A great graduate experience

THE CHALLENGE

Graduate talent attraction was proving difficult with the Stagecoach business not achieving sufficient level of visibility on selected media which in-turn was failing to deliver traffic to its advertised Programme.

Our campaign needed to tackle the fact that the Leadership Programme, as a generic management training scheme, had a broad candidate criteria, meaning it was looking to attract graduate candidates in an already intensely competitive space. The business also considered its sector and operational function to be less attractive than other sectors.

We aimed to create a campaign that would express a more confident, inspiring and focused talent brand, adopting a strategy whereby Stagecoach could reach, attract and engage candidates of the highest calibre, by expressing them as a business of scale and opportunity, diversity and expression and of progression and expansion.

OUR APPROACH

To communicate early careers/graduate talent as a high-focus priority for Stagecoach we knew we needed to create an entirely unique talent hub for them; a destination point to build upon their initial interest created from the advertising campaign and elevate it to new levels which would result in increased applications.

We conducted internal research to understand the previous challenges faced, e.g. translating initial attraction into firm engagement and response. We liaised with the previous year’s intake and the line managers who would conduct mentoring throughout the programme. This also enabled us to identify key factors of attraction that would influence content development and media channel selection.

With an aim to increase volume of high-quality, intensely motivated candidates and increased conversion from click to completed application, as well as reduction in drop outs throughout application stages, we made sure content was compelling, original and authentic. Fresh visual and written content was created, and a schedule of inventory planned to ensure Stagecoach was visible on all key media channels.

The channel strategy combined behavioural targeting, sector and cross-site traffic driving and display visual inventory that gave a teasing insight into the opportunity – enough to create initial curiosity which was then directed to the newly created microsite to build upon candidates appetite to find out more and apply.

We also ran a bespoke social campaign and used an outbound approach on certain channels to specifically target our key audience with the most impactful bespoke messaging.

RESULTS

400% uplift in applications

52% total conversion from clicks to completed applications (1:2)

100% initial hiring target met

Excess of offers allowing expansion of the programme

The campaign generated over 2,400 completed applications (vs under 600 applications in the previous year’s campaign) which resulted in 100% hires into the Graduate Leadership Programme.

OME continues to work with Stagecoach delivering process evolution and media solutions for early careers in the highly competitive graduate market.

To find out what we can do for your business – get in touch