Public Sector Case Study

Public Sector Case Study

Rebuilding recruitment with NHS Property Services

Together, Indeed and NHS Property Services closed the talent gap, developing a cost-effective Employer Branding campaign that reaches and engages the right candidates.

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Redefining recruitment for NHS Property Services

  • £81k in agency fees saved across marketing and tech roles
  • 43% decrease in recruitment agency spend
  • 55% decrease in roles sourced from recruitment agencies
  • 140 roles filled in 6 months
  • 43% Decrease in time-to-fill

NHS Property Services and Indeed: At a glance

NHS Property Services spent a lot of time and money trying to hire the right people for frontline jobs–but they weren’t seeing the results. Even with help from recruitment agencies and lots of applications, they couldn’t find the right candidates. To get better support and manage the high number of frontline job openings they turned to Indeed.

From September 2023, Indeed worked with NHS Property Services to refine their strategy and campaigns. From here, they started to look at other functions and areas Indeed could support. With a fresh outlook on recruitment and reduced dependency on recruitment agencies, NHS Property Services is closing the talent gap–filling roles faster, hiring directly and saving more money on recruitment than ever before.

Three professionals chat in a workplace kitchen

“ Indeed works like an extended part of the team–they’re open, transparent and above all else, they were fun to work with. There’s an idea for every problem and they will recommend things that could help, even if it's outside of Indeed.”

Lewis Flavell Talent Partner at NHS Property Services

A little bit about NHS Property Services

NHS Property Services is part of the NHS family with 6,000 professionals supporting over 3,000 healthcare properties across England. Their purpose is to enable excellent patient care by being the best property and facilities provider to the NHS.

Their services include estate strategy and optimisation, property management, facilities management, property development and construction project management. They help support millions of patients and NHS colleagues in collaboration without 7,000 customers who range from Integrated Care Systems, health providers, charities and more.

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Where was NHS Property Services feeling the pressure?

NHS Property Services was having difficulty meeting direct hires and time to fill targets–and found that it came down to 3 key problem areas.

  1. Brand awareness

    People naturally associate the NHS brand with hospitals and clinical staff–meaning they weren’t attracting the right candidates for their diverse roles.

  2. Relying on agencies

    They relied too much on expensive recruitment agencies and specialised job boards to hire people, which didn’t always get them the best candidates. They wanted to find a cheaper, more effective way to hire.

  3. Inefficient hiring practices

    They found it challenging to attract the right candidates, especially in more rural areas–which is critical for ensuring the availability of healthcare services across the country.

“ We tended to go to agencies automatically because of the volume of hires we needed, and used specialised job boards to find frontline workers–but it was costing us thousands of pounds and wasn’t helping with direct recruitment.”

Samantha Wade-Brown Talent Insights and Onboarding Experience Specialist, NHS Property Services

Listening and responding to their needs

Indeed worked together with NHS Property Services, understanding their challenges through detailed conversations, sharing insights and tailoring solutions to their specific needs–moving beyond a one-size-fits-all approach.

  1. Customised, targeted campaigns

    Indeed boosted NHS Property Services’ recruitment by creating specific campaigns for different role types and targeting job ads to certain regions, improving effectiveness and reach.

  2. Hiring events

    Indeed suggested using hiring events for frontline roles, which was their initial focus, but NHS Property Services opted to pilot them for Comms and Marketing instead. This filled nearly all available roles and led to savings upwards of £60k.

  3. Screening tools

    Indeed introduced Screener Questions and immediate criteria for job postings, enabling NHS Property Services to efficiently filter out less suitable applicants from the start–ensuring only relevant candidates were considered.

  4. Advice and support

    By advising on the use of specific keywords and job titles, Indeed helped NHS Property Services refine its messaging. This optimisation helped to reach suitable applicants in more rural areas as well.

“ The hiring event was more successful than we anticipated it would be–and it generated a lot of savings. When we initially went to the marketing team to suggest that we do it, they were slightly hesitant. But its success has been a good turning point in terms of how they view recruitment and job boards.”

Samantha Wade-Brown Talent Insights and Onboarding Experience Specialist, NHS Property Services

Changing how you see recruitment

Not everything that changes can be counted–one of the biggest shifts from this campaign is how NHS Property sees hiring now. They’ve got a fresh perspective that’s all about nailing their messaging and being willing to shake things up with new ideas. This new outlook is a game-changer for them as they keep bringing more recruiting in-house.

Features for success

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Employer Branding

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Close the gap: Powering NHS Workforce Plans with Indeed

The NHS Workforce plan sets out some ambitious recruitment goals. That’s why we created our latest guide – helping trusts to reach them while keeping costs to a minimum. Download now and put those plans into action.

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Ready to talk?

Our team is on hand to get your strategy off the ground and help you close the talent gap. Get in touch today to see how we can support your organisation.

Email ukpublicsector@indeed.com to contact.