The Trafford Centre takes recruitment online

The Trafford Centre is working to increase efficiency within its human resources (HR) department with the introduction of online recruitment processes.

It has seen 50 per cent of applications for positions within the Manchester shopping centre move online, allowing the HR department to reduce reliance on manual input for many administrative tasks, reducing the volume of telephone calls it receives and allowing it to focus on more valuable work.

Amanda Wilson, The Trafford Centre HR manager, said: "The online recruitment system is easy to manage, enabling us to post vacancies as they arise and that helps us keep it up to date."

Using Ciphr Recruitment Online from vendor Computers In Personnel, job applicants can now enter data into a standard application form accessible on the centre's website, which ensures that there is a level of consistency in the information supplied. And the centre can provide a tailored response to all applications received.

"We can now respond more quickly to applicants and we have confidence that only current vacancies are being dealt with at any one time," added Wilson. "The system also provides a quick and easy process for many applicants and an immediate acknowledgement - as opposed to completing an application form by hand and posting it."

She added that the online system integrates with its existing Ciphr recruitment management system, which allows the centre's HR organisation to pursue a more strategic approach to recruitment, known as 'candidate relationship management,' while dealing with a variety of specialist and common roles, an average of 45 applications per vacancy and, 5,000 applications a year.

And since redeveloping The Trafford Centre's website last year, which paved the way for the introduction of the online recruitment channel, HR has enjoyed ongoing business benefits as well as reduced costs for recruitment.

"We can flag any applicant that may be of particular interest for a future opportunity and potentially save on re-advertising a position at a later date," she said. "We are also able to respond to all interested applicants because they are automatically saved into a recruitment database - this was previously a job that required manual input. In fact, we have seen a reduction in advertising and administrative costs already, alongside improvements in process efficiency."

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