Innovative Early Careers solution for leading Insurer

The challenge

One of the UK’s most reputable Insurers had been struggling to both attract and retain its best people amidst an intense ‘war for talent’.

These challenges were not for a lack of ideas, effort or initiatives, there were enough resources, investment and energy going into solving the problem. The attraction challenges were dramatically impacting the firm’s ability to meet its commitment to diversifying their workforce.

The solution

Davies constructed a pilot project as a Proof of Concept (POC) to find 5 Early Careers Apprentices. Beyond the role of a traditional recruiter, this extended to providing an ‘end to end’ recruitment campaign tailored to the needs of Early Careers. Working together with our client, Davies was responsible for campaign design, sourcing, screening, evaluation, assessment, interviewing, shortlisting and the offer process.

• We specifically targeted individuals from a diverse range of backgrounds across London
• We developed collateral with our client to educate prospective candidates about a why a career in insurance could be for them
• We deployed a team of recruitment consultants whom candidates would be able to identify with who could bring the roles to life
• The development opportunity provided by the associated Apprenticeship Programme was used to attract high quality candidates
• We utilised a range of technologies  such as video interviews and online assessments to enhance the interactions with our consultants
• We made contact via multiple channels very easy and proactively kept all parties updated on a regular basis

The outcome

The Proof of Concept has been a success with all five vacancies successfully filled, the diversity of the successful applicants is encouraging albeit the sample size of the pilot was relatively small. Importantly we have demonstrated the power of utilising the development programme funded by the Apprenticeship levy to attract high calibre candidates at pace.