About the campaign

In 2021, NHS England was suffering with acute shortages of healthcare support workers thanks to a number of factors including the pandemic and growth in the size of providers. By September 2021, the number of nationwide vacancies had risen to 16,500.

Indeed and TMP Worldwide set up a number of virtual and in-person hiring events as part of a wider, integrated recruitment and attraction campaign. They undertook comprehensive target audience research, put together workshops for hiring managers and developed a number of creative assets and recruitment videos. It was the hiring events that proved the most effective way of engaging with the audience, however. These were advertised via social media outreach and NHS channels, as well as targeted adverts on Indeed’s career platform. Jobseekers were pre-screened and then invited to events at seven key locations across the country.

Almost 5,000 attended, and mass interviews were held with attendees over days, reducing the cost and time per hire. Between March and May 2022, there were 3,740 job offers, an 82% attendance to offer ratio, with 1,200 made in Manchester alone. Alongside these in-person events were 89 virtual events that attracted more than 6,000 attendees and 1,151 projected offers. The recruitment drive has hugely increased NHS England’s available talent pool and reinforced its commitment that everyone should have an opportunity to apply for a role, regardless of circumstances.