Civil Service Takes Big Step Forward For Recruitment

There are clearly some things that that work in an industry or in an organisation and this means that retaining traditional or having a consistent approach to working can help organisations. However, organisations shouldn’t be tied to certain approaches or ways of working just because they have always worked in this manner. It can be difficult for large operations to move with the times but these are the companies and institutions that need to stay in touch with trends and fashions the most.

This is why news that the Civil Service has launched a new recruitment tool is big news in the recruitment sector and for many people across the United Kingdom. The aim of the new tool is to help make the recruitment process fairer and to help departments and organisations to be more diverse. It has been found that many biases can develop in organisations, which can impact on the recruitment process. The aim of the tool is to assist in anonymising the application process and to go beyond this outcome, in order to help the best possible candidates come to the fore.

The issue of blind recruitment is a very hot topic in the recruitment sector and it is certainly an area that has dogged the Civil Service in recent years. The traditional ways of working, and major recruitment decisions being left in the hands of certain people, has caused issues and perhaps meant that some great candidates have been overlooked or left behind. This is no longer acceptable in 2017 and the fact that the Applied recruitment tool is being used by a number of major organisations is proof that times are changing in the recruitment sector.

Some major names use the Applied tool

The UK Civil Service is the latest organisation to use this tool, which is a cloud-based platform, but they are far from being the only big name that has made the switch. Well-known names like Barnados, Cancer Research UK and Penguin have all introduced this form of reviewing applicants, and as the big names make the switch, it is likely that many more companies will follow.

There was brutal honesty at the launch of the new tool with an admission that the recruitment process at the Civil Service could be viewed as being 40 to 50 years out of date. This isn’t just an issue for the organisation, it is something that may have impacted on the entire country. If the right people were being denied access to the right roles, the decisions that were made across the Civil Service could have panned out very differently.

The people behind the tool are at pains to point out that the tool is not used to automate the recruitment process, it is used to remove a lot of the noise that can impact on the decision making process. It is important that organisations still have the human element in the recruitment process but anything which strengthens the process should be considered as a good step for all firms and institutions who recruit.

March 2017 Author : 2XL Recruitment Solutions part of 2XL Media Solutions