Ark Teacher Training Recruitment (ATT)

The ATT Recruitment team are responsible for attracting candidates to apply for a place on their teacher training programme, as well as guiding applicants through the recruitment process, building relationships with schools, and placing successful applicants with a suitable school.

"By automating many of our manual recruitment processes using Salesforce, we have reclaimed 5 hours of admin per week per recruiter."

Tallulah Bygraves - Head of Ark Teacher Training Recruitment

Initial Challenges

• The ATT application process was fully managed using Excel spreadsheets and an online form which captured applications and emailed them to a central mailbox
• A new spreadsheet was created for each recruitment cycle
• Since the system was almost entirely manual, it tied up the team’s time on highly repetitive tasks
• Reporting and generating metrics was time consuming and always lagged behind the most up to date information
• Keeping a log of interactions with applicants was difficult using Excel
• ATT was losing applicants to other organisations because they built up a backlog

Outcomes Achieved

• High degree of application automation has given team members back X amount of time per week
• Speedy automated communications keep applicants engaged and drives higher application completion rates
• Since all data in stored in Salesforce, it is possible to report across recruitment cycles to identify trends and patters
• On-demand reporting immediately reveals which subjects and / or regions have capacity which in turn informs where advertising spend should be directed
• The solution has proved valuable as applicant number have increased

Core Solution Functionality

We worked with the ATT team to create a highly automated ATS solution. The functionality expanded over several recruitment cycles and now includes:

• Automating applicants progression through the application process
• Capturing applications via online forms and partner landing pages
• Checking core eligibility based on key responses and either progressing applicants or emailing to explain why they are not eligible
• Sending online tests to applicants by email
• Extracting applications from the DfE Apply system and feeding into Salesforce
• Inviting selected applicants to complete a video interview with responses feeding back into Salesforce
• Automatically allocating applicants to a named recruitment agent based on their subject and location combination
• Recording the date and time of applicant’s assessment centre appointments and sending email confirmations / reminders
• Emailing applicants’ referees at the relevant point in the process
• Parking applicants in the process when waiting for key documentation
• Recording which school an applicant has been placed in
• Allowing applicants to self-withdraw from the process
• Capturing applicant feedback through a smart online form which presents questions depending how far through the process the applicant progressed
• Capturing interest in the programme during the summer when the recruitment cycle has closed
• Uses Campaigns to manage events such as information evenings, webinars or university visits

Technology Used

• Salesforce: this is the core platform and automation / communications engine
• FormAssembly: all online forms are built and hosted on the FormAssembly platform
• WebEx SMS: used to automatically send SMS messages to applicants
• Radancy: used to carry out automated video interviewing
• DfE Apply - government online portal for applying to teacher training programmes
• make.com - used to integrate DfE Apply and Radancy with Salesforce

What Rephrase Did

We worked in close partnership with ATT Recruitment for several years and provided the following services

• Consulted on the feasibility of new requirements
• Proposed practical solutions that achieved the desired outcome in the most cost effective way
• Designed and implemented the solution using Salesforce and 3rd party apps
• Designed and ran comprehensive test cycles which resulted in very few bugs
• Provided ad-hoc support to answer general questions, make minor changes and investigate/fix the small number of issues that did occur