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ABTECH
PARTNERSHIP
RANK GROUP CASE STUDY
Candidate Attraction From Beginning to End
In order to support its business operations, an organisation should develop an
overall recruitment strategy that is aligned with its annual workforce plan and
employee vision. Integral to the recruitment strategy should be a multi-channel
candidate attraction methodology aligned with technology and processes that ensure
a ‘best in class’ candidate experience.
The Rank Group is a diverse organisation in the hospitality and entertainment
industry. Rank includes bricks and mortar operations in two separately branded
businesses across the UK, a portfolio of strong online brands, an IT development
division and a Head Office operation that provides the support and professional
functions to all business divisions. Candidates are sourced across a highly diverse
skill set, from customer service, food & beverage and gaming, to digital, HR, finance,
sales and marketing. During 2010/11, Rank’s Executive Team decided to place
employee engagement as the central strand of the organisation’s DNA, adding value
to the company experience for its 9,000 employees, tens of thousands of candidates
and millions of customers. The new joined up employee engagement strategy
touches every point of the employment life-cycle at Rank, from initial candidate
attraction through to onboarding and career advancement.
To achieve that ‘engagement vision’, Rank needed to create a compelling, consistent
engagement experience across the whole employment lifecycle, starting with the
most effective candidate-centric set of recruitment processes possible. The end
result is a best in class candidate experience, a seamless application process and a
clear and consistent message regarding its various brand identities and the
company’s value proposition. Technology became the enabler – both in respect of its
internal systems and communications and its external candidate and customer
facing products. Throughout 2011/12, Rank, alongside RPOZONE, its consulting and
technology partner, completely overhauled the existing recruitment processes to
deliver a candidate attraction and recruitment methodology that worked across all
brands and was aligned with all candidate communities.
Supporting the process and technology changes, Rank implemented internal work-
streams to deliver in-depth employee segmentation, refreshed its employment
brands, created a full set of recruitment advertising guidelines, developed its first
ever social media recruitment strategy, set up a cross business approach to
campaign recruitment and structured a best in class on-boarding and induction
process.
Little Windrush Salperton Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL54 4EE
Tel number: +44 (0)1451 850811 Mobile number: +44 (0)7971 864620
e-mail: alan@abtechpartnership.com jo@abtechpartnership.com
www.abtechpartnership.com

ABTECH
PARTNERSHIP
Rank’s consulting partner developed a technology platform capable of delivering a
seamless candidate journey from initial application via a portfolio of branded
recruitment micro-sites through to application management on a customised
candidate management system. Only functions essential to the moving of a
candidate from attraction to application through to offer efficiently and effectively
have been incorporated. Key features include brand aligned recruitment sites, social
media channel integration (Facebook and LinkedIn), video interviewing, communities
for new candidates and existing employees, and an on-line induction portal.
Brand aligned recruitment micro-sites
Each brand within Rank has a separate recruitment micro-site with its own distinct
URL (internet address), reflecting the reality that candidates identify with individual
brands rather than Rank as an entity. Each microsite follows a consistent design that
walks the candidate through an intuitive and engaging application process.
Innovative use of imagery and video profiles of the company, featuring individual
employees ensures the candidate remains involved and positive about the brand and
the application experience.
Recruitment channel selection
At the moment of vacancy approval, hiring managers define the recruitment
channels best suited to the role, timescale to fill, urgency of the need or other
strategic factors. The manager uses the fully automated system to select the most
appropriate options for attracting candidates:
• Post to internal talent pool
• Post to the recruitment microsite
• Post to the external talent pool (via job alerts)
• Post to social media (integrated jobs posting via the Work4Us application on
the Rank Facebook pages or via job listings on the company pages on LinkedIn)
• Post to approved job boards
• Advertise via other mediums (online banners, print publications, posters in
business venues)
• Release to the recruitment agency network
Customised interview staging
An integral part of the new Rank candidate management process is the ability for
Hiring Managers to define the most appropriate recruitment stages for each position,
such as online testing, telephone screening and video. Unique to its industry sector,
Rank encourages video screening. Candidates are provided a secure online website
destination to record responses via video to pre-defined questions. This ensures
consistent questioning across all candidates, saves travel costs, is environmentally
friendlier and saves both candidate and interviewer time.

ABTECH
PARTNERSHIP
Engaging with graduates and school leavers
As part of its community commitment, Rank looks to colleges and universities as
potential sources for candidate applications. Rank is establishing stronger ties with
providers that can tailor training and education of potential candidates to suit the
specific needs of its industry. It is trialling an external interactive CV portal where
students can present themselves using video, images, personal statements,
accreditations, references and more – in other words a shop window that goes far
beyond the traditional one-dimensional CV. With automated system matching of
‘suitable’ students, Rank can now see the quality of student applications and gain a
greater insight into communication, presentation and vocational capabilities before
arranging interviews. Students can differentiate themselves, provide evidence of
attained skills and qualities and present a more complete view of what makes them
‘right’ for a particular job.
Talent Pooling
Central to the new Rank vision was building more effective direct self-managed
channels of applicants and to gradually reduce the reliance on recruitment agency
supply. Two channels that are key to achieving this aim are an external talent pool
and an internal talent pool.
Any external candidates that are unsuccessful in an application but are recognised
as ‘potential talent’ for the future are ‘invited’ by the recruitment manager to join the
relevant brand talent pool (which is accessible across all Rank brands). Application
information already entered by the candidate is used to populate the candidate
profile. Job alerts, company news, newsletters and other ‘general interest’
information is posted to candidates holding a talent pool profile as an ongoing
candidate engagement programme. This encourages candidates to keep their
profiles up to date and to remain engaged with the business.
As with most organisations, Rank had limited capability to view existing employee
skills and capabilities; instead relying on individual managers to recommend staff for
roles in other parts of the business, based on a bulletin board posting area on the
organisation’s Intranet. All sections of the business are now able to offer employees
the opportunity to build their own talent profile that can be pro-actively ‘searched’ as
the first stage priority to identify any internal resource that matches the requirements
for new roles within and across brands. Transitioning between different brands and
locations is now actively encouraged, a rare occurrence in the hospitality and
entertainment industry.
In addition, the internal ‘talent pool’ includes Talent Pool dashboard alerts and emails
sent to ‘opt in’ accounts ensuring all relevant employees can be advised of
opportunities, training and development or social activities as soon as they arise.

ABTECH
PARTNERSHIP
Induction and On-boarding Portal
A key element of the overall candidate and employee engagement programme was
to ensure the positive and inclusive candidate experience continued through from the
active ‘recruitment’ phase to induction and on-boarding. With the period between
offer and start date being recognised in all businesses as ‘high risk potential’ in terms
of candidate drop out, elements of the new employee induction are now presented
online via an interactive portal. All offered candidates are provided a login with their
offer letter that grants them access to ‘pre-induction’ content. This is a combination of
documentation to review, forms to complete and videos to watch as well as a range
of company collateral that helps build a positive employee bond. Early completion of
non-confidential (but mandatory) induction materials reduces the time spent during
the initial days and weeks in the new job and means new starters are better informed
and more engaged from day one.
Delivering on the business case for effective candidate attraction and management
In addition to the enhanced candidate and hiring manager experience delivered by
the innovative mix of technology, direct sourcing channels such as social media and
dedicated resourcing functions, the new processes delivered significant value in the
key recruitment metrics that are critical to the business. Rank realised reduced hiring
costs through better managed and more diverse candidate application channels,
greater flexibility in approach and access to new previously untapped candidate
sources and significantly reduced time to hire. The more highly focussed sourcing
and candidate selection processes also significantly reduced staff ‘churn rates’ in the
physical locations.

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Rank Group Case Study

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