OPPORTUNITY

Talent Solutions and Auckland Council identified four key requirements:

● A suite of digital assessment platforms to consistently evaluate applicants against the Council’s core graduate competencies.

● Offer an intuitive and seamless experience for both assessors and candidates, minimizing the risk of a poor assessment experience.

● Create a digital environment that allows candidates to experience and get excited by the type of work that Council does.

● Implement a mana-enhancing process while supporting a geographically dispersed and diverse talent pool.

SOLUTION

With a decade of experience in digital assessment solutions, Talent Solutions leveraged its market insights and partnerships to determine the most appropriate digital platforms. These platforms enabled the Council to assess a high volume of applicants (1500+) while providing strong support mechanisms to encourage participation from diverse applicants and offering tailored feedback. The platforms that were configured, onboarded, and delivered included:

● An applicant tracking system to gather expressions of interest before the campaign launch, collect vital applicant information, and ensure timely and responsive communications with a high volume of candidates.

● A one-way video platform to showcase the early talent team (and achieved a 95% completion rate).

● A virtual assessment centre platform to meet candidates from around Aotearoa and the globe, assessing them in group, presentation, and interview formats.

● A micro-internship platform enabling groups of students to experience working on a Council project while gaining a micro-credential through experiential learning.

RESULTS AND OUTCOMES

By enabling the Council to run a fully digital process, Talent Solutions ensured access to the best talent regardless of location. The digital approach also increased productivity for assessors, who could join the digital platform only when required, rather than attending a full assessment centre day. With approximately 40% of candidates located outside the Auckland region for all stages of the selection process, the Council maintained a positive candidate and assessor experience.

As a testament to the digital platforms' design, 97% of candidates surveyed agreed that their desire to work for Auckland Council increased as a result of the selection process.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

By partnering with Talent Solutions, Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau implemented an end-to-end digital assessment experience that reflected their desired candidate experience. The virtual approach improved assessor productivity without compromising the ability to conduct a robust and fair assessment of applicants. Partnering with Talent Solutions delivers results.