Unseen Group

Author: Sean

  • How to improve DEI in your early talent recruitment

    How to improve DEI in your early talent recruitment

    In partnership

    A shared perspective on diversity in early talent

    This piece is a collaboration between Unseen and Wiser.

    Unseen
    Wiser

    Having diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at the core of your organisation is more than just statistics. It boosts your organisation’s output and productivity. Companies with strong DEI are actually 39% more likely to outperform those with less diversity.

    HESA has identified that the current student population is more diverse than ever before. That means a focus on early talent will come with real strides in your company’s diversity. But DEI is not just important to employers. 88% of students consider an employer’s commitment to diversity and inclusion before they apply, and 69% of millennials and Gen Z’ers are more likely to stay over five years at a company that has a diverse workforce. Diversity needs to be at the centre of your recruitment strategy.

    The path to an inclusive workplace is not without its challenges. Unconscious biases, outdated hiring practices, and a competitive, candidate-driven market can all present as roadblocks. Getting these elements right will set you up for DEI success across brand, attraction, recruitment and development.

    Showing your commitment

    Your organisation’s brand is crucial. It is your identity. It is important to demonstrate your commitment to DEI through authentic messaging around your culture, and to show that you foster and value an inclusive working environment. Potential candidates, especially those from underrepresented groups, are drawn to organisations whose brand reflects diversity and inclusivity. If your future talent can see themselves working at your organisation, your brand is hitting the right notes.

    Bring your stories to life

    Candidates want to hear from the people they will actually be working with. Authentic employee stories give candidates real insight into an organisation’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, reinforcing what career pages and employer branding campaigns set out to show. Sharing real experiences from employees across different backgrounds, functions and Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) helps candidates understand what inclusion looks like in practice. Video storytelling platforms such as Seenit allow organisations to amplify authentic voices from across the business, enabling prospective candidates to see themselves reflected in your workforce and better understand your culture before they apply.

    Finding the right people

    Getting your branding right is only one piece of the puzzle. You then need to get in front of the right people through your attraction methods, before converting them into applicants. Your attraction strategy plays a key role in reinforcing your commitment to DEI. By actively promoting diversity in how you attract candidates, you not only broaden your pool of early talent, but also build a reputation as an inclusive workplace.

    Assessing the lay of your land

    Your recruitment process is the gateway to bringing in a diverse early talent cohort. Start by auditing it and ensure that DEI runs through as a golden thread. That could mean gender decoding your job descriptions, investing in unconscious bias training, and stress-testing your assessments to identify any adverse impacts. Tracking diversity data throughout and identifying trends allows you to measure inclusivity across the process. Transparency with candidates throughout sets the foundation for a fair and best-in-class recruitment experience.

    Using technology to create fairer assessments

    Alongside reviewing your recruitment processes, technology can play an important role in creating more consistent and equitable assessments. Structured digital assessment platforms, such as TopScore, help organisations standardise scoring, centralise assessor feedback and ensure every candidate is assessed against the same competency framework. By reducing reliance on paper-based processes and subjective note-taking, assessors are better able to focus on evaluating evidence rather than managing administration. Features such as structured scoring, accessible assessment delivery and digital feedback also help create a more transparent and inclusive experience for both candidates and hiring teams.

    Remember that one size rarely fits all

    As candidate expectations continue to evolve, organisations are increasingly looking at how they can personalise the recruitment journey without compromising fairness or consistency. Personalised engagement does not mean changing the assessment process. It means ensuring candidates receive the information, support and opportunities most relevant to them. Solutions such as Meet & Engage enable employers to connect candidates with ambassadors, tailored events and relevant content throughout the recruitment journey, helping people feel informed, included and engaged regardless of their background or career aspirations.

    The retention game

    Once you have the diverse cohort you have worked to build, the focus shifts to keeping them. A structured development programme, specific to early talent, is central to this. Over 90% of organisations are worried about retention, and providing meaningful learning opportunities is the most effective way to address it. Through offering a structured learning and development programme for your early careers cohort, you give people the opportunity to thrive and excel in their roles. Investment in your people’s development fosters a genuine sense of belonging and loyalty.

    Key takeaways

    Nurturing your early talent cohort works twofold: you will enhance your retention rates and create a culture of inclusivity and equity. The expectations set through your branding and attraction methods must become reality. Your programme has to match what early talent were told to expect, or you risk a disengaged cohort. If you retain them, you do not have to replace them, saving you money in the long run. The value added to your organisation in terms of both culture and performance will in turn strengthen your brand, as your people advocate for you, and the cycle continues.

    DEI is not just a box to check. It is a strategic priority with far-reaching benefits. By focusing on diversifying through early talent, you will be making a positive impact on the diversity of tomorrow, today.

    Unseen About us

    Unseen helps enterprise employers innovate and power their early careers and high-volume hiring journeys, from early engagement through to assessment, onboarding and development. We combine specialist technology platforms with assessment science and authentic storytelling to deliver talent experiences that are scalable, fair and human.

    Wiser About us

    Wiser is an award-winning employer branding agency on a mission to make work work for everyone. They help companies build brands people actually want to work for, shape cultures from the ground up, and attract top talent who will take businesses to the next level.

  • Report Download: On their wavelength

    Report Download: On their wavelength

    On Their Wavelength — Unseen Group
    Emerging Talent Report 2026

    On Their Wavelength

    An emerging talent report on finding work and starting out. Throughout Spring 2026 we surveyed 818 students, graduates and apprentices across the UK to understand how they experience the early careers market, the barriers they face, and how ready they feel for work.

    818
    Respondents across the UK
    Free download

    Get instant access

    Fill in your details to download the full report.

    What’s inside

    Three things the report covers

    We asked candidates about the skills they bring, the barriers they face, and what “work readiness” means to them in practice, to highlight where expectations and reality aren’t quite aligning and what employers can do to have the greatest impact.

    01

    How students, graduates and apprentices navigate the early careers market — from application to offer.

    02

    The confidence gap, the barriers they face, and what “work readiness” actually means to them in practice.

    03

    What employers can do to help candidates feel prepared, confident and able to contribute from day one.

    Key findings

    The numbers that matter to early careers teams

    A handful of findings that point to something more systemic than a skills gap.

    Finding 01

    65%

    of candidates say live interviews feel the fairest way to demonstrate their strengths, yet 41% find them the most difficult stage. They want to explain themselves in their own words, and the process often makes that harder than it needs to be.

    Finding 02

    72%

    say feedback is the single thing that would most improve their confidence during a recruitment process. Most receive none at all.

    Finding 03

    67%

    have stopped an application because it felt too long or too difficult, most commonly because there were too many stages or it was too time-consuming.

    Finding 04

    1 in 5

    people already in their first role said it took longer than six months to feel fully settled and productive. Candidates consistently underestimate how long that transition takes.

    What employers can act on

    Where the real gaps are

    Recruitment process

    Transparency builds candidate confidence

    74% of candidates didn’t fully understand what employers were looking for throughout recruitment and assessment. Clearer communication about what’s being assessed and why reduces anxiety and improves the quality of what candidates actually show you.

    52% said a clearer explanation of what’s being assessed would improve their confidence
    41% said the opportunity to do a practice run would help
    28% wanted to understand how assessment results were actually used
    Transition to work

    The gap between starting and feeling settled is wider than employers tend to assume

    Imposter syndrome and unclear expectations were the top concerns for candidates both before and after starting work. The anxiety is rarely about capability. It is about not knowing what good looks like, or whether they will be supported enough to get there.

    60% cited lack of confidence or imposter feelings as their biggest challenge when starting work
    “Day in the life” content was the most requested form of pre-joining support
    Between 23% and 29% of candidates said they had hardly any understanding of what their first weeks would involve
    Work readiness

    Candidates define readiness through mindset and clarity, not just technical skill

    Across more than 380 open responses, candidates described work readiness in terms of confidence, adaptability and a willingness to learn. They don’t expect to know everything from day one. What they want is a clear sense of what’s expected and enough psychological safety to ask questions and grow into the role.

    Candidates most commonly asked: “What exactly will I do?” and “How will I be supported?”
    Mentoring, buddy schemes and structured onboarding were the most frequently requested forms of early support
    Those already in work were far more likely to say they’d have valued networking and culture support before starting
    “

    The organisations that gain competitive advantage in early careers hiring are unlikely to be those that simply assess candidates more aggressively. They will be the ones that identify potential earlier, reduce unnecessary friction, and accelerate confidence, belonging and contribution once people arrive.

    Ben Williams, Chief Scientist, Unseen Group

    Read the full report

    818 candidates surveyed across the UK. Three sections covering the job market, the transition to work, and what readiness actually means to the people going through it.

    Download free ↑
  • Lessons learned from this year’s ISE Conference

    Lessons learned from this year’s ISE Conference

    ISE 2026: Four themes from Brighton — Ben Williams, Unseen
    Ben Williams
    Ben Williams
    Chief Scientist, Unseen Group · June 2026

    Four themes from ISE 2026

    The salt spray of the South Coast is still lingering in the air, and while the memories of ISE Conference 2026 are fresh in our minds, I thought I’d share some reflections on the themes that seemed to surface repeatedly this year.

    I’m Ben Williams — Chief Scientist at Unseen — and it’s my job to deliver excellence in assessment and development design, while embedding the latest scientific thinking into everything we do here at Unseen, from our recruitment tech to our content and delivery of enterprise services.

    I was once again lucky enough to attend this year’s ISE Conference — you may have even seen me on stage alongside Holly Pearce from Grant Thornton.

    Every conference develops its own unofficial agenda. Sometimes it’s obvious from the programme and sometimes it’s what people are discussing in the corridors between sessions. This year, four themes stood out to me.

    Theme 01

    AI: the topic everyone complains about — and still turns up for

    AI has become the conference equivalent of Jools Holland’s Hootenanny. Everyone claims they’re tired of it, everyone rolls their eyes when another AI session appears on the agenda, and yet somehow the room is still full every time.

    What was encouraging, however, was that the conversation seems to be maturing. There was less discussion about whether AI will change recruitment and more discussion about practical questions: how should candidates use it? How should employers use it? What skills does effective AI use actually involve? And perhaps most importantly, how do we assess those skills fairly and meaningfully?

    There was some myth-busting in both directions: both candidates and recruiters appear to be using AI far less than the other side suspects. What I heard was far less panic and far more curiosity.

    Interestingly, some of the strongest feedback I received after our own session wasn’t about AI itself, but about translating behavioural science into something understandable and usable. We have no shortage of opinions about AI. What seems to be in much shorter supply is a clear, evidence-based understanding of what good performance with AI actually looks like and how it can be assessed. Essentially, they don’t want more AI hype — they want a guideline on how to actually use and consider it intelligently.

    Where we can help: Rather than treating AI capability as a purely technical skill, we believe much of the variation comes from mindset and behavioural tendencies — curiosity, experimentation, learning orientation, comfort with ambiguity and the willingness to engage with new tools. The encouraging news is that these qualities can be assessed and incorporated into existing selection processes without requiring a standalone “AI test” — which, judging from a poll we ran at the conference, is exactly what many organisations want.
    Sten10
    Ben Williams | Unseen Group
    LinkedIn · ISE Conference 2026

    “Two presenters, two very different preparation styles…”

    View post on LinkedIn →
    Theme 02

    The search for true candidate intent

    We’re all aware of the application volume problem. Several employers spoke about applicant numbers that would have sounded extraordinary just a few years ago, but not today. AI-assisted applications appear to be amplifying a trend that was already underway: the cost of applying is falling rapidly, while the cost of reviewing applications is not.

    Psychologically, this creates an interesting challenge. When effort becomes less diagnostic, what replaces it? Historically, completing a lengthy application form provided at least some evidence of motivation and persistence. Increasingly, employers are looking for ways to identify commitment and self-selection before asking candidates to invest significant time in formal assessment.

    Where we can help: The answer may not be more assessment, but better engagement. Early-stage questions that explore motivational alignment, combined with realistic job previews, employee stories and authentic insights into the role, can help candidates make more informed choices while helping employers identify genuine interest before progressing to more intensive assessment stages.
    Sten10
    Ali Hackett | Unseen Group
    LinkedIn · ISE Conference 2026

    Great to catch up with clients, partners, colleagues and friends – too many to mention #ISErec2026 #EarlyCareers #EarlyCareersRecruitment…

    View post on LinkedIn →
    Theme 03

    Social mobility is getting louder

    Social mobility has, of course, been a priority for many employers and practitioners for years. What struck me this year was how frequently it came up across different sessions and themes, rather than being confined to dedicated diversity discussions.

    Keynote speaker Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton drew upon her own journey from homelessness to becoming one of the UK’s most senior fire officers. Her story was a timely reminder that talent is distributed far more evenly than opportunity.

    Many conversations ultimately came back to a familiar question: how do we identify potential rather than simply prior advantage? In assessment terms, this is one of those deceptively simple questions that gets more complicated the longer you stare at it.

    Where we can help: One area we continue to explore is how insights from psychology and sociology can inform assessment design. Small design choices around exercises, instructions, assessor training and candidate support can help reduce some of the unintended disadvantages associated with socioeconomic background, while maintaining assessment rigour and predictive validity. Let us know if you’d like to discuss.
    Nicola Sullivan | Unseen Group
    LinkedIn · ISE Conference 2026

    Well, it’s the morning after the journey back from ISE Conference in Brighton…

    View post on LinkedIn →
    Theme 04

    Reneges: the new retention problem

    The final theme was one that will be familiar to anyone working in early careers: the growing challenge of candidates accepting offers and then not arriving on day one. Our survey found that over 50% of attendees were experiencing renege rates of 11% or higher.

    Whilst competing pay offers were frequently cited as a cause, we encourage our clients to view this through a behavioural science lens too: securing an acceptance is not the same thing as securing psychological commitment. Research shows that intentions are often a surprisingly poor predictor of behaviour when there is a long delay between decision and action. Put simply, a candidate can genuinely mean “yes” in October and genuinely mean “no” in July. The longer the gap, the more opportunities there are for uncertainty, competing alternatives and simple life events to intervene.

    Where we can help: Organisations often focus heavily on attraction and selection but devote relatively little attention to the period between offer acceptance and start date. We’d be happy to review candidate communications, onboarding journeys and pre-boarding experiences through the lens of the four science-based principles we discussed in Brighton — Commitment & Consistency, Uncertainty Reduction, Social Identity and Self-Efficacy — to identify opportunities to strengthen commitment and reduce attrition.

    In summary

    If I had to summarise ISE 2026 in four phrases, they would be:

    • AI is becoming practical.
    • Intent is becoming scarce.
    • Social mobility is becoming more visible.
    • Commitment can no longer be assumed.

    Taken together, these themes point to a broader shift. The challenge is no longer simply attracting candidates. It is helping the right candidates find the right opportunities, make informed decisions and follow through on them.

    The technology will continue to evolve. Application volumes will continue to rise. New tools and platforms will come and go. The organisations that thrive will be those that remain focused on the human behaviours underneath all of it.

    That, more than any individual trend, was my biggest takeaway from Brighton.

    Want to talk through any of these themes?

    Whether it’s AI capability assessment, candidate intent, social mobility in selection design, or reducing reneges — we’re happy to explore what the evidence says and what it means for your process.

  • Personalising onboarding for early careers and experienced hires with MBDA

    Personalising onboarding for early careers and experienced hires with MBDA

    How MBDA created a complete, personalised, online onboarding journey that’s engaging for both experienced and early career hires

    About the Customer

    Organisation

    MBDA

    Focus Area

    Creating a complete, personalised, online onboarding journey that’s engaging for both experienced and early career hires.

    Programme

    Inspire & Nurture, underpinned by MBDA’s Onboarding Portal.

    Outcome

    Strengthened candidate experience during onboarding with high engagement and strong feedback from candidates and hiring managers.

    32

    virtual events with an average Net Promoter Score of 90 (“World Class!”)

    94%

    registration for the Onboarding portal

    97%

    of Early Careers candidates say that the portal is easy to use

    The Challenge

    In a time of skills shortages in core STEM specialisms and fierce competition from other employers, candidate experience during the onboarding stage is a key priority. How can you ensure that candidates feel supported and begin to align themselves to the brand values, providing a tailored experience when operating at scale? That was the challenge MBDA faced.

    They understood the clear correlation between providing a great experience during the onboarding journey and the number of engaged hires who turned up on day one. They also understood that different audiences potentially have very different needs as they move through the process, and wanted to adopt a solution that would retain a strong element of personalisation in the candidate experience, whether candidates were fresh grads or niche hires.

    MBDA also wanted to be able to measure quantitative and qualitative candidate sentiment and capture a dataset that could be used to review and refresh their offering on an ongoing basis.

    Brand perceptions

    As a defence organisation, MBDA can fall prey to stereotypes about their culture and the type of candidates who will succeed in hiring processes. MBDA is making conscious efforts to tackle these misconceptions throughout their attraction and hiring journeys.

    Support & preparation

    It was important that, whatever their background or experience, all candidates were empowered to thrive in selection and leave the process with a consistent, positive view of MBDA’s brand values and a better understanding of what is a complex matrix organisation.

    Engagement

    Security restrictions imposed by the MOD mean all candidates must undergo vetting. This both limits the candidate pool (nationality), but also increases the time to hire significantly. This added time increases the risk of losing candidates in-process through lack of engagement, as recruiters do not have the resource to interact with all candidates as often as they would like.

    Our Solution

    The Meet & Engage technology used by MBDA includes live virtual recruiting events coupled with a fully-branded, social network style nurture journey.

    Meet & Engage, Unseen’s candidate experience and onboarding platform, underpins MBDA’s Onboarding Portal so candidates can access a complete, personalised online experience.

    Inspire & Nurture

    The Meet & Engage technology used by MBDA includes:

    • Live virtual recruiting events couple with a fully-branded, social network style nurture journey
    • Take advantage of features like live streaming, content sharing and polling
    • Fully-concierged service by our team of experts
    • Fully-branded pre– and post–event comms and in-depth data including NPS

    Timeline for Onboarding

    • Automated candidate journey in a personalised social media style interface
    • Content shared by wall posts, videos and articles
    • Email and SMS nudges to see fresh content
    • Candidate experience pulse checks

    MBDA’s Onboarding Portal

    Once an offer has been accepted, candidates are invited via an integration between Meet & Engage and Workday (MBDA’s ATS) to register for their Onboarding Portal, through which automated yet tailored and timely content is served up, via a social-style platform.

    Content was designed to be shared over a series of weeks and months to match the candidate’s stage of their onboarding journey. The content themes include guidance and reminders about the induction process, videos about the business, employee testimonials, as well as scheduled messages to wish people a happy Diwali/Christmas/New Year.

    Through the Onboarding Portal, Channels enable candidates to chat amongst themselves within the professional, branded environment – to arrange house shares per location, for example. The portal was backed up by group and 121 chat events, where candidates could get answers to questions in real time and hear from a diverse range of employees about life at MBDA.

    Onboarding portals for different audiences

    Underpinning the post-offer experience is the onboarding portal which looks and feels like an MBDA social feed, with a focus on everything a candidate may need between offer and start. An integration with Workday (MBDA’s ATS) automates a registration invitation to candidates at point of offer.

    Once in, the portals are bespoke to the candidate’s entry route, with content either tailored to experienced hires or early careers. Further tailoring within that includes, for example, content specifically for graduates returning to employment at MBDA after completing their degree which included a placement with the company.

    Each feed shares videos, wall posts, images, social links and captures feedback. Each post on the feed is nominally posted by someone in the business, and hovering over their picture reveals their bio. Introducing colleagues-to-be in this way, MBDA provides rich insight into aspects of MBDA that candidates may not have appreciated, demystifies the organisation, supports D&I representation and brand values and draws candidates into the MBDA family early.

    The in-built feedback chatbot provides a chance to capture candidate sentiment at each stage and gives candidates a real say in the shape of the future process.

    The Chat Channels in the portal are set up for each MBDA UK site location (Bolton, Bristol, Stevenage) and offer a space for candidates to chat online with future colleagues. Examples include graduates arranging house-shares or asking about parking and facilities. Recruiters and MBDA ambassadors use Channels to post updates, photos and to get light-hearted conversations started, to begin fostering warm, professional relationships early.

    Employee stories and testimonials

    The MBDA team worked closely with the Meet & Engage team to plot out the content over the relevant time-period for each entry route. Experienced hire candidates have content fed over a few months while they go through security checks and notice periods, while Early Careers feeds include content tied to specific dates aligned with the annual recruitment cycles.

    The content is pre-defined, but released slowly to the candidate over their onboarding journey, with nudges by email/SMS when new content is released. This maximises candidate engagement and ensures that actionable content is highlighted in the feed for their attention the next time a candidate logs in.

    1-2-1 Live Chat

    A key challenge was the disparity of candidates’ onboarding timescales. Offers were being made from mid-September all the way through to early Spring for Early Careers and year-round for Experienced Hires; and a person’s onboarding period could range anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.

    For Experienced Hires, MBDA frontloaded the content so that candidates would see all of the important content initially, and then drip fed the less critical content over the course of their onboarding period.

    Throughout the process, recruiters hosted group and 1-2-1 live virtual chats for candidates, to help them feel comfortable about what was ahead as they went through the selection process and waited, sometimes many months, to join the business. All elements of the solution capture light-touch candidate feedback after each encounter.

    Results

    Impact of MBDA’s onboarding experience
    32

    virtual events, with an average Net Promoter Score of 90

    94%

    registration for Onboarding portal

    97%

    of Early Careers candidates say that the portal is easy to use

    100%

    of candidates say that their recruitment experience has been good

    100%

    of early career candidates felt more confident about joining

    ✓

    Hiring managers reported that new starters are better prepared for work

    The results of implementing solutions to strengthen MBDA’s candidate experience exceeded all expectations and have had a hugely positive impact on candidates. Overall, introducing the Meet & Engage platform has helped MBDA to keep candidates engaged in a number of ways that were previously unavailable.

    Participant Feedback

    “As it is such a long time between being offered the role & starting, the timeline has been brilliant for making me feel that I’ve not been forgotten about!”

    “This was a fantastic way to introduce me to MBDA – people, values, benefits. It was so helpful to learn about the company, and it made me feel included while I worked my notice in my current role. I am so looking forward to my first day.”

    “I found it all very welcoming and comforting, and, although I don’t feel 100% prepared (just my general anxieties!), I am excited about starting.”

    “Best ‘onboarding’ experience I’ve ever had, thank you.”

    Conclusion

    The MBDA team have already conducted in-depth analysis of the data emerging from the different onboarding journeys and tweaked the journey for returners, to include more fresh content in response to lower time-spent-engaging data.

    They will undertake a review of the content by type (video, wall posts, images, etc.) and by candidate engagement levels with individual pieces of content, as well as refreshing the Timeline with newly branded-elements and new polling tools.

    Candidate sentiment continues to be captured as they move through the portal and candidates are signposted towards the feedback chatbot, Debbie, to submit any feedback they’d like to provide. This feedback is regularly reported and provides opportunity for continuous improvements to the candidate experience at MBDA.

    Demo Meet & Engage’s full range of features

    Demo Meet & Engage’s full range of features and see how they could elevate your candidate experience.

    Meet & Engage is Unseen’s candidate experience and onboarding platform.

  • Increasing candidate engagement with the Ministry of Justice

    Increasing candidate engagement with the Ministry of Justice

    How the Ministry of Justice used chatbots to increase candidate engagement and arm candidates with the information they need to succeed

    About the Customer

    Organisation

    Ministry of Justice

    Partner

    SSCL and the Ministry of Justice

    Use Case

    Using chatbots to increase candidate engagement and arm candidates with the information they need to succeed.

    Outcome

    94% satisfaction rating and 234 days of human work time saved by the bot.

    The Challenge

    SSCL needed to find a way for their client, the Ministry of Justice, to engage with potential and in-process candidates in a valuable way that answered questions, provided valuable advice, sifted candidates for different jobs, while also improving time efficiency for recruiters.

    Our Solution

    Meet & Engage, Unseen’s candidate experience and onboarding platform, powers a chatbot that supports candidates and recruiters.

    A chatbot that answers FAQs, helps candidates self-sift for 7 different roles, and seamlessly hands over to live chat with a recruiter during office hours.

    Results

    Impact of the chatbot
    94%

    satisfaction rating

    234

    days of human work time saved by the bot

    7

    different roles candidates can self-sift for

    Demo Meet & Engage’s full range of features

    Demo Meet & Engage’s full range of features and see how they could elevate your candidate experience.

    Meet & Engage is Unseen’s candidate experience and onboarding platform.

  • Connecting Rolls-Royce with a diverse cohort of Early Talent candidates

    Connecting Rolls-Royce with a diverse cohort of Early Talent candidates

    How Rolls-Royce connected with a diverse cohort of early careers candidates through live events and nurture journeys

    About the Customer

    Organisation

    Rolls-Royce

    Focus Area

    Connecting with a diverse cohort of early careers candidates through live events and nurture journeys.

    Programme

    The Power Series; a program of 6 virtual events aimed at engaging candidates who may have considered a career with Rolls-Royce unattainable.

    Outcome

    More than doubled offers made to non-white candidates, with a substantial rise in both applications and offers to women and non-white candidates.

    6

    virtual events in The Power Series

    1,475

    attendees across all events

    1,605

    students engaged

    The Challenge

    Enable Rolls-Royce to engage with more diverse candidates and change perception of the accessibility of a career with them.

    The overriding purpose behind The Power Series was to engage with a more diverse audience, one that we were told felt a career with Rolls-Royce was out of reach, or not a realistic option. At the same time, Rolls-Royce still needed to appeal to graduates and students who were actively seeking career opportunities with the company. Landing this balance was central to our approach.

    Renowned as ‘pioneers of power’, Rolls-Royce has become synonymous with the word ‘power’, but we aimed to turn the meaning on its head with The Power Series.

    Objectives

    Key objectives of The Power Series
    Engage a more diverse audience

    The overriding purpose behind The Power Series was to engage with a more diverse audience, one that we were told felt a career with Rolls-Royce was out of reach, or not a realistic option.

    Appeal to existing talent

    At the same time, Rolls-Royce still needed to appeal to graduates and students who were actively seeking career opportunities with the company.

    Reframe ‘power’

    Renowned as ‘pioneers of power’, Rolls-Royce has become synonymous with the word ‘power’, but we aimed to turn the meaning on its head with The Power Series.

    Reflect brand values

    The traits were also chosen to reflect the Rolls-Royce brand values, i.e., be bold, be agile, be collaborative.

    Our Solution

    Rolls-Royce used Meet & Engage, Unseen’s candidate experience and onboarding platform, to deliver The Power Series; a program of 6 virtual events aimed at engaging candidates who may have considered a career with Rolls-Royce unattainable. Post-event, attendees were to be invited to access a bespoke nurture track, to support them through their entire application journey.

    Live Virtual Events

    The Meet & Engage technology used by Rolls-Royce includes:

    • Pre- and post-event automated email comms and registration
    • Branded pre- and post-event lobby areas
    • Content sharing via live stream, pre-recorded video, polls, slides
    • Fully moderated Q&A
    • NPS candidate experience data

    Automated Nurture Journey

    • Automated candidate journey in a personalized social-style interface
    • Content shared by wall posts, videos and articles
    • Email nudges to see fresh content
    • User candidate experience pulse checks

    Launch

    The Power Series launched in October 2021 with a brave decision to lead with ‘Courage’ – the event with a focus on neurodiversity. Although slightly smaller in number, the audience were so appreciative and engaged by the opportunity, hearing directly from interns, graduates and senior leaders about how they have adapted, been successful, and demonstrated to Rolls- Royce why neurodiverse people are so important to continued innovation and growth.

    Student feedback was very positive: “I found the networking and support for each other amazing”. We ran a Power Series event every three weeks, with the titles Belief, Wisdom, Collaboration, Imagination and Curiosity. Each event saw more attendees than the previous, as awareness and interest grew. Our nurture tracks also grew in numbers, particularly amongst the apprentice / school leaver audience.

    Results

    Applications, offers and experience
    34%

    increase in applications from female candidates

    43%

    increase in applications from diverse candidates

    ✓

    offers made to diverse candidates more than doubled

    85%

    Said their Power Series journey was “great”

    More than doubled offers made to non-white candidates, with a substantial rise in both applications and offers to women and non-white candidates. Glowing feedback from participants.

    Feedback

    Across all events, there were 1,475 attendees and engaged with 1,605 students. The average NPS score from those attending the events was 73% (world class!) and a third of attendees (Rolls-Royce’s benchmark) engaged with the nurture journeys. The nurture journeys featured smiley face feedback and Sukhy, a candidate experience bot.

    Smiley face feedback

    97%

    Are you enjoying the content we’re sharing so far? 97% positive

    100%

    Did you enjoy your Power Series journey? 100% positive

    100%

    Is the mix of content we are sharing valuable? 100% positive

    Participant Feedback

    ‘The panel was inspirational. It was an eye- opening experience for me to learn what work is like at Rolls-Royce as a black woman and the personal growth that can be achieved with hard work and determination ‘

    ‘Very insightful conversations on a variety of topics which is particularly important during the pandemic and remote working. Spot on!’

    ‘I am enjoying this series, it is so inspiring.’

    ‘Both the speakers answered not only my own, but the whole audience’s questions with great depth and breadth. The set up was engaging and the people monitoring the chat were very welcoming.’

    ‘This is a great platform for the new generation to contribute to the change transmission.’

    Conclusion

    The Power Series built on work carried out within assessment to address and remove barriers to entry, particularly the misconception that Rolls- Royce are only interested in certain demographics and backgrounds. This included removing degree classifications, changing from competency to behavioural assessment where possible, and removing any online testing which was potentially disadvantaging students from minority ethnic backgrounds, to provide equal opportunities at each stage.

    The Power Series helped develop focus on behaviours and values that are needed to lead Rolls-Royce into the future, and reinforced the desire to attract students from diverse backgrounds, which is one of their top priorities globally. Rolls-Royce have a hiring strategy centred around three focus areas: Outreach, Access, and Selection, underpinned by the ‘attract’ pillar from the group D&I strategy. The Power Series, as part of this, made sure they could reach, attract and select from the widest and deepest diverse talent pools.

    As with many other organisations, 2020-21 gave Rolls-Royce the opportunity to rethink, refresh, and reinvent how they attract and recruit diverse early careers talent, but mainly it accelerated plans to take student attraction virtual. Shifting to social media platforms, online events and creating useful digital content has helped Rolls-Royce to reach students they haven’t been able to engage with before. All of this has meant they are leading the way with digital attraction and assessment, transforming the traditional employer brand relationship.

    Book a consultation

    Meet & Engage is Unseen’s candidate experience and onboarding platform.

    To find out more about Meet & Engage and our suite of candidate engagement technology, book a demo here or email sales@unseen-group.com.

  • Webinar: GenAI meets GenZ – What it means for Early Careers hiring

    Webinar: GenAI meets GenZ – What it means for Early Careers hiring

    GenAI meets Gen Z:
    What it means for Early Careers hiring


    Now available on demand

    Join Unseen and PeopleScout for a session exploring how generative AI is reshaping early careers hiring and what employers should do about it.

    GenAI isn’t just changing how candidates apply. It’s changing how they prepare, how they present themselves, and how they engage with the hiring process. And importantly, most candidates are trying to use AI ethically to put their best foot forward.

    Built around insights from PeopleScout’s latest report, GenAI meets Gen Z, this session will unpack what these shifts mean in practice and how employers can build a clear, thoughtful strategy in response.

    From application through to assessment and onboarding, we’ll explore how hiring approaches need to evolve to stay fair, credible, and effective in an AI-enabled world.

    Watch on demand now

    What we cover

    How GenAI is shaping candidate behaviour

    Understand how students and graduates are using AI across applications, assessments, and preparation and why this is less about misuse, and more about evolving expectations.

    Rethinking assessment in an AI-enabled world

    If AI is here to stay, how do you design processes that remain fair and credible? We’ll explore how to assess not just outputs, but how candidates use AI judgment, transparency, and decision-making.

    Building an AI-aware early careers strategy

    Learn how to adapt your attraction, assessment, and selection approach setting clear expectations, encouraging ethical AI use, and improving confidence in hiring decisions.

    What you take away

    • Key insights from the GenAI meets Gen Z report
    • Practical ways to respond to AI in your hiring process
    • A clearer strategy for assessing talent in an AI-enabled world
    • A recording of the session to revisit and share

    Speakers


    Nicola Sullivan
    Partnership Solutions Director
    Unseen

    James Chorley
    Talent Solutions Director
    PeopleScout

    Pip Wright
    Talent Systems Technologist
    Unseen

    Amanda Callen CPsychol AFBPsS FRSA
    Head of Assessment Design
    PeopleScout

    Watch on demand

    Access the recording now

  • Rethinking early careers: What employers need to redesign in 2026 

    Rethinking early careers: What employers need to redesign in 2026 

    Rethinking early careers: What employers need to redesign in 2026 

    This article is a summary of a webinar discussion that took place on March 17 2026.

    Titled Rethinking Early Careers: What needs to change in 2026, the webinar featured:

    Ali Hackett, Director of Customer Experience at Unseen

    Anne Marie Campion, Emerging Talent Specialist at Institute of Student Employers

    Claire Monks, Graduate Programme Manager at NHS Wales

    Dr Frances Trought, Founder of Everything D&I

    The early careers market has always evolved, but this year feels materially different. 

    In our specialist early careers webinar, senior voices from across early careers, education and workforce strategy agreed that employers are now operating in a structurally different environment from just a year or two ago. 2026 is a year shaped by economic pressure, policy change, rising candidate anxiety, unprecedented application volumes and the accelerating impact of AI. 

    The result is a growing gap between how many organisations still recruit early talent and what candidates and businesses now need from those processes. 

    A more volatile market is changing how employers plan 

    One of the clearest themes from the discussion was that traditional annual planning cycles are becoming harder to sustain. 

    Rapid shifts in hiring demand, budget scrutiny, apprentice reform and wider economic uncertainty are making long-term talent planning less predictable than before. Our expert panel reflected that strategies which might once have remained stable for a year can now feel outdated within months. 

    That pressure is forcing employers to move beyond inherited recruitment cycles and towards more deliberate workforce planning: understanding which roles are likely to change, which skills will remain critical and where future pipelines genuinely need investment. 

    AI is no longer a side issue in early careers 

    The conversation confirmed that the debate has moved on from whether candidates should use AI, into accepting the reality that its use is prevalent.  

    Candidates are already using it, employers are using it, and trying to remove it from recruitment entirely is increasingly unrealistic. 

    The more important challenge now is how organisations respond fairly and intelligently. 

    This includes: 

    • Deciding where AI use is acceptable in applications 
    • Understanding how it affects assessment validity 
    • Addressing unequal access to paid AI tools 
    • Distinguishing between assisted responses and genuine judgement 

    Several speakers noted that many established selection methods are becoming less effective in this context. Generic written answers, CV screening and predictable competency questions are now easily generated or strengthened through AI. 

    The implication is not to remove rigour, but to redesign it, placing greater weight on judgement, authenticity and live interaction. 

    Related solution

    Rethink assessment for a changing candidate landscape

    As traditional screening methods become less effective, assessment needs to reflect how people think, solve problems and respond in real situations. Our Digital Assessment Centre platform, TopScore, helps employers assess potential more fairly and consistently.

    Explore Digital Assessment Centre solutions

    Assessment needs to reflect real working life 

    A strong consensus emerged that assessment processes need to become more representative of how people will actually work. 

    If AI will be part of day-to-day working environments, then excluding it entirely from recruitment creates an artificial test. 

    Instead, employers should increasingly assess: 

    • How candidates think 
    • How they solve problems 
    • How they apply judgement 
    • How they use tools responsibly 

    That points towards more situational tasks, more project-based exercises and more live interaction, particularly later in the process. 

    At the same time, panellists acknowledged the practical tension this creates: face-to-face assessment and richer interaction often require more resource at a point when many teams are being asked to deliver more with less. 

    The confidence gap is now a major recruitment issue 

    One of the most important insights from the webinar was that candidate behaviour is being shaped not only by competition, but by confidence. 

    Across sectors, employers are seeing: 

    • Higher anxiety 
    • Lower certainty 
    • Greater fear of rejection 
    • Increased disengagement between offer and start date 

    For many young people, repeated rejection is no longer just part of the process but an experience that it is affecting confidence in education choices, career direction and whether they belong in professional environments at all. 

    That means candidate experience is no longer a secondary consideration. It has become central to conversion and retention. 

    Several speakers argued that employers need to think much more carefully about: 

    • How rejection is handled 
    • Where clarity is missing 
    • How transparent entry requirements really are 
    • Whether candidates understand what is expected of them 

    Even simple improvements in communication can materially change outcomes. 

    Related solution

    Build confidence before day one

    When candidates feel informed, connected and reassured, they are more likely to stay engaged throughout the journey. Unseen’s Candidate Experience & Onboarding platform, Meet & Engage, helps employers create stronger touchpoints before offer, after offer, and through onboarding.

    Explore Meet & Engage

    Human connection matters more than ever before day one 

    A particularly strong theme was that organisations often underestimate how fragile the period between offer acceptance and start date has become. 

    This is where doubt grows, competing offers strengthen, and silent drop-off happens. 

    What prevents that is rarely process alone. It also about relationships and authenticity.  

    The most effective examples shared all involved stronger human contact: 

    • Manager introductions 
    • Buddy relationships 
    • Early cohort engagement 
    • Invitations to informal events 
    • Clearer onboarding support 
    • Practical visibility of what the first weeks will look like 

    As one panellist put it, organisations that retain talent best are often those that continue recruiting candidates emotionally right up until day one. 

    Skills-based thinking must go further 

    Another major point was that many organisations still talk about skills-based hiring more than they fully practise it. 

    Rigid academic filters, narrow qualification assumptions and institutional bias can still close off talent unnecessarily. 

    The panel challenged employers to think more carefully about aptitude, transferable capability and demonstrated potential – particularly where future roles are changing quickly anyway. 

    This matters not only for fairness, but for long-term talent resilience. 

    If organisations continue selecting only through familiar indicators, they risk reproducing the same talent profiles while missing the wider capabilities increasingly needed in a changing market. 

    Education and employers need closer alignment 

    A repeated concern was the widening disconnect between what education systems are producing and what employers expect. 

    Universities, schools and colleges are under pressure themselves, often being asked to support more students with fewer resources. 

    At the same time, employers continue to expect stronger work-readiness, AI fluency, data literacy and commercial understanding. 

    The discussion suggested that solving this cannot sit with one side alone. More partnership is needed: 

    • Earlier exposure to employers 
    • More meaningful insight experiences 
    • Micro-internships and challenge-based learning 
    • Stronger collaboration around future skill needs 

    The strongest examples are those that help young people understand work before formal application begins. 

    The strategic shift for employers 

    Taken together, the discussion pointed to a clear conclusion: 

    The organisations likely to succeed in early careers now will be those that stop treating recruitment as a fixed annual process and start treating it as a connected talent system – one that combines planning, assessment, communication, development and belonging. 

    The external pressures are unlikely to ease soon. 

    But many of the strongest responses are within employers’ control: 

    • Simplify where complexity adds little value 
    • Redesign outdated assessment steps 
    • Build trust earlier 
    • Communicate more clearly 
    • Create stronger bridges between attraction and retention 

    In a market where candidates have more uncertainty and employers have less margin for error, the organisations that feel most human are often the ones that perform best.  

    Watch on demand

    Hear the full discussion

    This article captures some of the key themes from the conversation, but the full webinar explores the practical challenges, audience questions and panel perspectives in much greater depth.

    Watch the webinar on demand
  • Unseen Group acquires employee content platform Seenit

    Unseen Group acquires employee content platform Seenit

    Unseen Group acquires employee content platform Seenit

    Unseen Group has announced the completion of its 11th acquisition with the addition of employee content platform, Seenit.

    Seenit is an employee-generated video tool that has enabled the likes of Amazon and Vodafone to build authentic, high-impact content that boosts talent attraction, retention and development.

    The deal comes as Unseen relaunches with a new website and unified offering, designed to help large-scale employers make fair, data-driven hiring decisions while delivering exceptional candidate and employee experiences.

    “I’m really pleased to introduce Seenit to the Group and I look forward to exploring how its employee-generated content platform can support our clients and partners at a time when demand is growing for more human-centred and data-driven talent solutions,” said Zac Williams, CEO of Unseen Group.

    “Seenit is a perfect fit for our refined employer-led offering and further solidifies Unseen as a leading provider of talent tools, spanning from candidate engagement, through to screening, assessments, onboarding and employee development,” he continued.

    Emily Forbes, Founder of Seenit, said this about joining the Unseen Group: 

    “From my first meeting with Zac, it was clear our missions were aligned and that Unseen was building something ambitious. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved at Seenit, and joining Unseen gives us the opportunity to scale that impact even further. There’s a lot for us to look forward to now as we enter this next chapter of growth.”

    “Our goal has always been to see employee content embedded across the entire talent lifecycle as it continues to play a critical role in how candidates understand, join and grow within organisations. Being a part of Unseen allows that voice to sit alongside the Group’s existing engagement, assessment, onboarding, and development tools where it can have even greater impact.”

    Unseen Group’s strategic re-launch is a response to wider changes in recruitment sectors as advances in AI continue to impact how candidates search and apply for jobs – as well as how employers evaluate AI-assisted applications.

    “We’ve seen a real shift in priorities,” said Zac, “employers are under increasing pressure to cut through with content that feels genuine and recruitment and development stages that feel innovative and immediate. The addition of Seenit and employee-led video builds authenticity and real connection at scale and that’s becoming a critical differentiator in a market shaped by AI and automation.”

    Unseen was advised by JMW (Legal), Cowgills (FDD), Unity (Tax), Megabuyte (Commercial) with support from Pelican Capital and ThinCats.

    Learn more about Seenit here

  • Powering authenticity at scale with Amazon

    Powering authenticity at scale with Amazon

    About the Customer

    Organisation

    Amazon

    Focus Area

    Employer brand and talent attraction

    Use Case

    Employee-generated storytelling and recruitment content

    Outcome

    Authentic employee content supporting large-scale hiring

    1M+

    employees across Amazon’s global workforce

    50

    countries where Amazon operates

    2018

    year Seenit was introduced by Amazon’s Employer Brand team

    The Challenge

    Amazon needed to hire at scale while competing with some of the world’s most recognised technology employers. At the same time, the business needed a more authentic way to showcase what it is really like to work at Amazon.

    Traditional job descriptions alone weren’t enough to explain complex roles or bring the organisation’s culture to life. To attract the next generation of candidates, Amazon needed to amplify employee voices and show genuine experiences from inside the company.

    The Employer Brand team also needed a way to create this content efficiently and consistently across a large global organisation.

    Objectives

    Key objectives of the brief
    Support high-volume hiring

    Help Amazon attract talent at scale while competing with leading technology companies.

    Build brand trust

    Amplify employee voices to showcase authentic culture and values.

    Humanise complex roles

    Make specialist roles easier to understand and more appealing to potential candidates.

    Create scalable content

    Enable teams to generate authentic employee stories quickly and consistently.

    Our Solution

    Seenit was introduced by Amazon’s Employer Brand team in the Retail division in 2018. The platform enables Amazon employees to capture and share video content that brings their experiences to life.

    By gathering stories directly from employees, Amazon can create authentic employer brand content that showcases career opportunities, culture and day-to-day experiences across the organisation.

    The content can then be used across the candidate journey, including careers pages, social media and recruitment campaigns.

    Results

    Over time, Amazon has used Seenit to build a large library of employee-generated video content that supports both employer branding and recruitment campaigns.

    Employee storytelling has helped Amazon increase engagement with employer brand content while giving candidates a clearer, more human view of what it is like to work at the organisation.

    Notable outcomes
    1,500+

    employee video uploads captured through Seenit

    15,000+

    pieces of content created using the platform

    2x

    increase in click-through rate to jobs pages

    +200%

    increase in careers site traffic

    Looking Ahead

    Amazon continues to use Seenit to create employee-generated video content that supports employer branding and recruitment campaigns. By putting real employee voices at the centre of its storytelling, the organisation can showcase culture, roles and opportunities in a way that resonates with candidates globally.

    “We were able to increase our careers site traffic by 200% and increase applications for quality candidates by 35%.”

    Matt Sharp, Global EB Lead, Amazon

    Bring employee stories to life

    Discover how employee-generated video can help you showcase authentic culture, engage talent and scale your employer brand.