About:  

In recent years, Arsenal Football Club has experienced remarkable growth and expansion. Because of this they felt it important to create the role of Talent Acquisition Manager to lead internal hiring efforts. The primary objective would be to optimise recruitment processes, elevate the candidate experience, and cultivate enduring talent pipelines in close collaboration with hiring managers.

Challenge:  

The challenge lay in identifying a candidate who could address Arsenal’s multifaceted requirements.

The club sought to enhance the efficiency and efficacy of its recruitment processes to meet the rising demand for talent in a highly competitive market.  Ensuring that every candidate, regardless of the outcome, had a positive experience with the club was essential to maintaining and enhancing their reputation as a desirable employer.

Amidst the sea of applications that exceeded 500, there was the unique task of distinguishing between genuinely qualified candidates and passionate Arsenal fans who might not meet the job criteria, and as specialists in executive search, Executives in Sport Recruitment were keen to contribute their unique insights and suggestions to the candidate list.

Solution:  

In response to these challenges, Executives in Sports in-house specialist, Eddie Koppoe, set to work identifying and engaging with a pre-established list of Talent Specialists on his radar whilst evaluating all applications via Arsenals in-house Applicant Tracking System. This approach involved assessing interest and aligning candidate values with the role. Eddie conducted rigorous qualification assessments to ensure that potential candidates possessed the skills and values that matched Arsenal’s unique requirements.

Results:  

Following a meticulous selection process, Arsenal successfully appointed a dedicated, driven, and passionate recruitment and talent acquisition specialist with over 11 years of comprehensive experience, spanning both in-house and agency roles. This specialist brought expertise in various domains, including talent acquisition strategy, recruitment process design, diversity and inclusion, talent attraction, candidate sourcing and headhunting, 360-degree recruitment, talent and client management, account management, and team management.