Contextual data
The turning point Following the publication of the Milburn Report into fair access to the professions in 2009, this started to change. In the law sector, for example, the PRIME initiative was set up in 2011. Today over 80 firms have signed it. PRIME guarantees to offer a significant amount of work experience to young people.
In the summer of 2013 Josh began his research into social mobility and contextual admissions. From our pro bono Target Oxbridge programme, we had a sense that the universities were ahead of employers on this issue; when talking to staff at Oxford and Cambridge about individual students’ GCSE and A Level grades, we had noticed that they often asked about candidates’ educational and social backgrounds before taking a position on their applications. Josh’s research uncovered a whole world of contextual admissions about which we knew very little.
We learned about flagging systems, algorithms to process raw grades into adjusted grades, geo-demographic classification systems, and – most importantly – a large evidence base around the effect of contextual adjustment in university admissions. The evidence all pointed in the same direction: if you admitted excellent students from disadvantaged backgrounds with slightly lower grades than their privileged peers, they performed at least as well at final degree classification.
Putting it into action In December 2013, we launched the research report at sponsor Clifford Chance’s office in Canary Wharf. There, we recommended that firms start to use contextual data when recruiting, and set up a cross-industry Contextual Recruitment Working Group to work out exactly how this might be done. Clifford Chance and Oxford University confirmed that they would join the group
and, following the launch, were joined by Allen & Overy, Ashurst, Barclays, Boston Consulting Group, Civil Service Fast Stream, Deutsche Bank, Freshfields, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells, Slaughter and May, Teach First, and Travers Smith, as well as Cambridge University and King’s College London.
The working group has met throughout 2014 and 2015 and has overseen the gradual evolution of our contextual data system. The way information is collected and displayed has been amended several times. Our algorithms and data analysis have been informed by contributions from an expert geo-demographer at Cambridge, and an expert in data science from Oxford. We have built two databases, one of all 3,500 secondary schools and sixth form colleges in England with all their exam results since 2007, and one of 2.5 million UK postcodes. These databases now produce real-time contextual information on candidates. We have also built a flagging model and a model to measure academic outperformance.
Applicant tracking We then redesigned our in-house Applicant Tracking System (ATS), Candid, using these new databases and models. As a result we now have contextual data on all Rare candidates. From last summer, working group members began receiving contextual data on Rare candidates applying to them.
This has made a significant difference. For instance, looking at the eight legal clients that are using our contextual information, hiring numbers are up 44% so far this year. Around two-thirds of the candidates we have placed on summer vacation schemes this year have at least one social mobility flag, and a third have two. In previous years fewer candidates who would today attract social mobility flags were getting hired. In other words, the increase in our hiring numbers is explained by the fact that, as
a result of contextual data, firms are now interviewing and hiring people that they previously would not have seen.
A broader outlook In the summer of 2014, clients started asking whether they could have this data for all candidates applying to them, not just Rare candidates. Towards the end of last year we started conversations with various ATS providers, and we are now developing “plug-ins” which will add our contextual data to these ATSs for clients to use. The first of these, for Clifford Chance, is due to go live in June.
Laura Yeates, Head of Graduate Talent, Clifford Chance, says “we sponsored Rare’s research into social mobility in 2013 and have been closely involved in the development of the contextual data system since then. We have run a number of pilots aimed at collecting contextual data over the last two years, many of which have required painstaking manual data input. Having the data integrated into our ATS is going to bring huge efficiency gains and allow us to identify exceptional talent in our applicant pool more effectively.”
It seems that contextual information is the right idea at the right time. Since the publication of our report, we’ve had a steady stream of enquiries from organisations that are not Rare clients – central government, think tanks, academics, and employers who for whatever reason do not engage Rare for recruitment work but would like contextual information on all candidates. n
…looking at the eight legal
clients that are using our
contextual information, hiring numbers are up 44% so far this year. Around two-thirds of the candidates we have placed on summer vacation schemes this year have at least one social mobility flag, and a third have two.
www.agr.org.uk | Graduate Recruiter 19
www.rarerecruitment.co.uk
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