Transforming Early Talent Recruitment

Upon appointment, Omni had less than six weeks to mobilise and go live with the first phase of the graduate, year-in-industry, and internship campaigns. At the time, the organisation’s Early Talent Recruitment process was highly manual, fragmented, and difficult to scale:

• Applications were tracked in spreadsheets
• Assessment centres ran on Microsoft Teams without structure
• Candidate engagement was low and vacancies were left unfilled
• Minimal technology was in place, creating a cumbersome experience for both hiring managers and applicants

The internal resourcing team lacked the capacity to both attract talent and coordinate such a complex campaign across multiple hiring streams. Yet Early Talent was mission-critical to the organisation’s long-term workforce strategy, underpinning delivery of the government’s Road Investment Strategy and requiring robust pipelines in engineering, digital, project management, and commercial operations.

Omni’s objective was to deliver a fully managed recruitment solution that streamlined processes, enhanced candidate and hiring manager experience, and strengthened engagement, inclusivity, and employer brand representation.

We began with our proprietary Resourcing Effectiveness Assessment to identify key areas for improvement, before completely redesigning the Early Talent assessment process into a tech-enabled, fully managed model. Key elements included:

• Technology implementation: introduction of a centralised Applicant Tracking System (ATS), TopScore’s digital assessment platform, video interviewing, and an in-house designed Situational Judgement Test.
• Structured, accessible assessment centres: replacing Teams with TopScore to provide live scoring, automated scheduling, and a consistent candidate experience.
• Enhanced candidate journey: automated branded communications, tailored digital resources, and opportunities for reasonable adjustments to support neurodiverse and first-time applicants.
• Hiring manager support: training, communications, and live reporting dashboards to improve confidence, visibility, and quality of decision-making.

Omni managed the full end-to-end delivery across apprenticeships, graduate schemes, year-in-industry placements, and internships. This included sourcing, screening, interview coordination, assessment facilitation, candidate care, and post-process feedback.

From September 2024 to the present, Omni has delivered a transformative recruitment process for the Arm’s Length Body (ALB) of the Department of Transport, including; Over 2,400 video interviews completed, 330 candidates assessed through structured virtual assessment centres, and stronger candidate engagement with feedback citing a significantly improved experience.

For hiring managers, the new approach reduced administrative burden and improved satisfaction. For candidates, it delivered an inclusive, supportive, and engaging journey aligned with the organisation’s culture, values, and long-term purpose.

Ultimately, Omni transformed a manual, inconsistent process into a scalable, innovative, and candidate-focused recruitment model. The company is now positioned as a forward-thinking, early-talent-friendly employer with a future-proof framework to support its workforce strategy.