A winning formula for outsourced attraction and selection partnership
“Nāu te rourou, nāku te
rourou ka ora ai te iwi
With my basket and your basket - the people will thrive - a story of partnership.
”
BACKGROUND
In 2024, Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland Council) sought to re-launch their graduate and internship programme, which had been operating on a reduced basis since 2021. The goal was to recruit up to 50 talented graduates to start in 2025. The project had a very tight timeline (6 weeks) to go to market and Auckland Council partnered with Talent Solutions to support the delivery of the project.
OPPORTUNITY
The partnership needed to achieve the following:
● Develop a comprehensive go-to-market strategy within 4-6 weeks.
● Generate excitement and brand awareness through both digital and physical marketing channels.
● Design a scalable selection process for a large number of different business units involved in the programme.
● Introduce a new assessment platform to handle the high volume of applications expected.
● Ensure the delivery approach aligned with Auckland Council’s values with a particular focus on diversity and inclusion.
SOLUTION
Talent Solutions and Auckland Council collaborated to set clear goals and objectives for the partnership, including:
● Leveraging Talent Solutions’ expertise in managing complex early talent programmes.
● Building an engaging multi-channel marketing campaign to attract diverse applicants.
● Ensuring buy-in from the senior leadership team and functional managers as key stakeholders.
● Embedding a new selection process with digital assessment platforms to robustly evaluate candidate performance.
● Launching an innovative virtual internship programme to create a pipeline of talent for future opportunities.
RESULTS
Over a 10-month delivery period, Talent Solutions and Auckland Council achieved significant milestones:
● The campaign launched on time.
● All project deliverables were met on schedule, from screening to offers.
● Achieved the number one position in the public sector on the graduate attraction platform Prosple during the campaign period.
● Achieved the number one Prosple ranking across all employers and industries in New Zealand (Auckland Council did not feature in the top 100 rankings the year prior).
● Received 100% more applicants than predicted.
● Auckland Council was recognized as a Top 10 graduate employer in the Student Pulse National Study Survey.
● 23% of hired candidates identified as Māori or Pacific.
● 100% of applicants found the candidate pre-briefing webinar informative.
● Talent Solutions and Auckland Council won the Best Employer and Associate Members Partnership award from the New Zealand Association of Graduate Employers in 2024.
● Auckland Council also won the Best Candidate Experience award for 2024.
PARTNERSHIP SUCCESS
Through strong communication and a foundation of trust, Talent Solutions and Auckland Council achieved significant milestones together. Auckland Council was able to scale the programme quickly and effectively. Whether an organization needs to scale rapidly, lead process changes with key stakeholders, or retain knowledge through uncertain periods, Talent Solutions offers unparalleled partnership capabilities for success.
