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Case Study
The Civil Service Fast Stream
How we built on our successful use of influencers and broke the ‘suit barrier’ to attract a wider Gen Z audience to the Civil Service.
Impressions
278,490
Increased engagement
+41%
Increased clicks to site
+45%
The challenge
As the Times Top 100 no. 2 graduate employer, the Civil Service Fast Stream (CSFS) is an incredibly popular programme. But with that success comes a continuing need to review the intake of applicants, diverse representation and the assurance that the programme is somewhere that graduate talent can thrive, regardless of background.
Specifically, we needed to:
- Focus on the representation of applicants to better reflect the broader communities within the UK. From ethnicity, gender and Lower SEB to disability, LGBTQ+ and geography.
- Attract candidates with STEM backgrounds with the ambition of achieving a 50% intake of candidates with these qualifications.
Using social media and influencer content has proved an essential part of CSFS recruitment strategies over the last few years. We wanted to build on previous success – to make our social engagement work harder, and more focused.
The solution
Conducting a social listening audit – This helped us identify opportunities, and what our social campaign needed to focus on. We built a 6-month content calendar around:
- Taking a look inside the Civil Service and seeing its true impact.
- Showing how skills and knowledge would be developed.
- Enabling a deeper understanding of the Programme itself.
Working collaboratively with five micro-influencers – To create ten posts that not only matched their unique style but meant that their audiences were seeing unexpected partnerships and new ways of being communicated with about early careers and the Fast Stream in particular.
A unique content-generating event – In partnership with Vintage Vera, our on-campus event challenged perceptions of a ‘typical’ Civil Servant – it’s not all ‘stuffy suits’. AR posters promoted the event, which was attended by Fast Streamers and a content creator – Shoshanna ‘The Fairy Job Mother’. At first students were coming for the clothes but in the end, they were more interested in information.
Results
A true conversation starter – This campaign’s integration of digital, social and experiential content started genuinely engaging wider conversation around the Fast Stream.
A future pipeline – Continued use of the most successful influencers and the creation of a guide on how to select paid partnerships in the future.
Overall Influencer performance – With 10 unique and organic posts – and using 50% of the previous years’ budget – we achieved:
- 278,490 impressions (with a 75% increase in organic impressions).
- 2,400 engagements (+41% YoY).
- 9,452 clicks (+45% YoY).
- £0.15 CPC (down from £0.48 YoY).
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