67
3.76
3.88
4.09
4.14
4.13
4.10
4.22
4.76
4.42
4.00
4.13
4.16
4.44
4.35
Mean
3.87
4.23
Std.
Deviation
.670
.898
4.03
4.39
4.23
4.40
3.80
4.00
1.159
.667
.805
.548
.447
.000
.860
.673
.506
.431
.720
.730
.619
1.157
.619
.608
4.20 .664
.471
1.011
.747
.710
.497
1.000
1.124
1.130
.857
.742
.593
33

G3b: The following staff treated me with honesty: b) Line Manager.
G3c: The following staff treated me with honesty: c) HR Professional Recruiter.
SectionB: Process before 1 st Interview.
SectionC: 1 st interview with business.
SectionD: Final interview with HR Professional Recruiter.
SectionE: Time when offer was made.
SectionF: Time when started new job with ABC.
Valid N (listwise)
36
34
31
30
36
36
34
4
2.80
2.67
3
4
3.00
2.75
2.00
34
5
5
4.44
4.38
5.00 4.1441
5.00 4.1678
5.00 4.3583
5.00 4.2639
5.00 3.7206
.558
.493
.50158
.47549
.51665
.58163
.69959

Appendix 5 – Results of T-Tests
35

B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
C1a
C1b
C1c
C2
C3
C4
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
E1
E2
E3
E4
F1
F2
F3
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
Equal variances assumed
Equal variances not assum ed
22. 307
28
14. 671
34
23. 102
29
8.992
30
22. 040
29
28
16. 345
32
13. 375
31
23. 301
10. 225
29
10. 682
29
8.936
27
8.628
25
9.144
32
21. 813
29
29
20. 251
29
11. 685
3
11. 680
28
9.044
28
9.743
1.899
3
2.000
28
7.483
2
.
Independent Sample T-Test Results
Independent Samples Test
Levene's Test f or
Equality of Variances t-test for Equality of M eans
F
1.223
Sig.
.278
t
-. 489 df
29
Sig. (2-tailed)
.629
Mean
Dif ference
-. 131
Std. Error
Dif ference
.269
95% Confidence
Int erval of the
Dif ference
Lower Upper
-. 681 .418
6.705
9.171
1.253
.601
.150
9.600
.
13. 882
2.251
3.675
1.102
1.069
2.693
11. 130
28. 067
1.097
.862
1.167
.168
.025
7.626
.062
.015
.005
.272
.445
.724
.053
.
.001
.145
.067
.302
.310
.112
.002
.000
.303
.361
.289
.684
.874
.009
.804
.307
.000
.000
.608
.656
-1. 188
-. 848
1.001
1.098
.281
.453
.435
-1. 456
-1. 214
1.461
1.544
.533
1.087
.897
1.184
.840
.105
.081
.181
.147
.495
.514
.667
.896
1.020
.470
.412
.293
-. 428
-2. 451
-1. 780
-. 785
-. 607
.277
.775
1.000
-1. 503
-. 977
.
.
.762
1.000
1.000
.547
.518
.244
.418
.325
.284
.781
.654
.669
.155
.246
.154
.136
.605
.286
.389
.246
.423
.918
.938
.857
.886
.624
.612
.510
.378
.320
.642
.688
.789
.676
.021
.109
.439
.558
.809
.495
.423
.144
.359
.
.
.067
.000
.000
.222
.222
-. 540
-. 540
.236
.236
.067
.200
.200
-. 593
-. 593
.455
.455
.192
.313
.313
.288
.288
.030
.030
.039
.039
.079
.079
.192
.237
.237
.152
.152
.167
-. 131
-. 810
-. 810
-. 365
-. 365
.167
.333
.333
.000
.000
-. 523
-. 523
.217
.262
.285
.365
.338
.455
.637
.236
.215
.237
.442
.459
.407
.488
.311
.294
.360
.288
.349
.243
.343
.285
.370
.217
.268
.160
.154
.288
.265
.233
.323
.368
.569
.307
.330
.455
.465
.602
.601
.430
.333
.000
.
.348
.535
-. 384
-. 536
-. 608
-. 520
-. 478
-1. 471
-1. 982
-. 246
-. 210
-. 419
-. 705
-. 772
-1. 423
-1. 645
-. 180
-. 154
-. 608
-. 276
-. 458
-. 210
-. 488
-. 555
-. 812
-. 408
-. 565
-. 246
-. 240
-. 396
-. 304
-. 248
-. 508
-. 653
-1. 645
-. 802
-1. 486
-1. 838
-1. 317
-1. 710
-2. 555
-1. 036
-1. 101
.000
.
-1. 235
-1. 771
.517
.536
.608
.964
.921
.390
.901
.718
.683
.552
1.105
1.172
.237
.459
1.089
.992
.902
1.084
.785
1.064
.614
.871
.487
.644
.404
.398
.780
.779
.723
.811
.956
1.978
.539
-. 133
.219
.587
.980
2.889
1.703
1.768
.000
.
.190
.726
1.063
36

Appendix 6 – Results of Open-ended Questions
Strengths about my consultant

Strong understanding of ABC recruitment process. Detail and timeliness of feedback. Knew his client i.e. ABC plus key individuals within the recruitment process well.
 They helped me find suitable temp. roles within ABC, consistently up until I was made permanent.

Friendly, approachable, good knowledge of staff and procedures at ABC, thorough, kept me informed of progress, answered my questions promptly without needing to be chased
 Friendly, honest person, delivered the right information at the right time, and supported me through the whole recruitment process.

Kept me up to date with all processes
 Very confident and really put me at ease.
 Honesty in selling the role to me

Focused. He asked me a lot of questions about the role I wanted and my long term ambitions. He also tried to clarify my key drivers in choosing a job.
 Very friendly, good communicator, consistent with follow-up, treats me like a human being!
 Very approachable and professional. Made sure the job specifications were tailored to my exact needs

Friendly, helpful, prompt to get back to me

Very good at phoning back with updates, helped with advice about resigning from my old company
 Friendly, approachable & timely with responses

Friendly and approachable

Honesty, hard work, communication and feed back
 Reliable, helpful, good communication – the team did an excellent job while I was temping through them. They were not involved in my interview process for my permanent role here as I was temping at ABC for nearly a year before taking the permanent role, but they gave good support when I took my first temping role at ABC last year.
 Justine was very approachable and helpful. She was clear about the interview process and answered all of my questions.

Approachable, professional, helpful

informative, regularly in touch,v.approachable and friendly
 Willing to help out and provide constructive support and preparation
37


Strengths about ABC' recruitment process
Efficient. New starters pack including CD and online registration proved to work well.
 Quick and easy.

Very thorough. I had a written technical test, followed by a two hour technical test/QA session, follow by two more 1 hour interviews with team members, then a 1 hour interview with Hossein Ghodse and finally a 1 hour interview with HR.
I felt that by the end of the process I’d had ample opportunity to ask all the questions I could think of (to discover if the job and company were right for me, from my point of view) and to try to demonstrate my skills and abilities to ABC.

Robust set of interviews that checked all aspects of my personality and my approach to work as well as my management, technical and “soft” skills.
 very thorough recruiting process

The whole process was very straightforward, and was explained to me well. The process was different in my case as I started off as a temp originally and then applied and was offered the role.

The feeling I would be joining an extremely professional and efficient company.

The process was very quick and accommodated my tight deadlines. I had direct access to my future prospective line manager and the HR contact which was very useful. I was able to speak with my line manager directly after the final round of interviews to clarify any details.

It was clearly communicated to me and I knew what to expect, I found it very professional which was encouraging.

Extremely thorough. Confidence in the candidates who get through all stages

Good website
– made a nice change not to go through an external agency (much less hassle)
 Not too many interviews, they arranged it so I only had to attend the office twice i.e. I had 3 interviews on the same day.
You had the chance to meet a variety of people during the process, which helped to understand what it might be like to work here.
 I didn’t have a consultant, but my HR contact at ABC/Co Y was called Ruth Cooper – she was excellent at looking out roles for me, and canvassing my CV at ABC. She regularly kept me up to date with progress and was very enthusiastic about sending my CV round the bank. I was only really interested in coming to ABC (I resigned from ABC in 2002 to go travelling, which was a hard decision to make at the time) and Ruth was very helpful through out the all stages of the job search (I kept her updated with contacts I had spoken to, and she looked at roles in new areas for me). She appreciated I was keen to come back and I always found her very professional.

Very structured, interviewers communicated clearly regarding the roles and expectations as well as the company

Thoroughness and professionalism
 Good interview skills, I felt comfortable and at ease and my interviewer allowed me to ask questions and explained the process in detail.

Very above board, professional but not intimidating
 efficien t, quick, ‘painless’
 pretty quick and slick for such a big organisation.

Very thorough, ensuring that they get the right candidate
 Efficient. New starters pack including CD and online registration proved to work well.
38

Areas my consultant could improve on
 My Co Y consultant did not contact me from the time I was in my role as a temp, up until I was made permanent (4 months). It would have been nice for them to have wished me well and thanked me for all my hard work as a temp.

I thought the consultant was pretty spot on, really.
 None

None I can think of

Direct feedback after the first interview. Although the role was clarified after the second interview there was some confusion as to what role I was applying for after the first interview.
 I can think of no areas for improvement
 Perhaps more information on the exact role/department
 Nothing obvious
 I had very little contact after the offer was made and the contract was signed, it would have been good to phone before my first day or see how the first couple of weeks went.

Improve communication
 N/A

Nothing comes to mind

N/A Excellent

My Co Y consultant did not contact me from the time I was in my role as a temp, up until I was made permanent (4 months). It would have been nice for them to have wished me well and thanked me for all my hard work as a temp.
39

Areas ABC ’ recruitment process could improve on
 N/A

Only one slight hiccup in my application process: I was sent the job description for a different role on the team than the one I’d applied for, and this was a bit disconcerting initially. Otherwise the entire process felt very professional and efficient, and my questions (of which there were several) were all dealt with satisfactorily by HR.

Seems fine.
 Can’t think of any

The job profile that I applied for is not the job I am doing currently. It may very well be that the job requirements changed between the time it was advertised, and my joining, thus I should have been advised about it during the offer process.

None I can think of
 N/A

I can think of no areas for improvement
 nothing comes to mind at this stage
 nothing obvious

My line manager had changed by the time I arrived on my first day and therefore noone was there to meet me after the induction.

Difficult having large number of interviews whilst being employed elsewhere. Therefore, could improve/ make this process more efficient.

My consultant had to provide ABC with details of my work history for the past 5 years with references, and ABC completed a police check etc. when I joined as a temp. I found it very strange that I had to do the same when I took my permanent role as you already have these details on record and it is a very time consuming process. I understand that you have to be thorough, but this seems like a waste of time for everyone concerned. Is there a specific reason why they can’t just transfer the details from the temporary recruiting team when you accept a permanent role?
 I interviewed without knowing the salary for the job I was going for and still didn’t know the salary when a job offer was made and had tentatively accepted.

Nothing comes to mind
 speed and regular comm’s to be maintained
 I interviewed without knowing the salary for the job I was going for and still didn’t know the salary when a job offer was made and had tentatively accepted
 I did not know my official start date until I received a letter in the post the weekend before I joined on the Monday. It would have been great if I had known verbally on the Friday so I could let my bosses know that I would be out on
Monday morning attending the Induction, apart from that, everything else was fine. Also, there was some duplication between ABC HR and Kroll (i.e. I had to copy my Qualification Certificates twice, once for HR and once again for Kroll.
40