How to nail the bulk recruitment process like ISS

In this post, you’ll learn how ISS Facility Services partnered with ETC to assist in their bulk recruitment process to hire over 100 staff.

ETC was able to help ISS bulk hire despite the fact that:

• it was during the COVID-19 pandemic
• staff were needed urgently
• candidates needed to meet specific criteria

If any of this sounds familiar to you, then continue reading to see how ISS and ETC’s partnership overcame these challenges (and led to ISS being named the ETC Employer of the Year).

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How ETC’s Bulk Recruitment Process Helped ISS Quickly Hire Staff

According to ISS National Recruitment Manager Sarah Larson, ISS experienced incredible growth in the demand for cleaning services over the past 12 months.

“During COVID our ISS frontline team played a huge role in cleaning and sanitising schools, hospitals, airports and outdoor community areas around the country to assist in keeping people safe,” Ms Larson said.

This is why ISS Facility Services partnered with us to assist them in finding more than 100 suitable staff during 2020 for cleaning and other service roles throughout the Gold Coast and NSW.

“ETC welcomed the ISS Recruitment team into their facilities to run large group interview sessions at short notice,” said Ms Larson.

“They screened candidates prior to our visit, to ensure those attending the session met the minimum criteria we needed for our vacancies, and prepared their clients for the interview process, resulting in a successful outcome of employment placements with ISS.”

“They also worked with all the successful candidates to obtain necessary compliances in time for the job commencement date.”

In a short time, this hiring process helped ISS:

• Find the staff they needed quickly and efficiently
• Have all staff obtain required compliances before starting work
• Build an ongoing relationship with ETC for their future hiring needs
• Reduce the stress and hassle of mass hiring

You can get these kind of results by taking these steps:

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Step #1: Identify Your Ideal Candidates

Before you contact ETC to help with your bulk recruitment you need to know who your ideal candidate is. What knowledge, skills, abilities, or compliance checks do they need? What hours will they need to be available for? Where will they be working? When will they need to be ready to start work?

“At ISS we hire for attitude and train for success. We pride ourselves on giving all individuals an opportunity to join our team. If they have the passion and willingness to work, we encourage them to apply for our vacancies,” Ms Larson said.

When ISS first contacted ETC they had taken the following steps:

• Worked out their ideal candidate needed a positive attitude and was passionate and willing to work
• Would need some compliance checks before starting work
• Willing to be flexible with hours
• Need to be ready to start work ASAP

Once the ideal candidate was established ISS was able to determine how many candidates they would need and which parts of the bulk hiring process they could pass on to ETC to assist with.

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Step #2: Find Your Bulk Recruitment Agency Partner

Researching your local recruitment agencies and knowing if they have the experience and capacity to assist in your bulk recruitment needs is important.

When ISS contacted ETC to partner with them in their bulk hiring process they had already worked with us previously to hire staff.

Here are some questions to think about when choosing a bulk recruitment agency:

• Have you hired staff with them before? Was the process hassle-free?
• Do they have enough candidates to support mass hiring? Do they offer wage subsidies?
• Can they reduce the stress of bulk hiring by screening the candidates?
• Can they run group interview sessions?
• Can they meet your timeframes?
• Can they provide training and compliance checks?
• Do they understand your business needs and business culture?

ISS decided to partner with us due to their previous experience using our hassle-free no cost recruitment services.

Our service comes at no cost as it is subsidised by the Australian Government. This means we have many unemployed but job-ready candidates waiting to secure work and are able to meet the capacity for bulk hiring. Wage subsidies are also available for eligible candidates.

With over 30 years of experience screening, shortlisting, interviewing and reference checking candidates, we had the expertise they were looking for. Having worked with other employers needing to bulk recruit, like Bindaree Food Group, we had the ability to run large group interview sessions in short timeframes.

Also as a registered training organisation, ISS knew we would be able to assist in their compliance checks and additional training as needed.

Being a not-for-profit recruitment agency, our purpose is to help unemployed people find sustainable work and overcome their personal challenges and this resonated with ISS.

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Step #3: Start Recruiting

Now that you have chosen a recruitment agency it’s time to brief them and start recruiting.

If like ISS, you want to partner with ETC, you can follow these steps:

• Contact your local Business Advisor (call 1800 007 400)
• Let them know you want to bulk recruit staff and provide your ideal candidate description
• Setup a time and place to hold group interviews
• Interview the screened candidates
• Confirm candidate compliance checks before they start work
• Apply for wage subsidies
• Celebrate the success of hiring the staff you need!

When ISS first contacted ETC to discuss their bulk recruitment needs our teams worked together to find the right candidates for ISS. These candidates attended group interviews after they were screened and prepared for the interview process. ISS successfully hired the staff they needed and applied for wage subsidies.

In celebration, ISS Facility Services has been announced as the ETC Employer of the Year for their work during 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic, giving many vulnerable people job security during an otherwise very unsettling time. Check out the ISS blog post.

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How to Measure the Success of the Bulk Hiring Process

It’s easy to say that you hired the staff you needed and that’s the end result. Success is really measured by the newly hired staff and how obtaining a job with your business has impacted their lives.

For ISS, one of their success stories among the many unemployed people who secured work with ISS during COVID-19 was homeless man Warren Cady.

Warren was a car detailer for 10 years but after a freak accident, he had to give up work and became homeless for a year and a half.

“I broke my shoulder and lost my job all in a matter of weeks, which then resulted in me becoming homeless,” Mr Cady said.

“I accessed my super early so that I could buy myself a car and spent so much time and money just driving around trying to find safe places to sleep at night.”

Warren was eventually referred to ETC for support where he accessed counselling services and training. In April 2020, ETC put Warren forward for a cleaning job with ISS where he continues to work today.

“It’s great being back in the workforce,” Mr Cady said.

“ETC saw the potential in me and brought it out, which helped me get a job.”

Ms Larson said she was equally proud of Warren for accepting the job and the ISS team for hiring him based on his positive attitude.

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