Case Study
National Grid: Recruitment Copy 

"...WE WERE REALLY LUCKY TO FIND HELEN."

Meg Fox, Workforce Strategy Manager 

 

My brief was to help make job adverts, job descriptions and supporting copy such as brochures, more attractive to a more diverse candidate pool. I worked across about 150 different jobs, ranging from apprenticeships to senior leadership positions.

I collaborated with colleagues across the organisation to make copy more inclusive. For example, we removed the need for driving llicences and degrees on certain job descriptions to appeal to candidates from a wider socioeconomic background.

 

We spoke to female engineers to find out how to attract more women (yup, some of them were more interested in the size of the machines they would be working with than the maternity package). I spoke to ideal employees to find out what it was about their particular role that would entice their contemporaries to join the company, often for less money than they could earn elsewhere. (For example, National Grid’s 37 hour working week is a huge incentive to a project managers used to working 50 -70 hours a week in other, better paying jobs).  

 

The work went so well that my contract was extended from three to nineteen months. In some cases my copy quadrupled applications, and in others hiring managers offered positions to a few people on their shortlist because of the increased calibre of candidate. For one position we had over 20 applications in a few hours for a job that had previously attracted only a couple of applicants over a period of weeks.