Recruit for Oxfordshire County Council

Oxfordshire County Council

Oxfordshire County Council awarded selected Abacus e-Media based on the company’s proposed speed of implementation, pricing and their track record in the supply of recruitment solutions to local government.

The e-recruitment system was chosen as a core element in the Council’s move to a shared services centre for all HR and support services. Recruit replaced a bespoke system, implemented in 2006, to provide improved functionality, especially back office and reporting functionality.

Oxfordshire County Council’s Recruit system went live in October 2007 and by March 2008, the number of online applications received had grown steadily to 86%. Around eight hundred users, including Council managers and schools, are able to access the system to manage their vacancies and candidates.

The Council now uses Recruit to manage the entire recruitment process from online advertising, applications, production and dispatch of letters, and short-listing, right through to the production of contracts and management reporting. During 2008, the system was used to manage nearly 15,000 applications.

Grainne Darnton, Recruitment Manager, Oxfordshire County Council:

“Recruit has contributed significantly towards streamlining our recruitment workflow. We now have significantly fewer people doing the same amount of recruitment work than before the installation of Recruit.”

“Instead of having to distribute hard copies of applications to managers, they are now able to view the entire process online and better understand the stages we have to go through. In addition, we are able to use the data that applicants submit online for other purposes, such as mail merging, which saves time and duplication of effort.”

“We have found Recruit to be a very cost effective recruitment management solution, which has also been easy to understand and easy to use.”