iCIMS helps Rydon build a strong foundation for recruitment

From its beginnings in 1978, Rydon has grown into a multi-faceted company delivering award-winning, quality facilities built by people who are passionate about what they do. Rydon aims to improve local communities –through housing, healthcare, and education solutions –for the benefit of current and future generations. Rydon builds and maintains homes, schools, and hospitals as well as extra care facilities, student accommodations, community leisure centres, and more.

The Challenge

Rydon Group began anticipating significant growth when client partnerships and demand for quality project delivery both increased, but with a convoluted candidate experience and astronomically high agency costs, Rydon realised that its old-fashioned approach to recruitment could not sustain its growing business. With a focus on quality, commitment, and passion, Rydon knew it needed a solution that could help set it apart from competitors and stay ahead of the curve in the construction industry –which often has more vacancies than applicants.

In 2013, head of resourcing and development, James O’Loughlin was hired to help rebuild Rydon’s recruitment process from the ground up. With O’Loughlin on board, the search began for a mobile-optimised talent acquisition platform that could improve Rydon’s candidate experience and accelerate the hiring process. “I made it my mission to obsess over our candidate experience,” said O’Loughlin.

At the time, Rydon’s application process was done in one of two ways: through an outside agency or a paper form. With a significantly low number of applicants, it was clear that without the help of a new system, continuing down this path would make hiring nearly impossible.

How iCIMS Helped

iCIMS helps Rydon showcase its brand and attract candidates via its career page by sharing employee profiles that highlight company culture and foster excitement about a career at Rydon.

As a result of its improved candidate experience, Rydon has seen outstanding improvements, including a 250% increase in the average number of application submissions per role. Additionally, Rydon’s application completion time has been cut to just eight minutes, while also benefiting from a 66% reduction in time to fill.

“iCIMS has made it easy and attractive for candidates to apply for a job with us. As a result, we are winning those candidates over competitors with longer and more complicated-looking processes,” said O’Loughlin.

Maintaining an 80% direct-hire rate, Talent Cloud is even helping Rydon stay 20% above the industry standard. “We’re now recruiting right from within our iCIMS platform rather than external sources. Before iCIMS, agency volume accounted for 90% of our recruitment. The costs were astronomical,” added O’Loughlin. With iCIMS, Rydon has benefited from an incredible 85% reduction in average cost-per-hire.

To further enhance the candidate experience, Rydon also uses iCIMS’ Candidate Relationship Management to keep candidates engaged for future positions. Rydon creates talent pools to maintain regular contact with these job seekers, even if an opening is not currently available. “With iCIMS, our candidate pipeline has greatly increased and we’re able to easily stay engaged with candidates who may be a good fit for future openings. We also use it as a referral source,” said O’Loughlin.

Differing from Rydon’s experience with other providers, customer support from iCIMS continues to stand out. “iCIMS is quick to respond and resolve the issue the first time around,” said O’Loughlin. Rydon looks forward to seeing its business continue to thrive, knowing it has a trusted partner in iCIMS to help win the best talent. O’Loughlin added, “It’s great that iCIMS is constantly investing into the platform and developing a pipeline of new features for us. It has been a truly fantastic partnership.”