Kingfisher's insights, the Cloud Lounge and new hiring insights: RecFest 2024

July 17, 2024

 

Rachel Findlay

4 min read

With a staggering 11 stages and 130 talks from industry leaders, RecFest UK is the world’s largest talent acquisition festival – and iCIMS is headlining.

Tailor-made for recruiting and talent acquisition pros, this isn’t your typical industry event – the unique festival environment makes it one of the most impressive events in the TA space.

Packed with actionable insights, innovative tech demos and most importantly, a legendary afterparty, RecFest 2024 did not disappoint.

Kingfisher x iCIMS: staffing 2,000+ stores with insights and better experiences

Joined by Steph McGinty, head of talent acquisition at Kingfisher, we had the pleasure of showcasing this leading home improvement brand’s top successes using iCIMS on the coveted Inspire Stage.

Rhea Moss, global head of workforce and customer insights presented a myth-busting interactive panel discussion while Steph shared best practices and experiences on how to leverage data to drive talent acquisition success. Matthew Sharp, VP of Sales EMEA Growth demonstrated his experience of the European market with his take on Rhea’s myths vs. facts.

What we learned? Kingfisher is using iCIMS data to look at candidates through a customer lens to create quick and easy onboarding experiences, hiring ~20K people a year across seven countries.

“Accepting a job offer is one of life’s bigger decisions. We looked at our full recruitment journey and identified the offer experience as one of the moments that really matter to people. With iCIMS, we’ve elevated the process and have a shift in our ability to drive better experiences and outcomes, ” said Steph McGinty, head of talent acquisition at Kingfisher.

During the session, Steph busted the myth that the candidate experience matters less when companies aren’t hiring. Her take?

“A stellar candidate experience is about using data to truly understand what your audience wants from your recruiting process. We hear a lot about shortening the application process, but after conducting significant research with iCIMS, we found that our candidates are happy to answer a few extra questions if it means gaining an understanding Kingfisher’s values and working for an inclusive and diverse organisation. We now ask seven questions during the application, and our drop-off rates haven’t seen an increase. If anything, they are lower.”

With iCIMS, Kingfisher:

• Reduced contracts delivery time from 1 week to 24 hours
• Reduced offer decline/withdrawal rate from 1 in 6 to 1 in 20.
• Experienced less human error

New data on hiring and candidate trends in EMEA

To add to the fun, iCIMS offered attendees exclusive data, live on the day of RecFest. Our Global Insights Report features EMEA workforce data from our database of more than 3 million global platform users.

Top EMEA insights:

• Application volume has steadily declined since the start of the year, but it’s still 20% higher than January 2023. In fact, three out of the last six months have seen more applications than the highest number of monthly applications last year.
• Time-to-fill dropped by two days year-over-year, from 49 to 47.
• Applicants per opening increased 33% year-over-year, from 31 to 41.
• Millennials and Gen Z workers are on the rise. A bulk (~70%) of people applying for jobs in EMEA are under the age of 35. In fact, the majority of applicants across the U.K., Italy, Germany and France are under the age of 25.

For more insights, check out our July Global Insights Report.

The iCIMS Cloud Lounge

As this year’s headliner, iCIMS went bigger and better than ever before, offering our community a one-of-a-kind Ibiza experience at our Cloud Lounge.

Playing dance hits throughout the day, our guests enjoyed glitter face painting and candy floss as they boogied to our live DJ. Meanwhile, on the other side of the booth, our dedicated recharge station hosted those in need of a break from the sun – a comfy respite for guests to take a seat and charge their phone away from the madness.

The Cloud Lounge provided the perfect spot for the iCIMS team to connect with the TA community, sharing data from our latest insights reports and exchanging ideas on the future of talent acquisition tech. Not to mention, handing out our exclusive RecFest giveaways, including; sunglasses, tote bags, fans and our one-of-a-kind iCIMS x RecFest posters.

Harness the power of data in your decision-making

Data-driven decisions are the future of your talent acquisition strategy. Leading organizations like Kingfisher are using sophisticated technology combined with robust analytics to drive the TA function forward.

Experience the advantage of a comprehensive talent cloud platform that gives you insights across the entire talent journey.

Explore iCIMS Talent Cloud.