CFC steals a march on the Competition with StepStone i-GRasp

Privately owned Framestore CFC was formed in December 2001 as a result of the merger of Framestore and The Computer Film Company (CFC), two leading visual effects and computer animation companies.

Framestore CFC is now the largest visual effects and computer animation company in Europe, with over 30 years of combined experience in digital film and video technology. Employing over 600 staff, Framestore CFC has offices in London and New York.

The company has won numerous international awards including two Technical Academy Awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and eleven Primetime Emmy Awards.

Providing post-production services for film, TV and commercials, Framestore CFC's portfolio includes work on such films as 'Superman Returns', 'X-Men: The Last Stand', 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire', and 'Charlie and The Chocolate Factory'. Recent television work includes 'Ocean Odyssey', 'Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets', 'Sea Monsters', 'The Giant Claw' and 'Land of Giants' (Walking With Dinosaurs specials).

As an organisation that is at the forefront of creative technological innovation, Framestore CFC has fully embraced e-talent management software and services from StepStone to help the company grow and succeed.

The challenge
Due to its reputation for excellence and its heritage as a leading visual effects and computer animation firm, Framestore CFC has grown significantly and in 2006, it recruited 100 staff. In 2007, it hopes to recruit 170 more including animators, operators, producers, technical directors, software developers and runners.

Amy Smith, Recruitment and Human Resources (HR) Officer for FrameStore CFC explains the challenges the organization faces in recruiting such a focused workforce: In our industry, the skill sets we seek are highly specialized, and as our sector is quite small, talented people are very much in demand. We needed a system that would not only help us to process applications much more quickly but would also help us to track talent and promote the values of Framestore CFC as an employer brand.

Challenges associated with previous recruitment initiatives prompted Smith to consider investing in an e-recruitment system.

She continues: Previously, our recruitment process was largely paper based. We did have a Filemaker database for retaining a limited amount of applicant information but this database wasn't searchable and was extremely cumbersome to use. It added little value to the process and it was clear we needed an entirely new system.

The solution
Framestore CFC selected StepStone's i-GRasp to underpin its new careers portal helping it manage candidate information much more efficiently than ever before.

i-Grasp has enabled Framestore CFC to computerise the full recruitment lifecycle, transforming its hiring and talent management processes as a result.

Smith takes up the story: We've conducted a major review of how we recruit to identify where we can introduce greater efficiencies into the process. In addition, we've also examined how we can best manage our existing employees to ensure that we provide them with clearly defined development and progression opportunities.

The benefits
One example of a new efficiency is an online facility for applicants to submit their show reels along with their CVs. This vital part of the recruitment process was previously handled using DVDs in the post - causing real headaches when it came to filing and reviewing them. With i-GRasp, however, the upload process takes just a couple of minutes - making life far easier for candidates and interviewers alike.

In designing our new application experience, we wanted to make it as user friendly as possible. Our careers portal is very inviting; easy-to-use and provides lots of information. To date, feedback from applicants has been extremely positive, says Smith.

Speed of response to applications has also increased. This is vital in a fast moving market where a skills shortage is prevalent. Smith explains: Bidding wars for talent in our industry are not unusual. Therefore, it's vital that when we receive a great application, that we respond as quickly as possible. i-GRasp enables us to do so.

She adds, We believe that i-GRasp is making sure that our recruitment process is better than our competitors as we can respond to a CV 3-4 days earlier than anyone else in our industry.

Of the six-strong HR team at Framestore CFC, two people are dedicated full-time to recruitment but i-GRasp is used by all project team managers who are involved in hiring decisions. Easy-to-use self-service features ensure that those managers can indicate their availability to attend interviews, eliminating any need for the HR team to chase responses. Then following any interviews, the managers can input feedback directly into i-GRasp, which increases collaboration and communication between different creative teams in the company.

Another time saving benefit for the HR team is the ability to track a candidate's progress through the interview process. Where once this information was held across numerous disparate Excel spreadsheets, now all stages of the recruitment process are automatically recorded and updated.

Much of the administration associated with recruitment has also been radically reduced. Where once Smith and her colleagues would have received over a 100 emails per day relating to vacancies or applications, now they receive a maximum of 10 as a wealth of information regarding careers at Framestore CFC exists online. Its HR team can create, publish and multi-post different vacancies to different online job boards at the click of a mouse, and correspondence with candidates is now largely automated and email-based.

Creating a Pool of Future Talent
But for Smith the most important benefit of i-GRasp is the ability to create a talent pool that will ensure that when future vacancies arise, Framestore CFC will already have a database of interested applicants.

We don't use agencies so we depend wholly on direct recruitment or referrals. i-GRasp will enable us to effectively track talent and this simply wasn't possible before. Now if a graduate applies to us, we can keep that information on file and then track his/her progress in the industry. This then gives us the ability to target those who we believe are most suitable for whatever positions we will have available in the future.

The future
Whilst i-GRasp currently provides Framestore CFC with a comprehensive e-recruitment system, Smith is considering implementing full onboarding functionality, including start date confirmations, offer letters and contracting, as well as skill and competency based candidate assessments and screening.

I-Grasp's industry-leading events capabilities will enable it to closely manage supporting the various recruitment open days the company holds around the world.

Framestore CFC further hopes that by transforming its web site and intranet into a recruitment centre for attracting, communicating with and building relationships with new candidates, it will be able to build closer ties with prospective recruits, ensuring it has a ready pool of talent whenever vacancies arise.

Smith is confident that i-GRasp is flexible enough to adapt as Framestore CFC's needs evolve.

We're delighted with the benefits that i-GRasp is already delivering to our business. The customer and technical support that StepStone provides is excellent and we're confident that i-GRasp will continue to scale accordingly to support our future growth, Smith concludes.