Well, it’s over for another year. The Hireserve User Group (HUG) landed in Birmingham last week, complete with a great mix of customers, old and new, three compelling external speakers and a host of ideas, insight and best practice examples.

This year marked the 7th Hireserve User Group. It’s grown incredibly from the first meeting, where a handful of customers got together to share ideas and explore the system in more depth together, to this year, when almost 60 delegates joined us in the plush surroundings of the Hilton Metropole Hotel.

So what happened this year at HUG 2015?

We welcomed three fantastic external speakers to the event this year.

Claire McArthur, Digital Media Manager at the Motor Neurone Disease Association, joined us to reveal what went on behind the scenes of the Ice Bucket Challenge phenomenon. She also explained how the Association uses the iCams Facebook App to recruit volunteers, which is donated by Hireserve.

Claire gave an illuminating look into how a relatively small charity like the MND Association coped with the sudden visibility of the Ice Bucket Challenge and also touched on how, from a recruiting perspective, it’s essential to engage with the next generation of young talent on emerging social platforms.

We were also lucky to have Rob Hargrave, Shared Services HR Project Manager at University of York and long-term customer, presenting. His talk centered on the use of two lesser-known features of the system – Job Specific Questions and e-referencing. It was an inspiring look at how an organisation has used these tools to transform some of their recruitment processes, and led to lots of questions from the audience afterwards.

And we welcomed COO of cut-e and expert on psychometric testing, David Barrett. David charted the journey candidate assessment has taken over recent years, from a behind-the-scenes tool to a successful way of attracting candidates. Sharing examples of well-known brands who have used psychometric tests in this way, David’s presentation shed light on a lesser known method of candidate engagement.

Keep an eye out over the next few weeks where we’ll be sharing deeper insights from each of our HUG 2015 presenters.

If you have any questions about the Hireserve User Group or would like to find out more, please email hannah@hireserve.com