Since the company was not able to track candidates once they had made an application, it
was frequently unable to offer news or feedback to anyone who contacted the recruitment
team to check on the progress of their application.
‘‘As a team and an organization we recognized the need to give candidates a better
experience and relieve the recruitment burden from store managers so they would have
more time to drive sales,’’ said recruitment manager Janine Jenkinson.
The business – with almost 300 stores in the UK, Ireland, Europe and the Middle East – used
a paper-based system for sales-adviser recruitment that failed to offer the organization or
candidates any consistency when it came to screening applications. The labor-intensive
system also put a lot of pressure on the central recruitment team.
‘‘We needed a recruitment system that would lead and support candidates through a slicker
recruitment process,’’ said Kirsty Jerome, the retailer’s HR controller. ‘‘By emphasising and
focusing on the candidate experience we realized we could increase the quality of
applications, as well as realizing positive benefits for our employer and consumer brand.’’
Following a competitive pitch, River Island appointed online recruitment and resourcing
expert Changeworknow to develop and deliver a new recruitment system.