Leading Fire and Rescue Service in the South East

When this Fire and Rescue service based in the South East decided to recruit 24 uniformed firefighters, they knew from experience they’d be swamped with responses – and a hugely time-consuming task to find the right applicants.

Identifying the problems

Our first step was to identify the problems caused by the current recruitment strategy. We met with the Fire and Rescue service to understand the scope of the work, agree the outcomes that were required and explain how we would deliver these to a strict budget and within two weeks of the advert being placed.

Expert, time-saving resources 

The client expected to receive approximately 1,000 applications for 24 jobs, and significant resource would be needed to sift through these to meet the two-week deadline. We set to work on the project immediately, using the personnel and systems in our established resource centre to save time and money.

Streamlined online process

The client's recruitment process was paper-driven – slow, laborious, and not environmentally friendly. It also meant candidates were receiving an inconsistent recruitment experience. We introduced a web-based set of ‘Killer Questions’, which standardised and sped up the application process, and filtered out a large number of unsuitable candidates.

Diversity and equality delivery

Strict diversity and equality objectives had to be met at every stage of the process, so we put in place a comprehensive management information system to ensure these were met. Altogether, our solutions meant we delivered letters to successfully screened applicants within the two-week timeframe.

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