Perennial

How Webrecruit partnered with the horticultural charity to help them attract the right candidates through tailored recruitment advertising

The Company

 

Perennial is the UK’s only charity dedicated to helping people in horticulture and their families through hard times.

Perennial provides free and confidential advice, support and financial assistance to people of all ages working in, or retired from horticulture. This help extends to spouses, partners and children.

The Challenge

 

We caught up with Amy Routley, Perennial’s Operations Manager, who deals with all things HR and recruitment. The organisation’s recruitment requirements fluctuate regularly but Perennial is currently going through a period of change.

The organisation recruits all over the UK. As well as having to replace employees that have naturally moved on from the organisation, Perennial has also recently undertaken a large renovation at York Gate garden in Leeds that has created new opportunities.

Prior to working with Webrecruit, jobs were being advertised on Perennial’s website and social media accounts. Depending on the type of job being advertised, it would also be featured on job boards and in relevant press publications which they’d work with on an ad-hoc basis. Amy’s main recruitment challenge was attracting the right people for the right role in a relatively short period of time.

“We were spending an awful lot of time reviewing and shortlisting applications. The roles that we advertise tend to attract a lot of applicants who aren’t necessarily right for the role. Our main challenge was attracting higher quality candidates so we weren’t spending so much time reviewing unsuitable applications.”

The Solution

 

Perennial was approached by a member of Webrecruit’s Charity and Not-for-Profit team, who pride themselves on putting together tailored advertising packages to help organisations attract the high calibre employees required to help them grow.

The call was timed perfectly, as Amy needed to recruit for two new Caseworkers in locations where it has been tough to reach the right candidates.

Webrecruit’s Client Relationship Manager put together a tailored advertising package for Perennial, incorporating generalist job boards, specialist charity job boards, LinkedIn and aggregators. Combined with job advert copywriting, Webrecruit’s approach ensured that Perennial’s roles were targeted at the right audience.

“The tailored, targeted advertising package that was put together by my Account Manager was great; Webrecruit could help us to advertise our roles in so many different places and this approach worked really efficiently for us.”

After their initial success of attracting applicants via Webrecruit’s advertising solutions, Perennial also took advantage of our CV filtering and candidate shortlisting services, where one of our experienced Account Managers would filter applications based on criteria set by Perennial. This ensured that only qualified candidates were submitted to Perennial, saving Amy time in her busy role.

“We advertised one part-time admin role which received nearly 100 applicants. It took the Head Gardener and I nearly a whole day to whittle down the shortlist to an even shorter shortlist. The candidate shortlisting service offered by Webrecruit makes my life a million times easier. I love recruitment but it can become a chore when you have a lot to do in a short period of time.”

The Results

 

Amy and the Perennial team have achieved great results since working with Webrecruit; most importantly, they’ve attracted the right people, for the right jobs, in the right areas.

“This is a huge achievement for us; we found it so challenging before because we just advertised in the areas that we wanted to recruit for. Webrecruit helps us target the right people, not just in that area but also candidates in the surrounding areas and those who want to re-locate to that area. The reach of the adverts is vast but they’re targeted in such a way that only the right people apply.”

Final Words

“I would definitely recommend Webrecruit to other businesses looking for a recruitment advertising partner – I have had a fantastic experience of working with both my Client Relationship Manager and Account Manager; they are so helpful and deliver quick and fast service.”

– Amy Routley, Operations Manager, Perennial

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