ʷ¼

XClose

UCL News

Home
Menu

UCL Change Builders: The (Recruitment) Force Awakens – Innovating the UCL hiring process

Meet the UCL Change Builders helping to drive progress for our community of staff, students and partners.

A banner for the UCL Change Builders article on TalentLink, with a member of the team on the right and the title of the article in black writing against a white background on the left

1 October 2024

Introducing UCL Change Builders

As part of our shared efforts to deliver on our Strategic Plan and respond to insights raised, teams across UCL have been working hard to drive progress for our expansive community.

It's often the combined efforts of many small steps of improvement, which build together to create immense impact, that make up much of our progress.

Recognising and celebrating the teams behind these efforts, UCL Change Builders spotlights these stories of change.

Know a Change Builder? Get in touch!

Slashing time-to-hire from 127 days to 48 days

Through improving UCL's recruitment process and introducing a new system, TalentLink,teams have cutUCL's time-to-hire from 127 days to just 48 - improving the process for both applicants and recruiters, and ensuring our institution gets the talent it needs.

Angela Clark, UCL's Head of Recruitment, standing on a staircase in the UCL Library
Pictured: Angela Clark, Head of Recruitment ʷ¼

“We had this recruitment system that took candidates at least an hour to apply for a job," recalls Angela Clark, Head of Recruitment ʷ¼. "It wasn't integrated with any of our other systems, the user interface was outdated, and it wasn't very good from an accessibility perspective”.

As an employer, we're looking to present ourselves as innovators and disruptors, and our application process is going to be the first experience a lot of people have with us."

Bringing 25 years of experience in the field, Angela joined forces with the Information Services Division (ISD) and, alongside numerous product teams, testers, business analysts and solutions architects, set to work on delivering a transformative solution.

Time was tight: “we had nine months [to do it]”, explains Delivery Director Michael Marques; “We knew it had to land near the start of the academic year to really to be a success, but we had to run through some brick walls to deliver it!”.

Delivery Director ʷ¼, Michael Marques
Pictured:Michael Marques,Delivery Director ʷ¼

“A lot of investment was done on the experience journey from an end user point of view”, adds Senior Enterprise Architect Sharvari Andhare. “There was a lot of data flowing in and out [of the project] in a short space of time”.

Following the new system’s rollout, the institution’s time-to-hire, which had averaged 127 days, was slashed to 48 days. Moreover, the average monthly applicant count, which previously totaled 2000, grewto 9000 – a reflection of the increased ease of applying under the new system.

Collaboration made it possible

The team pulled through in spite of heavy time constraints, and TalentLink went live on 31 October 2022. The team was guided by eight key principles – “is this going to make the candidate experience a better one?”, recalls Michael; “Is it going to reduce the time to hire?” – as well as the establishment of a Design Working Group and the inclusion of a strategic integration methodology.

“The team worked really hard on this” remembers Sharvari; “it was a major undertaking but collaboration made it possible”.

A few of the staff members who worked on TalentLink standing in the Japanese Garden ʷ¼
Pictured: Left to right–Bojana Kulundzic,Michael Marques, Sharvari Andhare and Angela Clark

Transforming recruitment ʷ¼

"TalentLink has had really massive impacts on our organisation", Angela shares. "Not only does it offer our candidates a better application experience, enabling us to reach a greater number of talented applicants, but it’s also made it possible for us to increase the diversity of our applicants and recruit quicker than we were previously”.

"We're no longer forcing people to write War and Peace on why they're good for the job”.

“TalentLink’s integrations compared to [the previous system] ROME are significant” reflects Senior Solution Architect Bojana Kulundzic. “It used to be that we had HR and recruitment as two separate systems not talking to each other... now you can get the insights you need when you want them”.

Senior Solution Architect Bojana Kulundzic
Pictured:Senior Solution Architect Bojana Kulundzic

TalentLink’s enhanced data insights have, additionally, empowered the recruitment team to drive positive change based on evidence and insights. "Data is really powerful because it helps us make better decisions on how we spend money and how we operate as an organisation," Angela says; the system's robust reporting and visibility offers a solid foundation for “informed decision-making” – fostering greater resource efficiency.

Easing concerns about change

The road to success wasn’t an easy one though; "People had been worried about us moving to a new recruitment system", Angela remembers, noting that staff were wary of change and uncertain about how it would impact their day-to-day work.

Following the new system’s implementation, staff and external applicants have experienced a positive impact on recruitment, however: “The system is quite intuitive” notes Taneta Darko, a Senior Recruiter “when we book interviews with candidates, they now auto populate into the calendars of the panel members, which wasn't happening before – from an admin point of view, this is really, really helpful”.

Taneta Darko, Senior Recruiter ʷ¼
Pictured:Taneta Darko, Senior Recruiter ʷ¼

“We’re sending things out more professionally” agrees Deputy HR, Payroll and Staffing Manager Sarah Barry; “TalentLink has streamlined processes. It’s great to have a team behind it to support and sense-check too”.

The journey isn’t over

The journey towards progress is, Angela notes, a continuous one, with the team committed to setting the stage for greater achievements in the future. “[We’re all about] making life easier for people, and the impact the new system has had on our recruitment process is worth all the struggle we went through to get here”.

Senior Enterprise Architect Sharvari Andhare
Pictured:Senior Enterprise Architect Sharvari Andhare

To Angela, it’s the unity and resilience of teams from across the university which were ultimately responsible for the project’s success, and community engagement will continue to be important for its future evolution. "This wouldn't have been possible without everyone involved. The power of everybody pulling together and the fact that it's made such a difference makes me really proud of the whole project. We said “we are going to make this happen”… and we really did".