Speed and Quality of Supply for a Top 5 University
Company Background
Our client is a UK-based global university that is highly regarded for its teaching, research, and enterprise. It has been at the forefront of UK higher education for almost a century, pushing academic boundaries and leading social change. With over 4000+ employees, their commitment to excellence has resulted in it being recognised as one of the top 5 universities in the People & Planet University League and a world's top 200 university in the QS World University Rankings 2024.
Client
Contact
Sector
Staffing Type
Recruitment Challenge
In September 2022, our client devised and launched a multi-tiered food offering for students which offered greater flexibility over meal choices, dietary needs, and budgets. This term-based approach allowed for better food procurement and agency staff forecasting. However, the fluctuating need for kitchen staff meant our client needed additional recruitment support each term.
Roles such as chef, kitchen porter, barista, bar and waiting staff were in high demand, but short supply. The unique requirements of the university meant that chefs were required to suit varied menu types, ranging from burger and chip style menus to fine dining for events. With only six chef jobseekers per job advertisement in the local area, finding the right staff was proving difficult for our client.
Recruitment Solution
At Blue Arrow, we have over 60 years’ experience recruiting for the catering and hospitality sector. Our long-established work in the sector, as well as the efforts of our dedicated local team, meant that we had a database of high-quality candidates for the roles. Some 50% of our candidates work full-time for Blue Arrow across a wide range of clients, often in ad-hoc placements, helping our local team support peaks in demand, including at the university.
Our online registration portal was vital for this recruitment drive, with its technology accelerating the collection and analysis of candidate compliance information. Our investment in recruitment over the last six decades also meant that our local team could reduce the average time to fill by 33%, with a fill time of 24 hours.
Recruitment Journey
Our Client Portal technology allowed the University Hiring Managers to rate the quality of their temporary staff. Candidates who receive high ratings regularly were set to receive automated offers for future bookings. This built client and candidate familiarity, boosting the productivity and loyalty of staff for repeat placements, as well as ensuring client satisfaction.
This simple rating feature has been so powerful in helping identify patterns of high-quality staff, that the university turned 12 temporary placements into permanent positions within two years. One of these roles included a temporary Head Chef who has since been promoted to Executive Chef for Bars and Dining, overseeing all catering operations for the university.
The Result
With our Blue Arrow team taking on the full recruitment and onboarding process, we were able to:
- Place 198 catering staff
- Support 1,329 shifts
- Reduce the average time-to-fill from 3 days to 24 hours
- Save the client 240 hours across recruitment and onboarding activity
Due to the quality of the candidates we provide, 12 of our temporary staff have now been converted into permanent members of the university’s catering staff.
