About...
Schoen Clinic is a specialist independent healthcare provider dedicated to mental health services. Partnering with the NHS and multiple commission bodies, Schoen Clinic offers a range of tailored treatments across the UK, ensuring comprehensive support at every stage of an individual’s journey.
Faye Collins, UK HR Director chose to partner with Zinc to improve the candidate experience and reduce on-boarding times. The priority being to welcome new team members without delay and starting their position to care for service users. Alex joined Schoen Clinic as Recruitment Business Partner and brings 15 years of healthcare recruitment experience. She is no stranger to the frustrations of drawn out on-boarding processes and the partnership with Zinc has been a welcomed change since joining the team just under one year ago. Zinc allows Alex to spend the time needed to attract top tier talent for Schoen Clinic.
per employee
not weeks
Schoen Clinic
Background check experience
Recruiting for specialised roles—such as nurses, psychologists, and social care workers—in the healthcare industry is challenging on its own. Add the regulatory requirements under the CQC framework, and the process to bring a new employee on board becomes even more complex. This is a situation that Alex, the Recruitment Business Partner at Schoen Clinic, knows all too well.
The team at Schoen Clinic managed background checks in-house, but the DBS and right-to-work checks, required for all new hires, consistently caused delays and complications. Without a certified IDVT, they had to conduct document verification manually and in person, requiring candidates to bring their passports to interviews. This process extended recruitment timelines and added hurdles, as candidates needed to coordinate with office hours and return if they forgot any documents.
Navigating between multiple portals for DBS, right-to-work, and other essential checks, led to further delays and required extensive manual oversight. Healthcare is not an industry where teams can have long, timely background checks because candidates will accept other opportunities. So, for the team at Schoen Clinic, the need for speed, simplicity, and better communication with candidates was absolutely key, as every extra step risked candidate drop-off in an already tight job market.
For Alex, the top priorities in selecting a background-checking provider would be speed and candidate experience. The process needed to be as seamless as possible for all candidates, acknowledging that not everyone is tech-savvy or comfortable with online apps.
Zinc’s usability stood out for the Schoen Clinic: with everything in one portal, the team no longer had to navigate multiple platforms to track progress. For candidates, it was even simpler—just a link, a photo, and they were set—removing much of the hassle from onboarding.
When evaluating providers, they knew they needed complete confidence that all checks were thorough and would meet regulatory standards. Zinc delivered this assurance: with automated alerts for any mismatched information, the team could review issues instantly from a single dashboard. Helping remove hurdles from the background checking process for all involved.
Results
Schoen Clinic implemented Zinc in August 2023, before joining they were experiencing check turnaround times of approximately 21 days. Alex and the team have experienced a 50% reduction in turnaround times since using Zinc, as their turnaround times now average 11 days. Although Alex may not feel the extra time given the nature of her role, Zinc's automation tools have lightened her workload, setting her up for faster, more efficient hiring.
The biggest game changer for Alex was that you only need to enter a candidate’s first name, last name, email, and contact number, and then everything else is done for you. After years of manually managing checks, this streamlined approach is a major improvement. No more jumping between DBS, Experian, and other portals, Alex now handles all checks within Zinc's platform.
This newfound efficiency has boosted Schoen Clinic’s candidate experience score to a perfect 5/5 and reduced candidate dropout rates. Now, dropouts are rare and typically unrelated to onboarding and instead are often due to a change of mind given the niche of the role. Alex has regular check-ins with candidates throughout onboarding, this no longer requires her to outline what checks are left outstanding, as candidates already know where things are at thanks to the Zinc portal. In just over a year, Schoen Clinic's onboarding experience has transformed from slow and manual to efficient, seamless, and candidate-centric, helping them onboard and retain nothing but the best talent.
Loved by the world's leading companies
.svg){kind=icon}
%201.png)
