Ambulance service based in Eastern England
When the Government set ambulance services a target to reach 999 calls within eight minutes, an ambulance service based in Eastern England had a problem. To meet this target, it had to streamline its call processing, which meant recruiting an additional 80 staff as call handlers and dispatchers for its 24/7 call centre.
Manageable, risk-free recruitment
To avoid accommodating so many new staff at once, our solution was to stagger the recruitment over 10 months. These new staff were employed initially on a temporary basis, as Manpower was able to conduct pre-employment checks more swiftly. It also gave the ambulance service the chance to better assess an applicant’s suitability onsite, prior to committing to a permanent employment contract.
On-site assessments
The candidates were all locally based and were registered by us at the ambulance service’s premises. This meant that they could tour the site, while their new line managers had the chance to meet them too. We then took the candidates through various assessments, which were tests devised by us working together with the ambulance service. The whole experience meant both the ambulance service and individual candidates made the right, fully informed choices about fulfilling what can often be tough roles.
Temporary-to-permanent contracts
Each month, eight new recruits started four weeks of classroom training in preparation for their jobs. After completing this training, they had a further 14 weeks of on-the-job training. Only once they were fully trained and competent were they offered permanent positions with the ambulance service.
Low staff turnover
The result was a smooth introduction of fully trained, competent new staff, with enhanced CRB disclosures at no cost to the ambulance service, seamlessly integrated into the existing workforce. And a thorough, informative selection process ensured candidates were fully committed to the job, resulting in a very low turnover of staff and reducing ongoing recruitment costs for the ambulance service.
Excellent candidates
The ambulance service is now answering life-threatening calls at the speed it needs to. The quality of candidates has been rated as excellent, and the ambulance service is looking to extend our solution in other areas.
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