Scotttish Water

As one of Scotland’s largest employers, Scottish Water is committed to ensuring its workforce is equipped with the skills needed to achieve its future transformation and net zero goals. By focusing on building youth talent pipelines, the organisation aims to develop these skills early on, leveraging the expertise of its highly skilled employees to mentor and support young people as they begin their careers. This approach ensures that Scottish Water has a workforce prepared for the challenges of the future.

Scottish Water’s Early Careers programme is designed to create opportunities for young people, offering employment, guidance, and support to help them make informed career and education choices. As Scotland’s only publicly owned water utility, the company is committed to recruiting talent that reflects the diverse communities it serves, reinforcing its belief that its workforce should represent its customers.

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A&O Sherman

A&O Shearman is dedicated to addressing the lack of diversity within the UK legal sector, where underrepresented groups—such as individuals from ethnic minorities, lower socioeconomic backgrounds, women, and people with disabilities—continue to face barriers to entry and progression. The firm recognises the importance of a diverse legal profession for fostering equality and delivering justice. Through its Talent Acquisition function, A&O Shearman focuses on sourcing the finest legal talent from diverse backgrounds, with particular attention to early careers recruitment as a means of laying the foundation for a more inclusive workforce.

In line with this commitment, A&O Shearman launched a recruitment marketing campaign aimed at widening access to legal careers and dismantling the barriers that prevent talented graduates from underrepresented backgrounds from entering the profession. The campaign seeks to increase application rates from these groups, improve the firm’s ranking on the social mobility employer index, and expand access to employability information and support. By doing so, A&O Shearman is not only fostering diversity within its own ranks but also driving meaningful change across the legal industry, ensuring the profession becomes more accessible and equitable for all.

Alcumus

Alcumus is a global software-led risk management business that has experienced significant growth since its establishment in 2015. Starting with a UK-based team of around 250 colleagues, the company has expanded to employ approximately 900 people worldwide, serving over 45,000 customers. This growth has been driven both organically and through mergers and acquisitions, bringing together businesses at different stages of maturity and with varying cultures, all in a constantly evolving industry.

Navigating and developing talent in this dynamic environment presents an exciting challenge. Alcumus’ talent acquisition and development team is deeply connected to the business, focusing on both customer needs and internal progression to strengthen the organisation. One of the key initiatives is delivering a unified global induction programme for all new hires, regardless of role, language, or location. With high-frequency intakes, the team ensures that every new starter receives an engaging and supportive onboarding experience that accommodates diverse learning styles and backgrounds. From day one, new employees are introduced to Alcumus’ core values, fostering a strong connection to the company and setting them up for success as they transition into their roles.

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Sky

Sky’s Talent Acquisition Team is essential to Sky’s talent strategy, ensuring the company attracts and retains the talent it needs for the future. Each year, the team recruits around 400 apprentices, graduates, placement students, and interns, while supporting and developing approximately 800 individuals on their programs. This effort spans various domains, including technology, corporate, content, and customer service.

A standout feature of Sky’s approach is the emphasis on creating a unique and supportive candidate experience. With over 20,000 applications received this year, Sky uses advanced technology to provide a personalized and immersive experience from the moment candidates visit their website. Tools like the Program Matcher help candidates find suitable programs, and the Preparation Hub offers insights into the assessment process, allowing candidates to try out assessments and receive tailored feedback.

Sky is also committed to diversity and inclusion, running initiatives such as Positive Action Insight Week and sponsoring the Black Heritage Undergraduate of the Year Award. The team hosts various virtual and in-person events to support candidates, including insight events, drop-in sessions, and welcome days. From the start, new employees are introduced to Sky’s core values, fostering a strong connection to the company and setting them up for success. The Talent Acquisition Team’s efforts have been praised for creating a unique and supportive experience, significantly impacting all candidates who go through their process.

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Pepsico

The Talent Acquisition team in Spain plays a key role in supporting PepsiCo’s global goal of achieving 50/50 gender representation in managerial roles by 2025. Focused on recruiting for the new Global Strategy & Transformation organisation, known as the Digital Hub, the team ensures that this objective is embedded in every aspect of its strategy. In 2022, female representation in the Digital Hub stood at 31%, and by 2023, the target was set to increase that figure to 35%. However, the team went further, committing to achieving 50/50 gender representation in new hires.

Given that women account for only around 20% of those in tech roles such as data science, data engineering, and software engineering, the team faced significant challenges. To meet its ambitious target, Talent Acquisition worked closely with hiring managers, business leaders, and HRBPs, ensuring a gender-balanced shortlist of candidates. By collaborating with all stakeholders, including employees, the team is driving meaningful change in PepsiCo’s workforce and advancing the company’s diversity and inclusion goals in a competitive tech landscape.

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A&O Sherman

A&O Shearman is committed to addressing the diversity challenges within the UK legal sector, where barriers continue to exist for individuals from underrepresented groups, including ethnic minorities, those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, women, and people with disabilities. The firm recognises that a diverse legal profession is vital for both equality and justice, and that its Talent Acquisition function plays a key role in driving this change. By focusing on early careers recruitment, A&O Shearman aims to widen access to the profession and create opportunities for talented graduates who may have been historically excluded.

As part of this commitment, the firm launched a recruitment marketing campaign designed to break down barriers and ensure law is more accessible to all. The campaign seeks to increase application rates from underrepresented groups while improving A&O Shearman’s ranking on the social mobility employer index. By expanding access to employability information and support, the firm is fostering a more inclusive environment within the legal sector. Through these efforts, A&O Shearman is not only creating opportunities within the firm but also contributing to lasting change across the industry, ensuring that future generations benefit from greater diversity and equality.

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Volvo Cars

Volvo Cars’ Talent Intelligence (TI) function was established in Q3 2022 within Talent Acquisition Sourcing to replace external consulting firms with in-house research and analysis. This led to the creation of tech hubs in Singapore and Poland, and a strong business case was quickly delivered to partner Polestar. In less than two years, TI transitioned into People Analytics (PA) to enhance long-term strategic intelligence while maintaining tactical sourcing in Talent Acquisition.

In its first year, TI delivered over 80 non-sourcing use cases for stakeholders across the company, influencing strategies from workplace and diversity targets to site planning. It also integrated labour market data into the Strategic Workforce Planning process, supporting decisions on footprint expansion and contraction. In its second year, TI’s analysis was shared across national and EU-level policy initiatives, partnerships with universities, and industry consortia. Key insights shaped procurement strategies, reducing costs and suppliers, while

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Sky

Sky’s Talent Acquisition Team is integral to Sky’s overall talent strategy, ensuring the company has the talent it needs now and in the future. The team attracts and recruits around 400 apprentices, graduates, placement students, and interns annually, supporting and developing approximately 800 individuals while they are on the program. This effort is driven by bringing in high potential talent across technology, corporate, content, and customer service domains. With over 20,000 applications received this year, Sky focuses on providing a unique and supportive candidate experience, using advanced technology to showcase life at Sky and offering a personalized touch throughout the recruitment process.

Sky is deeply committed to diversity and inclusion, running initiatives such as Positive Action Insight Week and sponsoring the Black Heritage Undergraduate of the Year Award. The team also organizes various virtual and in-person events to support candidates, including insight events, drop-in sessions, and welcome days for successful candidates. From day one, new employees are introduced to Sky’s core values, fostering a strong connection to the company and setting them up for success.

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Government Finance Function

The Government Finance Function (GFF) people team supports over 400 government organisations in attracting and hiring around 700 finance professionals each year. Operating as a centre of expertise, the team provides best practice advice on filling finance vacancies while considering current market trends and the future skills needs of the function. A key challenge faced by GFF was that potential candidates outside the Civil Service were largely unaware of the exciting finance roles available within the government.

To address this, GFF developed a clear employee value proposition, a distinct finance careers identity, and a dedicated careers website. This initiative aimed to strengthen the GFF employer brand by highlighting the purpose, mission, values, and benefits of a government finance career. By doing so, the team sought to increase the number of high-quality applicants, particularly from external sources. In February 2024, GFF launched a bold new careers identity and website, which serves as a central hub for government finance job adverts. This platform showcases the diverse and impactful roles available, targeting talented professionals at all stages of their careers.

Adevinta

Adevinta was established in 2019 to manage a portfolio of Europe’s largest online classifieds, following a series of mergers and acquisitions. As the company expanded, it became clear that a distinct employer brand was needed to reflect Adevinta’s evolving culture and to highlight what sets it apart as an employer. Recognising this, the Talent Acquisition team set out to create a brand that would resonate with employees worldwide and accurately convey what it means to work at Adevinta.

Over six months, with support from Creed Communications, Adevinta developed and launched an employer brand built on three core pillars. This brand was rolled out globally through various channels, including ambassador packs and employer brand videos, to both internal and external audiences. The campaign equipped Talent Acquisition and employees with the tools to communicate the brand’s values, ensuring consistent messaging within Adevinta and beyond. This comprehensive and ongoing initiative was designed to engage employees, fostering a shared understanding of Adevinta’s unique identity in the competitive tech landscape.

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North Yorkshire Council

North Yorkshire, England’s largest county, spans 3,103 square miles with a population of 605,000. As the county’s largest employer, North Yorkshire Council employs 10,000 individuals in a variety of roles, ranging from entry-level positions to skilled professionals across sectors like social work, engineering, care, and environmental health—all of which are on the national skills shortage occupation list. However, the Council faces significant challenges in filling vacancies within a scarce labour market. With 140,500 residents aged over 65, most of whom are economically inactive, and 100,000 young people of non-working age, the available workforce is limited. The county’s low unemployment rate of 2.1%, compared to the national average of 3.8%, further intensifies the competition for talent.

In addition, younger people tend to migrate out of the county for lifestyle, education, and employment opportunities, and the predominantly rural landscape, coupled with limited public transport, reduces labour mobility. With around 2,500 vacancies annually, the Council’s Resourcing Solutions team must employ creative strategies to attract and engage candidates in a sector with a relatively low profile for recruitment. In 2023, local government reorganisation further compounded these challenges, leading to a 15% turnover amidst uncertainty, adding pressure to an already tight labour market.

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