Communicating the benefits: How BT uses LinkedIn Talent Solutions to hire and develop the best talent

Creating meaningful campaigns with gravitas

BT has worked with LinkedIn Talent Solutions for a number of years. In fact, LinkedIn is the largest external tool that BT uses for sourcing and hiring candidates. Kelly is a huge fan of the platform’s Talent Insights function. She explained: “We particularly use LinkedIn’s Talent Insights tool – it’s invaluable in terms of understanding a market, what skills exist, how easy it is to hire, who is your competition and what messages are needed to attract the right professionals.”

BT used LinkedIn Talent Insights to provide the business with a true picture of the talent landscape across the globe; giving the Talent Acquisition team “gravitas”. 

LinkedIn has had a huge impact on BT’s decision-making process. Kelly commented: “When we talked about growing offices in Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham, it was important that we knew there were talent pools in those locations. Talent Insights informed those decisions.”

BT leveraged the power of LinkedIn Talent Insights to inform leadership on relocation decisions with data on location of key talent and competition for talent.

“It is such a fantastic tool. On some occasions, we have even changed our plans because data showed that the talent wasn’t necessarily where we thought it would be. Because of such detailed information, the business can come to us with a problem and we can provide each department with insight. That gives our team gravitas.

“Our team is not just delivering recruitment. We’re consultants. We have insight, we know what we’re talking about and we know that we can build a meaningful campaign that will work."

To date, BT has reduced its reliance on external agencies by 10 per cent and recruited more “high demand” talent through LinkedIn Recruiter. In fact, BT has hired 45 per cent more “high demand” roles. 

Investing in skills through LinkedIn Learning

However, BT has not only chosen to work with LinkedIn Talent Insights. The technology and telecommunications company has invested in LinkedIn Learning. The breadth of content on the online learning platform can be accessed by BT employees and aligns with BT’s investment in people framework. This framework focuses on career and skills management, with well-defined and strategic goals – transformation, upskilling and the identification of future skills requirements.

Lisa Blewitt, Director of Learning at BT, explained: “We see LinkedIn as a true partner in BT's transformation journey to create a great place to work. We are transforming the way we do business and so it’s essential that we help our colleagues transform too. It is paramount that we focus not only on the skills of today but on the skills of tomorrow to help our colleagues to realise potential and ambition.

“By giving our employees free access to LinkedIn Learning, we are putting our colleagues in the driving seat at each stage of their career with relevant learning in the flow of work.”

She concluded: “LinkedIn is the platform that allows us to do that. It helps us to achieve our strategic aims, building strong foundations and a culture where colleagues can be their best through access to unlimited Learning.  That is important because our people are our most important asset and we want to set them up to succeed in delivering our transformation.”