Sportsbet case study

Three standout metrics

400%

increase in referrals

50%

reduction in agency spend

13 days

reduction in time to fill

The voice of the customer

“I thought of the careers website as our shop front and it hadn’t moved with the times. I knew that if we were to have a chance of competing in the market and attracting talent – especially tech talent – that was something we needed to be game-changing in. We needed to get really serious about it.”

Simone Strachan, Head of Talent, Sportsbet

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What wasn’t working

Sportsbet is an e-commerce entertainment company in the online wagering sector. Seeking to grow, they knew high quality talent, particularly from the data and tech specialisms, would be essential. But in a tight labour market Sportsbet struggled to attract the right people.

Today’s jobseekers want employers that align with their values and offer growth opportunities. But with no unified employer brand or talent acquisition strategy Sportsbet faced several challenges:

No employer brand strategy or way to articulate the employee value proposition;
Relying on job boards delivered low-quality CVs for some roles, or no applications for niche tech and data positions;
Labour-intensive approach to recruitment wasn’t sustainable for scaling.

The turning point

First Sportsbet brought in Simone Strachan as their new Head of Talent to create a new talent acquisition operating model. Strachan identified they needed extra resource in the recruiting team, a compelling employer brand, and a way to reduce reliance on expensive agencies and job boards that often struggled to deliver.

Strachan and her team partnered with PageUp to implement recruitment marketing, nurture talent communities and become more proactive at sourcing.

The shift began in three phases:

Business case for employer brand

Strachan connected key employer brand activities and recruitment tech to Sportsbet’s strategic objectives, linking metrics and KPIs with each initiative to prove ROI.
Launching a revamped careers site

The team used PageUp Recruitment Marketing to create an impressive, authentic ‘shopfront’ detailing what working at Sportsbet is really like.
Creating personalisedpersonalized experiences

The team built dedicated sub-landing pages for key talent segments like software engineers and data scientists, with content tailored to each group.

The solution in action

Sportsbet successfully created an award-winning careers site that transformed how they attract and engage talent, whilst dramatically reducing time-to-fill, job board and agency costs using PageUp.

Key initiatives included:

The Draft recruitment campaign

A campaign focussed on early career and career switcher candidates generated 550 applications and five hires for tech, data and analyst roles, primarily captured through the career site.
Revamped referral programme

Relaunching Sportsbet’s referral programme through the careers site, offering improved rewards and using a high-touch process increased referral hires by 400%.
Talent pools and automated nurturing

Custom CTAs like “join our talent community” capture candidate details, placing them in talent pools to be nurtured using customisablecustomizable workflows and automated content until suitable roles arise.
Dedicated sub-landing pages for key talent segments

PageUp’s intuitive interface allows the talent team to create dedicated content for key talent segments such as software engineers and data scientists, enabling hard-to-reach talent to see themselves at Sportsbet.
Self-service content management

Talent team members can jump in and build components, change images and fonts, and upload content without extensive tech experience.

The impact

Hard ROI

400% increase in referrals
50% reduction in agency spend in 6 months
550 applications via careers site from one campaign
Five tech, data and analyst hires from one campaign

Soft ROI

Won ‘Best Careers Site’ at 2022 ITA awards (Internal Talent Awards).
Higher-quality, more engaged applicants through direct sourcing.
Career site serves as awareness and consideration tool to influence perceptions.
Dashboard provides valuable insights into recruitment metrics.

What surprised us the most

“The careers website has been fabulous because I was able to implement it on a short timeline. It was – and I don’t say this lightly – awesome. I was really supported along the way, we had a lot of access to both the careers website and CRM SMEs, and distinct timelines.”

Simone Strachan, Head of Talent, Sportsbet