At the recent University Personnel Association (UPA) Conference in Cambridge, the University of Nottingham’s HR Department won the ‘Higher HR Strategic Development Award’. They won it for recognition of their efforts in “…developing and implementing an E-Recruitment strategy.”
As you’d expect, the University of Nottingham are promoting this success on their website.
Nottingham make a habit of it
This is the second time Nottingham HR have picked up this award at the UPA Conference. They won it for a different reason last year but they do seem to be on a winning streak 🙂
Here they are picking up the inaugural award in 2006:
Nottingham HR at the UPA conference ’06
Why Nottingham won the award again
It’s great that Nottingham have been recognised for developing:
- A web-based advertising strategy
- An online application and short listing system
Nottingham have also, “…redesigned (their) recruitment marketing materials on the Web.”
For the UPA, it was the on-line support for managers that swung the award Nottingham’s way (link opens Word document).
Look at the numbers
You may be asking, ‘Who cares whether University of Nottingham make a habit of winning HR awards?’
Well, I’m no mathematician but the figures Nottingham have released are mouth-wateringly good.
Nottingham’s press release describes how,
“…In its first year the online application system handled in excess of 16,000 applications, with over 85% of candidates opting to apply online.”
Well done Nottingham!
Why this is good news for HR in H.E.
There’s still resistance amongst some Human Resources people working in H.E. towards implementing full e-recruitment.
Many people, both in the HR community and beyond, fear that online recruitment will deter or, worse still, exclude some people from applying to jobs. But if the majority of Nottingham’s candidates choose to apply online then this should re-assure many.
But the numbers get better.
Nottingham’s press release goes onto explain that,
“It is estimated that the web-based advertising strategy will save the University approximately £300,000 per year.”
Nice.
This £300K (I presume) comes from using traditional print advertising for recruitment less and online recruitment advertising more. Generally speaking, recruitment advertising in the press has been far more expensive than Web advertising.
These cost savings are what I find most fascinating.
It’s fascinating to see how much money Nottingham have already saved.
It’s fascinating to see how quickly Nottingham are seeing a return on their investment.
And it’s fascinating to see that Nottingham’s award was sponsored by the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES).
Are THES happy?
Newspapers like THES that have been hit hardest by the move away from paper-based recruitment advertising towards e-recruitment. So, I wonder, how did THES felt about this award?
Were they happy that they sponsored something that recognises the move away from print-based recruiting? Or were they pleased to be associated with the ‘new’ way of doing things?
From a PR perspective, I’m sure they’d claim to be delighted to be supporting the HR community. Although I’m not sure whether their accountants and traditional advertising sales people would be so pleased!
Because, try as I might (with Google’s help), I can’t yet find a piece about this award on the THES site. I’m not saying it’s not there. I’m not saying it should be there. Nor am I reading anything into the fact that I can’t find it. But find it I can’t.
Can you?
If you can, please let me know and I’ll include the link here…
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