How a major U.S. state government attracts top talent, manages hundreds of thousands of applications, and facilitates exceptional training to retain its workforce.
The challenge
The State of Arizona, Arizona Department of Administration has 108 unique agencies and more than 36,000 employees. This makes it the second largest employer in Arizona.
The organisationorganization receives more than 375,000 applicants annually. The sheer number and diverse range of roles pose a unique challenge for its recruiters.
On top of this, the State is taking a hybrid approach for employees returning to the office. Some agencies and divisions offer hybrid models to accommodate the need for on-site coverage. Others have moved to permanent remote solutions to save office space and costs.
The State needed to implement a talent management system to accommodate this digital shift. The talent team needed a way to attract top talent, manage applications effectively and deliver an exceptional onboarding experience.
The focus
More than 55% of employees would prefer to work remotely at least 3 days per week, according to PwC’s 2021 U.S. Remote Work Survey.
Luckily, the State of Arizona was ahead of the game, trialing remote working models prior to the pandemic.
“We’re listening to our employees about what works best for them,” says Kimberly Adams, Senior Business Analyst at the State of Arizona Department of Administration.
“Although state government may provide less remuneration than the private sector, we attract great talent through remote work flexibility, promoting our generous benefits packages, and providing continuous training. We also offer subsidies, retirement plans and prestigious certification opportunities.”
To promote these benefits, the State relies heavily on social media, targeted messaging on its career site, and employee testimonials. A strong focus on DEI helps the organisationorganization attract diverse talent.
Adams’ team has also implemented strategic measures to target and attract veterans, early-career professionals and tech talent.
The solution
PageUp’s talent management solutions have played a critical role in facilitating the State’s remote working processes. This includes seamless marketplace integrations with hiring boards like LinkedIn, as well as virtual tools to screen, interview and hire remotely.
“PageUp’s marketplace integrations have allowed us to have a direct integration with LinkedIn. Our recruiters can post to our internal/external career page and LinkedIn in the same workflow within PageUp,” explains Adams.
“Recruiters no longer need to login to LinkedIn to post their jobs separately and there is no need to manually add candidate resumes from LinkedIn. This saves our recruiters valuable time as PageUp handles both ends of the integration process.”
Pivoting online with PageUp Recruitment Management
PageUp Recruitment Management software allowed the team to pivot quickly to online interviews and digital recruitment processes. PageUp’s highly configurable ATS allows the State’s HR team to easily manage hundreds of thousands of applications and pipeline talent for future roles.
“PageUp Recruitment Management helped us pivot to online and hybrid ways of working by allowing all of our users including applicants, hiring managers and recruiters to access all facets of the recruiting process online. We also conduct many interviews online rather than in person using PageUp processes,” says Adams.
Shifting recruitment processes online hasn’t come at the expense of DEI. Thanks to PageUp’s accessible sites and job boards, the State can uphold inclusive recruitment processes for applicants with special needs.
“We previously set up workstations in many offices throughout the State with staff to assist these applicants and others having difficulty applying for jobs,” says Adams.
“The PageUp job board is an ADA accessible site which allows visually impaired applicants to easily apply for jobs. We no longer need extra office workstations to assist applicants as they can easily apply online and even from a mobile device.”
“PageUp has helped us to pivot to online working as it has a built-in resume viewer allowing hiring managers and recruiters to view resumes from a web browser. To view resumes, it isn’t necessary to have the same version of Word or other resume authoring tool as the candidate had installed on their PC. This saves us calls to IT for software installation and on software license costs.”
Kimberly Adams, Senior Business Analyst, State of Arizona Department of Administration
CustomisingCustomizing the new hire experience with PageUp Onboarding
With a strong focus on engagement and early training, PageUp Onboarding sets new starters up for success from day one. This is especially important when onboarding new employees remotely: onboarding processes need to go above and beyond to connect new starters to the institution and minimise disengagement.
“We use PageUp Onboarding to engage our hires between the offer and hire stage to continue the communication to the candidate with “welcome” and “what to expect next” messages at the critical stage where the candidate may drop off and accept an offer with a different employer,” says Adams.
“PageUp automates the messages and steps in the process allowing us to use templates to customisecustomize the new hire experience. Remote employees learn how to obtain devices and get started on their first day. New hires in-person are given instructions regarding parking, who to meet with in the office and where their workstation will be. We try to prevent the new hire from feeling lost and not knowing where to go on day one.”
“We also use Onboarding for the “first day”-specific tasks and reminders for new hires. These include where and how to access training as well as introductory information about working for the State. Managers are also sent tasks and reminders after the first week to ensure they meet with their new hires and set goals and expectations.”
With PageUp’s suite of talent acquisition solutions, The State of Arizona Department of Administration is able to provide a captivating remote and in-person candidate experience from first interaction to first day. The State can now attract high-quality talent at-scale, deliver a personalisedpersonalized and engaging experience for both online and in-person candidates, and set new starters up for success before day one.
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