Transdev Sverige AB is part of a multinational public transport service corporaiton for buses, trains, ferries, and other modes of transport. With over 100,000 employees, they enable people to travel whenever they want, and however they want, creating integrated transport solutions worldwide. To maintain the highest possible standards for their services, Transdev continuously invests in finding and retaining the right staff.
In 2022, Transdev Sweden took over the operation of Roslagsbanan in Sweden, and a year later, a project was initiated to develop the recruitment process for 30 new train drivers. Anders Carlsarv, a specialist in business and operational development with extensive experience as an IT and management consultant, was appointed project manager to build and implement the process. In the same year, Transdev decided to invest in Assessio's platform, which came into use in the spring.
Industry Transport
Location Global
Size + 100,000 employees
Rapidly hiring over 30 new train drivers for Roslagsbanan to meet the growing staffing needs came with a number of challenges.
To find enough candidates suitable for the working conditions of a train driver, and who also had the ability to complete the four-month training programme, a completely new approach to recruitment was necessary. One that could effectively match all applicants against a requirement profile, speed up the recruitment process, and at the same time bring through enough people to the final stage to achieve the recruitment target.
Another challenge was that candidates needed to be assessed for various regulatory requirements for occupational psychological capacity and physical health, which risked making the recruitment process both lengthy and costly.
Anders explains: "A train driver's working environment is full of unpredictable situations that can pose the risk of accidents, so drivers must constantly be attentive and act according to procedures and regulations, which places high demands on their personal characteristics. Therefore, we needed to ensure that we would attract the right candidates, who could be expected to pass the upcoming more advanced assessments, as well as enough applicants to achieve the number of qualified final candidates we aimed for. The goal was to have six candidates ready for employment each quarter."
Another challenge was that a job advertisement could generate up to 500 applicants, but nearly 400 were filtered out already in the early selection questions.
"The remaining candidates would then be screened through CVs, telephone interviews, reading cover letters, and so on. Such a cumbersome and time-consuming manual recruitment process could become costly in terms of delayed hires, which in turn could lead to empty training spots, overtime costs, and unnecessary strain on the existing train drivers. So the thesis was born: What if we could test 100 candidates online, and in doing so expedite the process while simultaneously identifying the right people directly?" Anders continues.
Anders Carlsarv - Transdev
In spring 2023, Transdev started a collaboration with Assessio to transform its recruitment process. With the help of Assessio's experts and their psychometric job profiles, they were able to identify and define the critical behaviours and skills needed to succeed as a train driver.
"With a unique recruitment lens that clearly specified the requirements we had for candidates based on personality, cognitive ability, and stress tolerance, we were able in the first step to screen all candidates to identify the most suitable ones. That is, those individuals who could meet the high standards and perform according to our expectations," explains Anders.
Thanks to Assessio's assessments, the selection was narrowed down to a smaller and more manageable number of candidates based on their behaviours and skills, which in turn saved both time and resources.
Anders describes the effect: "We could have very experienced candidates who, on paper, could get any job, but they were not necessarily the perfect train driver. Now, thanks to the assessments and the lens which the candidates were matched to, we could clearly see if they had the crucial abilities required for the job, or not. And it was not dependent on background, age, or a well-filled CV."
Another important part of the solution was integrating Assessio's platform with Transdev's existing ATS (Applicant Tracking System) to digitise and streamline candidate management. With an automated workflow where the applicants who best matched the requirements profile were identified early on, the need for previous selection methods such as CV and phone screening decreased. Instead, focus could be placed on candidates with the highest match against the requirements profile. The integration also allowed the entire team, including recruiting managers, to easily gain an overview of candidates' test results in combination with other documentation.
Moreover, a changed marketing strategy, with clearer descriptions of requirements and expectations, helped Transdev attract more relevant applicants than before.
After implementing Assessio's tools, Transdev was able to early identify significantly more candidates with the right behaviours and skills. This led to fewer time-consuming manual steps in the process, and those individuals who possessed the right qualities were the ones invited for personal interviews. The result was that the hiring goals were met, which also reduced the pressure on the existing staff who previously had to cover for the shortage of train drivers.
Anders continues: "With Assessio's platform and the tailored recruitment lens for our train driver profile, we identified candidates with higher potential to succeed through the entire process. In our previous recruitment process, only about half of the candidates were approved during the occupational psychological evaluation. Thanks to Assessio's assessments, where we got a picture of how well the candidate matched the personal traits requested in a psychological evalualuation, the approval rate increased to an impressive 85%! The reduction in cost waste from the assessments, such as the psychological evaluation and health screenings, was also an important outcome. With more qualified candidates in the process, Transdev not only increased efficiency but also reduced the costs per recruitment."
Transdev has now completed its second recruitment round using the same tailored lens and has further empirical evidence that this method works over time.
Anders summarises: "The recruitment lens concept is still the key to everything. If we had used consulting services for the same job, it would have become much more expensive and not nearly as scalable. Now we can test as many as we want and rely on the data provided; we know the platform presents the candidates with the best match scores regardless of whether we have tested 20 or 200 applicants. We have truly been able to address the pain points early in the process, thus creating a more qualitative and efficient process. The collaboration with Assessio has been invaluable – not just as a supplier but as a strategic partner. We now have a recruitment process that is scalable, data-driven, and future-proofed."
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