How ICS Cleaning Is Improving Recruitment Through Innovation, Speed and Better Candidate Experience

Recruitment has changed.

For cleaning businesses operating across multiple sites and sectors, attracting good people is no longer just about placing an advert and waiting for applications to arrive. The market has become more competitive, more time-sensitive and much more dependent on how quickly and clearly opportunities are presented to the right people.

At ICS Cleaning, we have felt those challenges first-hand. Like many employers, we have seen how harder-to-fill roles, local labour shortages, changing candidate expectations and the limitations of traditional job board approaches can all make recruitment more difficult than it used to be.

That is why we have been investing in a more modern, more flexible recruitment approach — one designed to help us get the right opportunities in front of the right people, in the right areas, as quickly as possible.

The recruitment challenge we have faced

Recruitment in our sector is highly local. A role may look ideal on paper, but if it is not promoted properly within the right catchment area, it may never reach the people most likely to apply.

We have also found that many traditional recruitment routes do not always deliver the speed, control or quality of response needed in a fast-moving operational environment. Generic job boards can still play a role, but they are not always enough on their own.

Some of the key challenges have included:

• getting vacancies live quickly enough when roles need urgent coverage
• making sure jobs are seen by people in the right local area
• reducing reliance on one-size-fits-all job board listings
• improving the quality and relevance of applications
• creating a more professional and branded candidate experience
• keeping better control of applications, follow-up and future candidate pipelines

These are not just recruitment issues. They are operational issues too. Delays in hiring can affect service delivery, continuity and resilience, particularly in sectors where reliability and local availability matter.

Why we wanted to improve the process

We knew we needed a better system than simply posting vacancies externally and hoping for the best.

We wanted a recruitment approach that would allow us to:

• create and publish vacancies quickly
• manage applications in one place
• improve visibility through search and social channels
• promote roles more effectively within defined local areas
• build a candidate pipeline for future vacancies
• strengthen our employer brand
• make the candidate journey smoother and more professional

In short, we wanted recruitment to become more proactive, more data-led and more aligned with how people actually discover jobs today.

The innovation we have introduced

To support that, we have developed a more integrated careers and recruitment process through our website and admin platform.

This gives us much more control over how vacancies are created, promoted, tracked and managed. Instead of relying entirely on third-party platforms, we now have a system that helps us manage the full recruitment journey more effectively.

Key parts of that approach include:

Vacancy Manager. This allows us to create, edit and publish vacancies quickly, while also supporting better structure for search visibility and job promotion.

Applications Admin. All incoming applications can be reviewed and managed in one place, helping us respond more efficiently and keep oversight of candidate flow.

Candidate Pool Admin. This helps us build and manage a pipeline of people who may be suitable for future roles, even when they are not applying for a live vacancy at that exact moment.

Channel Directory. This supports the management of the different channels used to promote vacancies, including social media and other recruitment routes.

Recruitment Catchment and Dashboard. These tools help us think more clearly about where roles are being promoted, where candidates are coming from and how recruitment activity is performing by area.

Employee Reviews. This gives us a way to showcase staff feedback and strengthen the public-facing careers experience, helping candidates understand more about the business they are applying to join.

How this improves our recruitment strategy

The biggest improvement is not just that we have more tools. It is that the whole process is now more connected.

We can move faster when vacancies need to go live.

We can create a more consistent and branded experience for applicants.

We can support stronger visibility through structured vacancy information that is better aligned with platforms such as Google Jobs.

We can generate supporting social content to help get roles out into the right places more quickly.

We can also manage future interest more effectively instead of losing potential candidates who may not be right for one vacancy, but could be ideal for another later on.

This creates a more resilient and efficient recruitment model overall.

Why this matters beyond Indeed

Platforms like Indeed still have a place in recruitment, but relying on one external platform alone has limitations.

An integrated careers section gives us:

• more ownership of our vacancy data and candidate journey
• more control over branding and presentation
• a faster and more flexible workflow
• stronger support for search engine visibility
• better long-term candidate management
• more opportunity to reduce reliance on paid listings over time

Most importantly, it allows us to shape recruitment around our real operational needs rather than fitting entirely into someone else's platform.

A better experience for candidates

We also wanted to improve the experience for applicants.

People applying for roles should be able to find vacancies clearly, understand what the job involves, and move through the process in a way that feels straightforward and professional.

A branded and well-managed careers section helps us do that. It creates a more direct connection between the candidate and the business, rather than forcing every interaction through a generic third-party experience.

That matters because better recruitment is not only about reach. It is also about trust, clarity and how people feel during the application process.

Continuous improvement in practice

This is not a finished project. It is part of an ongoing improvement journey.

We will continue refining how vacancies are presented, how quickly they are distributed, how local targeting is handled and how candidates move through the process. The aim is simple: to make recruitment quicker, smarter and more effective while maintaining a strong candidate experience.

At ICS Cleaning, we know that good people are central to good service delivery. Investing in better recruitment tools and processes is therefore not just an admin improvement. It is a practical part of building a stronger, more responsive business.

Looking ahead

Recruitment will continue to evolve, and businesses need to evolve with it.

Our focus is on using innovation in a practical way — not for the sake of technology itself, but to solve real recruitment challenges, improve speed, support local hiring and help us connect with the right candidates more effectively.

That is the thinking behind our new careers approach, and it is one of the ways we are continuing to modernise how we operate as a business.

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ICS Cleaning is always looking for talented people to join our teams across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Explore current vacancies and learn more about careers with ICS Cleaning.

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