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Case Study
Aveni

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Zuse Talent supported Made Tech in the recruitment of a high number of diverse candidates in a short time frame for their Academy, using a cost-effective project recruitment process.


Overview

Made Tech is a public sector-focused consultancy that works with organisations to help modernise legacy applications and drive digitalisation. They are a purpose-driven company that wants to positively impact the future of the country by using technology to improve society, for everyone. Their aim is to empower the public sector to deliver and continuously improve digital services that are user-centric, data-driven and freed from legacy technology. 

Made Tech are passionate about closing the diversity gap in the tech industry. In order to address this they launched the Made Tech Academy in 2017 as a way of bringing entry level talent into the company and help them drive diversity across the organisation. 

Starting with two Software Engineers in 2017, the annual intake has grown year-on-year with the goal of 3 intakes in 2022 across Software Engineering, User Centred Design and Data, training and developing a cohort of around 100. 


Challenge

Made Tech needed to hire 21 entry level Software Engineers for their January 2022 intake, over an 8 week period. Following on from this, for their May 2022 intake, they required an additional 22 Software Engineers and 12 candidates for their newly launched Design and Research Academy, over a 12 week  recruitment period. 

Given the time constraints and their dedication to diverse hiring, they enlisted the help of Zuse Talent to  attract a diverse talent pool to apply for the Academy. They also needed to ensure a non-bias recruitment process to boost inclusion and ensure equality throughout the process. 

In order to achieve this, our Talent Managers worked with Made Tech to help identify the desired profiles for the diverse types of candidates the Academy were looking to attract for the positions. They met with the key stakeholders to discuss and refine the requirements. 


Solution

Zuse Talent Solution proactively targeted a diverse range of different races, ethnicities, genders, ages, religions, disabilities, and sexual orientations, as well as differences in   personalities, skill sets, experiences, and knowledge bases.

We used our own resources and coordinated with Made Tech’s internal team to create a job advert for the position, paying attention to the language used within the job posting to ensure it appealed to candidates from all backgrounds. We then identified relevant job boards and sources where prospective candidates were likely to be found alongside liaising with wider networks and organisations specialising developing and helping under represented groups. 

It’s been proven that diverse candidates are far less likely to be chosen when they are underrepresented from their demographic in a shortlist of candidates. To combat this decision bias, we used a diversity   recruitment strategy called “the two in the pool effect.” 

Having multiple people from the same minority demographic drastically increases the likelihood that they will be hired. Intentionally seeding the shortlist with a proportionate number of diverse candidates, therefore, will result in a more even playing field when it comes to choosing who to hire.

Given the short hiring time, we also worked with Made Tech to help improve automation of the recruitment process, making adjustments to current systems to account for the increased numbers and new Academy specialisms. This helped streamline the application process and improve the candidate journey and communication through the use of technology. 

Alongside driving the applicant numbers, Zuse Talent Solutions also carried out telephone screening calls with all candidates that passed the initial application process, assisted with the assessment day shortlisting processes, helped coordinate and run the assessment days and guided the final hiring decision making. 

Throughout the process we ensured decisions were made purely on data, eliminating the possibility of non-conscious bias.  


Outcomes

By improving access and participation for diverse candidates, we tapped into a richer talent pool than traditional approaches, resulting in the recruitment of a more diverse workforce. We successfully recruited 21 Software Engineers for Made Tech’s January intake and 22 Software Engineers and 12 User Centred Design candidates for their May intake.   

In a traditionally male centric area, we were pleased that 57% of the 55 candidates sourced identified as female and over a third were from ethnically diverse backgrounds.

Overall, we met the brief’s objectives: to build on its culture and increase diversity. 


Laura Poblete, Head of Learning and Development. 

“We worked very closely with Brendan from Zuse Talent throughout the hiring process for 2 of our academies. Brendan quickly became part of the team rather than an external working with us. I can honestly say that he and his team consistently went above and beyond. Not only did they help attract a diverse talent pools to apply to the programmes, but they also got involved in ensuring our systems were set up correctly to manage the demand. This included automating the process, yet ensuring we were able to give individual feedback and support to applicants where possible.

The results speak for themselves and I would welcome the opportunity to work with Brendan and his team again on future projects.”

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