When St Helens Council’s Go Active team looked at their Leisure & Services hiring, they saw an opportunity. Traditional processes were slowing them down and missing people who would thrive in the roles. With Jobtrain as the engine, they switched to a campaign model built around recruitment events, short applications, one-way video interviews and talent pooling. As well as bringing in a new set of hires, they developed a more open, more human route into public sector careers.
Instead of expecting every candidate to fit the Council’s conventional recruitment process, the team brought the process to the community.
They promoted roles via the council and Go Active socials, posters and screens in centres, outreach to local colleges and schools and a refreshed careers site powered by our Jobtrain ATS. It felt less like an ‘application’ and more like an invitation to explore a future in leisure.
Two recruitment events at Newton-le-Willows Health & Fitness Centre became the heartbeat of the campaign that brought it to life. Candidates could see facilities, meet the team and understand career paths, training and qualifications. Our Jobtrain event management feature handled self-serve interview bookings and communications, so the team could stay focused on people rather than admin and spreadsheets. Bookings hit 90 with a 97% turn up rate - a remarkable attendance that translated directly into quality conversations. That’s a world away from recent Indeed research that found 86% of UK jobseekers have skipped interviews without warning.
The team also fully customised statuses and communications at each stage, linking them to the event schedule so applicants consistently experienced personalised, service-specific messaging.
At the recruitment events, candidates learned about jobs and got to see how the council backs people to build careers. Go Active shared real stories of staff who started with little experience and gained recognised qualifications along the way. It wasn’t about ticking boxes; it was about spotting potential and showing a clear route to progress.
St Helens cut out any friction from the journey. A short, mobile-friendly application with CV upload and a brief multiple-choice questionnaire meant people could apply in minutes on their phone, then progress swiftly through the next steps.
For volume screening, the team introduced one-way video interviews. Candidates recorded answers in their own time and space, which proved more comfortable and inclusive, while allowing hiring managers to assess consistently and at scale. Another staggering turnout of 94% of video interviews completed.
Inside Jobtrain, shared dashboards and alerts kept the St Helens and Go Active teams aligned. Candidates could track their progress in their own portal – and hiring managers saw statuses in real time. Because the Welcome Hub, also available in Jobtrain, bridged the time between offer and start date, new joiners arrived warm, informed and ready to go.
Instead of relying solely on a standard Talent Pool published on the careers site, the Go Active team created a dedicated Talent Pool as an event, supported by our helpdesk team, and promoted directly through our applicant tracking system and external channels. This event-led pool generated over 50% of total applications. The ongoing published Talent Pool remained valuable for pipelining and engaging silver medallists for future roles.
Interested in learning what Jobtrain can do for you? Contact us.
This wasn’t just for show - the numbers speak for themselves.
The tone of feedback matched the figures too. Hiring managers described a modern, collaborative process that felt energising. Attendees talked about the welcoming atmosphere, clear information and the chance to see “a day in the life” invaluable before committing.
The bottom line? It led to far fewer bottlenecks that lead to faster decisions and a pipeline for the next vacancies - all delivered with warmth and fairness at every step.
Event Manager with self-serve booking calendar, short mobile-friendly application with multiple choice questions, one-way video interviews, Talent Pools with silver medallists, shared hiring dashboards and alerts, candidate portal with email and SMS and a pre-boarding Welcome Hub.
Want to switch up your hiring like St Helens Council and Go Active have? Contact our team.
Modern council hiring needs to be simple for candidates, compliant for HR and visible for hiring managers. Our Jobtrain ATS brings the whole journey into one place - from approvals and advertising to assessment, offers, compliance checks and onboarding - with reporting that helps you prove impact and improve process.
What councils get with Jobtrain
The St Helens story shows how event-led attraction, short applications and fair screening come to life when everything sits in one platform. For other councils, the same building blocks can be shaped to local priorities - from hard-to-hire roles to shared-service models - without adding headcount pressure.
How many people were recruited?
26 appointments across multiple Leisure & Services roles.
What sped up shortlisting for St Helens Council?
A clear, people-centred process from the Go Active and St Helens Council teams - recruitment events supported by the Jobtrain applicant tracking system resulting in real conversations and practical assessments, authentic outreach across centres and local networks, and hiring managers aligned on fair, simple criteria.
Our ATS handled short mobile applications with quick eligibility questions, one-way video screening and event bookings all in one place, with shared dashboards and alerts so decisions could be made faster and with confidence.
Did the approach widen access?
Yes. Hires ranged from ages 16 to 58 and 50% of instructor hires started unqualified and were subsequently trained, opening the door to new untapped talent.
Which Jobtrain features made the difference?
Event manager, Talent Pools, one-way video interviews, automated comms and the Onboarding Welcome Hub.
We’ve helped councils across the UK adopt event-led hiring, video screening and talent pooling without adding headcount pressure. If you run a leisure service or wider local authority recruitment, we can help you do the same - and make it feel this human.