In-house recruitment teams need to display “hyper-agility” in order to compete effectively in the war for talent, the CIPD’s Recruitment Conference heard yesterday.

Nimai Swaroop, group head of employer branding and marketing at the Royal Bank of Scotland, said that while graduate attraction was not a pressing issue, the bank’s recruitment team were very mindful of the retention of experienced staff.

“In the graduate space we have a good influx of candidates because we reward very well, but more offers are coming out to top performers in organisations, so hyper-agility is required in certain areas,” he explained.

He added that the group’s global careers site allowed recruiters to access applicant databases and “build a talent pipeline” of future candidates.

Iain McLaughlin, head of recruitment for KPMG UK, also told the London delegates: “Real value comes from responding and reacting quickly. Agility is an important strand of our recruitment strategy, alongside innovation and communication.”

McLaughlin added that he had noted an increasing trend in graduates declining places on the company’s graduate scheme – because they had received multiple offers.

“Graduates get bombarded, so the ability to be nimble and agile in how accurately we deal with them is really key,” he continued.

Julie Markey, head of human resources at Ocado – who joined Swaroop and McLaughlin on the employer panel – agreed that more graduate candidates were in a position to reject offers, and that the company was experiencing difficulties in recruiting IT and engineering skills.

She also told delegates that Ocado was seeing a increasingly diverse range of applicants for its various vacancies, and had become more flexible in its resourcing practices, “taking the recruitment process to potential candidates, especially drivers.”

Markey also explained that the online grocery retailer had significantly reduced its cost per hire by adapting its recruitment strategy.

“It cost us £1,000 to recruit a member of the customer service team three years ago, but by improving the way we approach recruitment and by moving things online, that figure is now £150,” she said.

The panel also discussed the importance of attracting talented employees to join in-house recruitment teams, agreeing that staff development and incentivisation were just as crucial in that function.

“Why join in-house?” questioned Swaroop. “One exciting area is joining as a career rather than a job. There is clear value for recruiters being in-house and having ownership for workforce planning. We push mobility, structure and the way we breed talent.”