Early Careers Recruitment Tech for an Australian Construction Giant

Situation

A major player in Australia’s construction sector approached Springboard to streamline their graduate recruitment process. Their existing program followed a fragmented timeline: a brief six-week marketing and campus engagement period, followed by two separate recruitment phases in March (16 weeks) and August (12 weeks), concluding with an extended candidate nurturing period.

This approach strained their HR teams and line managers while resulting in concerning candidate drop-off and renege rates of up to 30%.

Solution

We reimagined their early careers strategy by shifting to a more concentrated approach: expanding meaningful campus engagement to 24 weeks while condensing recruitment into a single, efficient 10-week window—all manged through the Springboard talent acquisition suite.

Strategic Foundation

Springboard’s always-on expression-of-interest portal maintained year-round talent engagement through personalised content and authentic employee storytelling, effectively challenging construction industry stereotypes.

Enhanced Campus Presence

Moving beyond traditional career fairs, the client leveraged Springboard to orchestrate 38 dynamic engagement events featuring graduate ambassadors from across the business. These included immersive site tours, team meet-and-greets, and women in leadership panels, creating meaningful connections with potential candidates.

Recruitment Process & Candidate Assessment

Springboard technology further supported the early career recruitment program by integrating with an assessment platform to host a virtual assessment centre to encourage participation, especially for working candidates, rural candidates or those unable to afford the travel who previously experienced barriers during in-person events. The technology also improved accessibility for candidates with a disability and for those with ESL requirements.

Results

• Recruitment timeline reduced by 64% (from 28 to 10 weeks)
• Exceeded diversity targets with 50% women graduates (compared to 15% industry average) and 3% First Nations representation (versus 1% industry average)
• Candidate drop-off and renege rates cut by more than half, from 30% to 14%

“The process was very well run, and we had strong candidates. Thank you for the hard work and efforts with this program. It was a very thorough process with great results.”

Client Feedback

We also helped the client achieve an impressive candidate Net Promoter Score (cNPS) of 65. Candidate feedback emphasized the program’s success:

• “Very modern and innovative approach to the regular interview process. Allows busy applicants to complete in their own time.”
• “Very user friendly interface and didn’t feel demeaning or intimidating.”
• “Thank you for making it such a smooth application process. I really appreciated the quick turnaround time for my application.”