STANDARD LIFE INVESTMENTS
STANDARD LIFE INVESTMENTS GOES FOR ASIRT®
Asirt® smoothes graduate recruitment rush.
400 graduate applications received, sifted and contacted in record time.
“Quicker access to the exceptional candidates…”
Graduates welcome Asirt process.

Standard Life Investments is the UK investment management arm of Standard Life Group. As part of a group with over £100 billion under management worldwide, Standard Life Investments maintains a meticulous graduate employment process. Each year, around 400 UK and overseas graduates apply for trainee positions in its fund management, property fund management and operations divisions at the Edinburgh HQ.

“The big challenge we faced every year,” said Diane McCutcheon, HR consultant at Standard Life Investments in Edinburgh, “is one borne of our success: namely, our reputation attracts over 400 graduate applications between October and January. We had to inspect each CV, prioritise candidates and maintain contact with them each and every one. This seasonal overload naturally created an administrative headache as it was so labour intensive. Then we were introduced to Asirt.”

By using the Asirt Service, Standard Life Investments is now able to identify and secure the top 10 applicants more rapidly – “in record time”, confirmed Diane McCutcheon. Asirt’s unique on-line application system identifies the very best among the 400; prioritises them against a set of Standard Life Investments’ job and qualifications criteria; and maintains personal contact with them up to interview stage – as well as the 390 who did not make the grade. Even with these, Standard Life Investments is able to hold details for possible other positions and re-contact former applicants quickly by e-mail.

Additionally, Asirt continues to track all applicants’ progress on a daily basis. “Before Asirt,” continued Diane McCutcheon, “the process is immensely time-consuming and also suffers from a lengthy lead time from receipt of CV to recognition of talent. Asirt gives us the technology to connect with graduates without de-personalising the process: we can reach any applicant in minutes.”
 
Gerald Hough, Asirt CEO commented: “Asirt works best when there is a partnership, with defined goals for the client and us. Here, Asirt absorbed the Standard Life Investments corporate culture and language, jointly prepared an application form accessible through the careers’ pages on the Company’s website. This Asirt applications form identified the key attributes necessary to succeed at the company, including educational qualifications, work experience, interests and hobbies. Our state-of-the-art Candidate Scoring device was applied allowing Standard Life Investments to distinguish between the exceptional and the very good.”

The Asirt Service provided Standard Life Investments with regular feedback of data. It passed candidate detail for those over-achieving the success benchmark, recognised exceptional talent immediately and provided the company with a competitive advantage. Standard Life Investments added that the Asirt team’s on-line support service [handing special enquiries and candidates with special needs or overseas qualifications] was described as “prompt and very good”.
Graduates using the system universally praised the process with comments ranging from “simple and easy to use …” to “reliable process” and “fast response times”.
Standard Life Investments continues to utilise the system for all graduate vacancies. The Company stated that they have tested Asirt this New Year and are impressed by the quality of the product and the considerable savings and efficiency improvements made over the old method. They will use the process again for the 2006/7 graduate scheme.