Revamping recruitment with a data-driven approach
The challenge
Established in 1743, the University of Delaware (UD) is a public, land-grant university in Newark, DE, employing more than 4,700 people. It recently achieved Forbes’ number one spot as Best Employer in Delaware.
Like many higher education institutions, UD needed to recover from pandemic-driven losses and rebuild its workforce. This meant the talent acquisition team needed to attract and retain a large volume of high-quality faculty and staff.
Not only did they need to supercharge their hiring abilities, they had to compete in a tight talent market, improve diversity in their talent pools, and make the most of limited resources.
The focus
Talent acquisition leader at UD, Jared Aupperle, and his team began by exploring PageUp recruitment metrics to evaluate their current approach. These insights would help them lay the foundations of their talent strategy and make informed, data-driven decisions.
Though they were achieving above-average offer acceptance rates, a slight downward trend was beginning to emerge. More competitors were making counter-offers and candidates were receiving multiple offers simultaneously.
To secure the critical talent they required, the team needed to streamline the recruitment process, better support hiring managers, and improve the candidate experience.
Aupperle and the TA team chose to focus on the University’s tough-to-fill roles. They established salary ranges with candidates upfront, and kept them informed throughout the hiring process. They also implemented a standard protocol for campuses to authoriseauthorize sign-on packages to reduce their time-to-offer.
Next, the team reviewed PageUp insights to identify their top sourcing channels: referrals, job boards, and social media. To broaden their reach across these key channels, they launched a cash-bonus referral program, which would serve as both a hiring and employee-engagement tool. They also increased their investment in social media – particularly LinkedIn – sharing more content and encouraging communication.
To put their best foot forward and adapt to the post-pandemic expectations of candidates, the team recognisedrecognized the University’s EVP needed to evolve. They incorporated and promoted UD’s most important employee benefits into their messaging, such as: security, remote-work flexibility, diversity and inclusion, and feeling valued at work.
They integrated their PageUp ATS with Job Target, giving them the ability to post opportunities across multiple channels and reach a wider audience. They also partnered with employee ambassadors, encouraging them to share open opportunities.
Then, in taking a proactive approach to increasing diversity, the TA team used PageUp data to share diversity metrics with leadership teams and key recruitment stakeholders. They also supported hiring managers to understand, monitor, and improve diversity of their talent pools, and attended DE&I-focused conferences.
The solution
With consistent EVP messaging across all channels, UD is continuing to see increased activity on social media, strengthening the employer brand. They’re also achieving success in piloting their referral program – seeing an uptick in referrals, positive internal feedback, and employee engagement.
By increasing communication with candidates, and opting for more interview panels over formal search committees, UD has reduced its time to hire and overall recruitment costs. StandardisingStandardizing their sign-on packages and providing salary transparency has also significantly improved the University’s ability to secure talent in a competitive market.
Through targeting their efforts towards tough-to-fill roles, the HR team can now create personalisedpersonalized hiring journeys and strengthen the candidates’ relationship with hiring managers —significantly improving candidate experience. Through talent pipelining and targeted calls-to-action, they’re able to grow valuable talent pools, particularly for these hard-to-fill positions.
UD’s candidate-to-hire rate has increased from 10% to 17%, surpassing the industry average of 14%. What’s more, its candidates-per-role rate has decreased from 9 to 5. This means hiring managers and committees are selecting fewer applicants to interview and consider, but converting them to hires at a higher percentage.
“We’ve gained so much trust these past few years, and are receiving more opportunities to make a real impact. We’re continuing to grow our team, who are building on this trust, strengthening relationships across many divisions and colleges on campus, and influencing and empowering hiring managers.”
Jared Aupperle
Talent Acquisition Leader, University of Delaware
Partnering for success with the University of Delaware
From the very first time I met with PageUp at a CUPA conference, it really drove home that feeling that these are the type of people you want to be in business with.
Jared Aupperle
Talent Acquisition Leader, University of Delaware
Aupperle first met the PageUp team during a presentation at a CUPA conference. It was there that he learned about the great features and functionality offered by PageUp’s intuitive talent management system.
Great first impressions
First impressions count – and this was clearly the case for Aupperle. “During that demonstration, I saw some of that functionality that we were yearning for, that we were really wanting. Talking with the team, I really got that feel of the functionality there,” he says.
Just like family
Aupperle’s entire team have built great relationships with PageUp right from the start. Each member of the team has a personal relationship with their Technical Account Manager and other PageUp team members. “From the very first time I met with PageUp at a CUPA conference, it really drove home that feeling that these are the type of people you want to be in business with. We’ve built such a great relationship that it is almost like getting together with family and having a good time,” he says.
Highly-configurable system
PageUp’s highly-configurable system has given the University of Delaware a plethora of options to solve its talent management problems. Aupperle and his team embraced this as an opportunity to go through an iterative process, before deciding on the best possible solution for their organisationorganization. “The hardest thing for us has been getting our brains around how many different ways you can go about configuring. You have so many options that you have to be deliberate about your decisions,” he says.
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