British Gas moved their recruitment of plumbers, gas fitters and service engineers entirely online

ì Öever tried to find a qualified plumber ? And, quickly !î

Imagine. British Gas needed hundreds of plumbers, gas fitters and service engineers. And, representative of the communities they work in, and the customers they serve !

This is a remarkable story. British Gas moved their recruitment of plumbers, gas fitters and service engineers entirely online, whilst significantly increasing the diversity of their applicants. Not only that but theyíre filling these opportunities, months faster !

In 2003, Centrica was using paper-based application forms for its candidates but with the rise in the volume of applications each year, this process was proving difficult to manage - 40,000 applications in 2003 rising from 21,000 in 2002.

With support from the Group HR Director, Anne Minto, a business case was presented to bring online recruitment into Centrica.

The vision of an automated recruitment process was approved, with the British Gas Engineering Academy identified as the first area for implementation.

GlobalSuccessor ñ i-GRaspí s flagship solution ñ was used to develop an online recruitment portal containing information about job vacancies and career opportunities throughout the Academy.

British Gas launched The Academy in response to the national skills shortage of qualified servicing and installation engineers. The e-recruitment solution was then released to encourage and attract accredited and fully trained engineers.

ìwe learnt that plumbers and fitters actually do use the Internetî

ìWe felt that this was a good time to implement a new approach.î says Malcolm Buchanan, National Resourcing Manager, British Gas. ìWe wanted to be able to distribute reports to the senior management team. This used to take a considerable amount of time - it now takes less than a minute !î

Within a 3 month time frame, i-GRasp worked with the resourcing team at British Gas to create a service that facilitated its strategy.

The British Gas Academy is now available with detailed information about job vacancies, including profiles and case studies. The site also contains information about the requirements needed to apply and the benefits of joining the organisation.

The online process includes a ëJoin Usí section, specifically designed by i-GRasp for British Gas. After the initial questions to match individual suitability, candidates complete application forms online. Then British Gas recruiters score applicants before review by line managers. The recruitment portal also has an ëInterview Zoneí which allows candidates to select interview times and obtain further information such as maps and directions to interviews.

ìThis was a significant project that would impact the overall business if the paperless process was not ready on time. Our ability to deal with high numbers of applications was essential

to the success of the project. states Luke Mckend, Commercial Director, i-GRasp.
ìThe results and feedback have been very positive from applicants and British Gas employees. If you consider that plumbers and fitters do not traditionally use the Internet in their working day, we have been able to gain their interest and continue to impressively grow the number of quality applications we receive,î observes Buchanan.

The online approach is already helping Centrica to further increase diversity among its workforce. Online recruitment has been supported with advertising campaigns in specialist media such as the ethnic minorities and womenís press. This is part of the organisationís campaign to raise awareness with groups not traditionally associated with the engineering field. As a result the number of applications from women has doubled.

ìIn order to address the increasing shortages in the engineering sector, we felt it was necessary to create a talent bank to keep the details of UK talent on file. It is important to grow our awareness with the engineering community and we have a system which allows us to view talent when we need it,î says Buchanan.