Scottish council sees huge returns from online hiring

Falkirk Council has saved £70,000 in its first year of online recruitment,
claims its head of HR.

Karen Algie implemented the project last October to cut costs and make the
recruitment process more user-friendly for both applicants and line managers.

It is the first council in Scotland to use a sophisticated online
recruitment system, and 10 per cent of job applications currently received by
Falkirk Council are over the Internet.

Algie said, "Before we had a very manual, costly and time-consuming
recruitment system. It did not provide the quality of service that we wanted
for applicants or line managers.

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"There was a lot of duplication of efforts and we spent around £10,000
a year on stamps and envelopes."

Applicants’ CVs are sent straight to the council’s central database, and the
information can be manipulated to create shortlists and mailing lists. Algie
believes that it will also help the council monitor equal opportunities
performance among its 7,500 staff.