Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Latest News

M&S reaps benefit of image makeover

by Personnel Today 18 Nov 2003
by Personnel Today 18 Nov 2003

Applications to Marks & Spencer’s graduate trainee scheme have surged by
115 per cent on last year’s overall figures, with a month still to go before
the scheme’s cut off point.

John McElwee, head of graduate recruitment, said the rise was due to
improved perceptions of the employer brand and a new, streamlined, online
screening process.

"M&S rose from 25 to 16 in The Times Top 100 this year and we’ve
received fantastic feedback about our rebranded recruitment literature and
website," said McElwee.

The recruitment process itself has been overhauled – with the help of
graduate recruitment consultants WCN and online screening consultants SHL –
using feedback from graduate focus groups.

Now the online process itself screens applicants through four stages –
eligibility, verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning and a forced-choice talent
screener.

Unsuccessful applicants receive automatic feedback generated at whichever
stage they fail. If an applicant gets as far as the talent screener they
receive a one-page report on their profile that highlights the areas that do
and do not match what M&S is looking for.

Successful candidates that pass through the entire online process are
invited to attend a final-stage assessment centre.

In previous years, candidates filled in a one-stage online recruitment form,
the latter half of which elicited lengthy text-based answers. M&S
recruitment staff then sifted through these to select candidates for interview
and those that got through the interview attended a final assessment centre
stage.

McElwee said: "The focus groups highlighted that this was a very
time-consuming procedure for the applicants, both in terms of the form and
travelling to interviews."

M&S has cut out the interview stage and incorporated the psychometric
tests, previously done at the assessment centre, into the new online system.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

"This means the assessment centre stage is now more of two-way process,
which includes a store tour where potential recruits get a taste of the working
environment they’ll be coming into," he added.

By Sarah Ball

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Burger chain giant cheesed off by ‘McJob’ definition
next post
Refugees targeted to bridge skills gap

You may also like

Performance management is broken: how can we rebuild?

11 Jul 2025

Gregg Wallace case: don’t be too hasty to...

11 Jul 2025

‘Replace sick notes with gym’, Streeting tells GPs

11 Jul 2025

Workers with second jobs at an all-time high

11 Jul 2025

How using data can transform return-to-office mandates

11 Jul 2025

Ministers loosen fire and rehire proposals in Employment...

10 Jul 2025

£188k tribunal award for director sacked after cardiac...

10 Jul 2025

It’s no secret – parity in the workplace...

10 Jul 2025

Firms’ salary secrecy means ‘they lose out on...

10 Jul 2025

Court of Appeal rules that Ryanair agency pilot...

9 Jul 2025

  • Empower and engage for the future: A revolution in talent development (webinar) WEBINAR | As organisations strive...Read more
  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+