Permanent Recruitment framework helps DVLA recruit specialist roles they were struggling to fill

Over the last decade the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has been through a radical programme of change, moving away from being a paper-based organisation to a modern and highly efficient digital business. They’ve expanded their digital services and are a multi-award winning government organisation, providing excellent digital services to their customers.

Due to this period of change, DVLA needed to recruit people with significant experience of leading and managing transformation and culture shift to fill 4 roles.

They had previously run 2 rounds of recruitment activity without success. It was felt that the low response rate from candidates outside of the Civil Service was because the roles were only advertised on the Civil Service Jobs website. DVLA also thought perceived application barriers could be an issue, as the very specific and rigorous screening involved was something with which many non-public sector applicants may not be familiar.

Expert recruitment support

DVLA realised that the CCS Permanent Recruitment framework could give them access to the recruitment specialists they needed to help them fill their roles. Through lot 3 of the framework they appointed Yolk Recruitment.

Yolk created a bespoke vacancy advertising solution for DVLA and ran a dual-branded campaign. This meant that the vacancies were promoted on a variety of commercial job boards and Yolk’s own website, as well as on Civil Service Jobs. A passive candidate database was also used to identify potential candidates who, whilst not actively seeking a new role, would be a good match and may find the opportunity attractive. Social media, particularly LinkedIn, and established referral networks completed the advertising mix.

Yolk proactively encouraged applications from candidates across a range of sectors and supported them in navigating the Civil Service application process, including writing a profile statement that evidenced their strengths against Civil Service Success Profiles.

Successfully attracting external talent

The recruitment campaign resulted in 312 applications, which Yolk shortlisted to 17 candidates. Specialist consultants facilitated interview scheduling and management in line with the DVLA’s process, and 11 of the 17 candidates were invited to interview.

The 4 posts were successfully offered after a single round of interviews. All offers were accepted and Yolk provided further support with candidate on-boarding to ensure new starter paperwork and background checking was completed efficiently.

All 4 posts were filled by candidates that Yolk had attracted to the roles – and the DVLA as an employer – through the additional sourcing channels used by the agency.

As well as a 100% fill rate, Yolk completed the recruitment campaign within the budget and desired timescales: 7 weeks from the date of initial vacancy instruction to offer made, and 11 weeks from initial vacancy instruction to candidate start date.

Diversity and inclusion

The Civil Service recruitment and selection protocols and Disability Confident Employer Guaranteed Interview scheme requirements were followed to ensure a compliant, fair and open process. Diversity and inclusion data was also collected from candidates. This is a critical requirement under the framework as many stakeholders look to supplier expertise to support their diversity ambitions and ensure they are aligned to the Civil Service diversity and inclusion strategy.

You have the power to make better recruitment decisions

To find out how the Permanent Recruitment Solutions framework can help you with your vacancies visit the framework web page.

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