Most TA leaders know their hiring process needs to evolve. Fewer know how to actually make that change happen inside a complex organisation. Especially when you're managing 30,000 applications a year and the business is watching.
Meet Jennifer Goldsmith and Helen Alkin, who jointly lead early careers resourcing at BDO UK, one of the largest professional services firms in the country. Between them, they're responsible for recruiting close to 1,000 apprentices, interns, and graduates a year. And in 2024, they overhauled the entire process: assessment methodology, technology stack, vendor setup, and candidate journey.
Join host Robert Newry as Jen and Helen share the practical lessons from a major recruitment process redesign:
🤝 Why internal trust comes before external technology: Jen and Helen spent two years building stakeholder relationships and credibility before proposing change — and explain why that groundwork made everything that followed possible.
🏗️ How to prepare a business for recruitment transformation: From educating senior sponsors on market shifts to briefing legal and IT teams early, they share the steps that meant implementation didn't stall when it mattered most.
⚖️ Best-in-class vs single provider — how to decide: BDO chose specialist partners across assessment, video interviewing, and scoring. Jen explains why longevity and future-proofing outweighed the simplicity of a single vendor — and how they managed the added complexity.
⏱️ Delivering a six-month implementation while keeping the lights on: How a job share made it possible to run a live campaign and a major transformation at the same time — and the planning discipline that kept the project on track.
🎯 Designing for candidate experience first: Why year one focused entirely on product design and the external candidate journey — and how that focus shaped every decision they made.
📊 Early results that validate the approach: Improved conversion rates at assessment and interview, positive candidate feedback on the task-based elements, and over 80% of roles filled before Christmas — despite record application volumes.
💡 Three things to take away: Build trust and educate stakeholders before you go to market. Be honest with vendors about your challenges so they can genuinely help. And frame your change as a multi-year programme — protect year one by focusing on what matters most.
Tune in to hear how BDO redesigned early careers hiring from the ground up — and brought the business with them. Don't forget to hit 'subscribe' to be sure not to miss more episodes of the TA Disruptors podcast.
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Thanks for listening, and here are some helpful links:
Connect with Robert on LinkedIn: https://hubs.li/Q0282KjJ0
Connect with Jen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jengoldsmith-9672177/
Connect with Helen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helen-alkin-mcipd-4023656/
Sign up for the TA Disruptors newsletter — it's the easiest way to be updated with the industry's brightest ideas and the freshest need-to-know data — every week: https://hubs.li/Q0282H370
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Talent acquisition is changing faster than it ever has before. ChatGPT and other GenAI tools are literally turning the selection process on its head. This podcast is designed for disruptive Talent Acquisition leaders who want to get ahead. For the innovators, the movers and shakers, and the TA leaders who will survive and thrive in this new era by moving quickly to future-proof their recruitment processes. Even when you're feeling overworked and overwhelmed, we'll help you keep up with the latest ideas from the industry's brightest innovators and the freshest need-to-know data from new research. TA Disruptors has got you covered.
All brought to you from the team behind Arctic Shores.
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