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When Virgin Mobile made the decision to establish their own retail operations in 120+ Virgin Megastores across the country it needed to recruit high calibre sales and customer service staff for a diverse range of locations. It was also vital that each outlet was staffed with individuals who understood and reflected the Virgin philosophy.
Academy designed and delivered a unique recruitment process for Virgin Mobile. This identified candidates who would be successful in a highly competitive sales environment and who also displayed behaviours that were consistent with the Virgin brand ethos.
Woking closely with the Virgin Mobile HR team, Academy analysed existing high performers to identify the values and competencies required for success in the roles. This enabled the right advertising campaign to be developed.
reflecting brand values and appropriate skills . When candidates called a dedicated phone line, they were asked to participate in a short telephone interview.
The process needed to be as dynamic as possible as an application form driven process can be too lengthy and candidates either lose interest or find other jobs. By screening people as they called in, communication skills and other behaviours were assessed. This enabled an instant view of whether they were suitable. If so, this was conveyed immediately by inviting them to an assessment event.
The campaign generated over 3,500 candidates for the positions. In order to handle such a high volume of applicants, Academy created a management information system, enabling candidates to be tracked through the process and which generated appropriate correspondence at all stages. If candidates were unsuccessful, they were able to obtain feedback.
Assessment events were organised in locations that provided easy access. The principle behind the event was to make it interesting and enjoyable for the candidate and to provide Virgin Mobile with as much objective information as possible about a candidate’s ability and potential. Each lasted for a half day.
The events followed the same format in each location and were managed by Academy. As an introduction to Virgin Mobile a promotional video was shown. Presentations from Academy and Virgin Mobile staff explaining both the company philosophy and the job roles in more detail also helped to set the scene. The events comprised a series of personality and ability assessments, a one to one competency based interview and a group role-play exercise. All elements were designed to specifically assess candidates’ abilities against the core components of the job: customer service orientation, team-working skills, and an ability to work to deadlines and to sell the benefits of the Virgin Mobile service. As all locations were new operations, the group role-play exercise was particularly important as it gave a good insight into how candidates might work with each other in a team situation.
At the end of the event, candidates were formally assessed on each stage using all of the evidence that had been gathered throughout the process. The final selection was made on the basis of this overall evaluation. Sometimes candidates were notified of a job offer within one hour of the assessment event finishing.
The quality of the staff recruited has enabled Virgin Mobile to deliver a 1st class customer experience within a highly competitive market and to exceed their own business expectations. To date over 300 staff have been recruited by Academy on behalf of Virgin Mobile.
Phill Mather
Head of HR Business Delivery
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