Credit: Flazingo Photos/CC BY-SA 2.0

The Government Digital Service has signed a £50,000 deal with a specialist recruitment software that provides organisations with pre-screened candidates.

On 13 March, the Cabinet Office-based digital unit entered into a one-year contract with hackajob. Awarded via the G-Cloud 13 framework, the deal will provide GDS with access to the recruitment firm’s platform.

According to its listing on government’s Digital Marketplace, the system allows organisations to “invite validated tech talent directly into your process [and] match to technically tested and humanly screened tech talent”. The platform specialises in supporting the recruitment of technology jobs, including software developers and engineers, product managers, and data scientists.

According to the text of the contract, GDS can designate unlimited users and can has no restrictions on the number of jobs posted and appointments made via the platform. The government unit will be provided with up to 20 “matches” of recommended candidates each month.

Related content

• DWP signs potential £1.4m deal to tap LinkedIn for recruitment
• Salaries of government technologists in same pay band differ by as much as £40,000
• Cabinet Office taps LinkedIn to help fill ‘specialist’ digital and leadership roles in £600k deal

To support such recommendations, GDS will have access to 50 “test slots” per month through which it can conduct online exercises to assess candidates coding skills and other technical expertise.

A total of £49,300 will be spent during the initial 12-month term of the contract – a figure which includes a 15% discount on the rate-card price, equating to a saving of £8,700. The deal offers GDS the option to take a one-year extension.

Individual users can sign up to hackajob to be matched with roles which, according to the company’s website, means that corporate customers can benefit from a “highly-engaged talent pool… [of] candidates [who] are pre-screened and ready to interview, meaning you can make a hire in just 17 days or less”.

Government procurement records indicate that the GDS engagement is the second government contract the recruitment firm has won, having previously signed a one-year deal in 2021 to support the Home Office in hiring digital specialists.