Overcoming the challenges of national retail recruitment

It can be difficult…

We know recruiting new staff can be challenging at the best of times, but how do you manage when you’re responsible for the quality of recruits all around the country?

Internal recruitment teams sift endlessly through CVs to find the diamond in the rough, many even interview over the telephone to qualify skills and get to know the candidate a little better, quite often only to be told by the local hiring manager that the candidates just weren’t right.

So what more can you do before putting candidates forward for vacancies in your retail outlets?

Replacing your telephone interview with a Video Interview can help overcome a number of challenges:

Consistency

Without meeting each candidate, it can be difficult to recruit a consistent workforce and ensure that your customers receive the same quality of service whether they pop into the flagship store in central London or your smallest branch in the northern reaches of Scotland. By using video interviewing software, you get a real feel for how each candidate will approach and present themselves to each customer.

Culture

>It’s important to have a diverse workforce, and yet it’s also key that each employee fits within the company culture. Challenge your candidates in your video interview by asking questions about how they would deal with a particular situation or how they feel about flexible working for example, and see how they respond and how enthusiastic and animated they become giving their answer. This will give you a much better understanding of whether they’re the right fit for your company.

Specialist Knowledge

Ok, so you don’t expect your candidates to know your product spec of by heart before they even get the job, but by asking them a technical question that anyone with a passion for your products will know, will give you a good indication as to whether they will be able to competently discuss the products at length.

Time

Recruitment is a time consuming process – we’re not telling you anything new here – and your local hiring manager probably resents taking a day off the shop floor to interview candidates. Video interview can help you to improve the quality of candidate reaching the local interview stage, making your hiring managers happy. In time they’ll have more confidence in the candidates being put forward and you never know, they might even get excited about interview days, knowing they’re going to find that new dazzling employee who has the potential to Shine.

Take a look at our collection of resources such as rolling out video in a contact centre and more.