Entertainment chain HMV has become the first high-street retailer to place
all of its external recruitment – including assessments for every job – online.
The company, which receives between 60-100 job applications a day across its
190 stores in the UK and Ireland, is using its revamped careers website to ensure
consistency in its external recruitment process, which is largely driven at a
local level.
"We have lots of people applying and we want to treat them in the right
way because they are invariably regular customers," said Liam Donnelly, HR
director at HMV. "Going entirely online is a way of making sure we get
consistency in the early stages."
The recruitment website, designed in collaboration with technology
consultancy Changework, features three questionnaires for applicants. The first
assesses their backgrounds to judge general suitability for employment at HMV,
and the second determines their competence for specific roles. If the responses
are positive, candidates are then given an online application form, which is
immediately acknowledged.
HMV made a "significant investment" in IT systems to support the
move, including a candidate management application, but the project was easy to
sell to the board because of the benefits, Donnelly said.
