Online retail recruitment for Specsavers store staff
Introduction
In March 2005, Specsavers launched a new recruitment initiative for its UK high street stores. Most Specsavers stores are Joint Venture Partnerships (JVPs) with the Specsavers Optical Group. Each store has responsibility for implementing its own recruitment procedure.
Specsavers appointed Criterion Partnership to design a bespoke online assessment system that would become an integral part of the Specsavers Staff Selection (SSS) process.
Problem
Specsavers wanted to introduce a new recruitment system across the business as part of its ongoing drive for high levels of customer service.
A fundamental factor was the company's desire to achieve even better staff performance. It wanted to make sure that its JVPs were hiring individuals who were most capable of reflecting the company’s stated values of warmth, service and professionalism.
Specsavers also wanted to maximise staff retention and needed to find a recruitment method that would select the most suitable candidates from the outset. This would also lead to a more efficient selection process by effectively 'screening' applicants before store managers embarked on a time-consuming interview process.
The new system also needed to have richer information on candidates in order to give a clearer focus to the interview process for shortlisted candidates, such as exploring their attitude to the job and motivation in the workplace.
Specsavers asked Criterion Partnership to develop an online selection system, having been impressed that the consultancy already had a state of the art assessment process for retail staff and could therefore offer first-hand expertise in this area.
Solution
Criterion Partnership knew that improving staff performance and maximising the chance of employee retention could not be achieved by interview alone. The most effective staff selection processes combine a variety of methods in order to give the best possible insight into individual candidates.
It therefore set about creating an assessment system that would complement the interview procedure by providing richer insights into the suitability of candidates.
Criterion Partnership decided that the new assessment system should operate online. Specsavers was already offering paper-based tests to its stores. However, very few stores were using them as they were very time consuming to administer and score. Online assessment was a fresh approach, providing efficiency for busy store managers.
Richard Hunter, Co-Director of Criterion Partnership, said: "One of the key challenges for us was to create a system that could deliver rich, detailed information on applicants but which did not take up too much of the store managers' time.
This was why we decided to build an online system which doesn't require any paperwork to be done and also generates complete, instantly usable reports. The store managers get vital information with little effort, which they can use to complement their one-to-one interviews."
Criterion Partnership therefore came up with a new addition to the Specsavers Staff Selection (SSS) process, called SSS Online, which consisted of bespoke verbal and numerical tests, as well as a personality questionnaire. The online assessment takes about 30 minutes to complete.
A three-page assessment report for each candidate is sent to the store in time for it to be used alongside final selection interviews. This report clearly interprets how the candidate has performed in the verbal and numerical tests. It also describes the applicant's personality and motivational values in relation to working in a Specsavers retail environment. The last page of the report suggests interview questions based on the applicant’s personality profile, which managers can use at the final stage in the selection process.
Benefit
Since it went live in March 2005, Specsavers has experienced significant and tangible benefits from Criterion Partnership’s online assessment system. Staff turnover is down by four per cent in little over six months, with further improvements in this figure expected.
Specsavers’ customer service standards are leaving competitors behind, a situation verified by independent research and to which the system has contributed.
Chris Howarth, Head of Professional Recruitment at Specsavers, said: "Criterion delivered an excellent system, which has proved to be very effective and glitch-free. It was also pitched at the perfect level for our Joint Venture Partners because it doesn’t require too much time investment for busy store managers."
"All the information we receive in the reports very accurately represents the capabilities of the individual. We know that the applicants find the online assessment process very user-friendly and easy to engage with too."
Store perceptions have also indicated that online assessment is a huge improvement on the time-consuming psychometric tests, which had been used in previous years. The reports are widely viewed as user friendly, and minimal time and space resources are required at store level.
Criterion Partnership's bespoke online assessment system has also enriched the selection interview, with store managers hailing the usefulness of having them to refer to in advance of the traditional face-to-face interview.
Steve Bryan, Store Director and JVP at Specsavers in Liverpool, said: "Having a screening procedure is a good starting point for the face-to-face interview. When we were opening a sister store in Liverpool we were recruiting for five staff at once, and the online assessment system helped get numbers down to a manageable level.
"I did actually hire someone that the online assessment had earmarked as unsuitable, purely based on their personality at the interview stage. This person ended up leaving the job quite quickly, and everything the assessment had said turned out to be true. It's definitely reliable and excellent value for money as a result."