What does the hiring process at a top company entail?
Image: Luke Maxwell

What does the hiring process at a top company entail?

12 Mar 2018

We gained an insight into what companies like Voxpro seek in prospective candidates, which personal skills are the most important and what the recruitment process fully entails.

Getting a foot in the door at one of the top firms around can seem nebulous at best. You occasionally hear rumours of prospective employees being asked to calculate how many tennis balls could fit into the Atlantic Ocean or to design an evacuation plan for the building they’re in.

Of course, it’s easy to see how tackling these kinds of issues could give valuable insight into a candidate’s ability to problem-solve, or their preferred problem-solving style, but it’s also sometimes refreshing to hear that a dynamic, innovative company such as Voxpro – trading as ‘Voxpro – powered by Telus International’ – has a more straightforward process.

Russell Keogh, a team manager at Voxpro, said that while a tech-related background is ideal, it’s not necessary. “What we look for is the person themselves.”

“You can train things like tech, and it’s an ongoing process, but what you can’t train is the customer experience. That’s what we want to give to our clients and their customers.”

“That beautiful customer experience comes from positivity and the person themselves, so that’s obviously what we’re looking for as number-one [priority].”

Aniek Smith, a tier-one agent on the Dutch customer service team, fit the bill of the ideal employee because she had one key trait for relating to customers and making them feel at ease: empathy.

“You have to have empathy because you’re dealing with the customers and they’re having problems or have questions, and you have to picture yourself in their situation,” Smith explained.

Smith went on to say that while these interpersonal skills are vital, a few key traits will also be pretty helpful. “As you’re working away, an important skill is multitasking because you’re working on the computer, you’re listening to the customer, you’re typing, you’re talking, you’re concentrating.

“And lastly, be a fast typist –  that’s definitely going to help!”

Inês Prates is a talent consultant at Voxpro, and so she’s observed the process of both recruiting new talent and fostering talent within the company firsthand. One thing she feels is important to highlight is the potential for upward career mobility at the company.

“We have internal training programmes in place and always promote internal career progression, so our employees might start in a junior role and then work their way up to a senior role.”

For more experienced hires, the process is a little more rigorous and complex.

“For senior roles, the recruitment process takes longer because they will need to meet with a recruitment consultant, a hiring manager and as well, sometimes, a panel of senior stakeholders.

“I guess that we always need to keep in mind the complexity of work or level of responsibility it will take.

“Based on that, we might need to assess their skills in different ways, by sending them psychometric tests or doing assessment centres because, at the end of the day, we just want to hire people that want to have a positive impact on our business.”

Eva Short
By Eva Short

Eva Short was a journalist at Silicon Republic, specialising in the areas of tech, data privacy, business, cybersecurity, AI, automation and future of work, among others.

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