Great Interview Presentation & Preparation

In our role of recruiting Executive & Managerial appointments for the Call Centre and Customer Service industry, the consultants at Douglas Jackson are lucky enough to work with and represent some really talented and inspiring people, teams and departments.

Where possible, we would like to share some of the best examples of individuals who have gone ‘above and beyond’ the usual expectation, or, those who have tried something really innovative in order to secure the role. With this in mind, we have recently experienced one such occasion and would like to share it with you.

We were engaged by an established client partner of ours, to help them source and select, a Customer Service Manager.  We went to market with a blank page approach and utilising all of our sources and networks, we presented a shortlist of candidates.  From this shortlist the candidates were invited to interview; in addition to a competency based interview, the candidates were also asked to prepare a presentation to highlight how the business could improve the “Customer Experience”.

One of our candidates, Angela, had never been a customer of this business before and so, as we would advise all candidates to do before any interview, decided to do some research in preparation.

Angela started with an initial search of the web, visiting the company website, as well as visiting any forums, to gauge customer opinions regarding levels of service and product quality. For some potential interviewees this might well be enough, but, not for Angela.  Angela felt she could not make a fair judgement on their full service proposition, or, recommend any required improvements until she herself became a customer of the business, so took her research to the next level.

The company had three predominant channels of service delivery; The Web, a Retail presence and their Customer Service Contact Centre.  Angela went to each channel and decided to try and make a purchase.  The business had a large variety of products on offer, including a clothing range, which allowed Angela the opportunity to purchase three separate items; one via the web, one through their retail store and one via their customer contact centre. In addition to a straight forward purchase, Angela also decided to throw in some obstacles to service delivery, such as a locked account and product change.

Angela went on to attend her interview and delivered her presentation and findings, wearing some of her new purchases (Well, it would be rude not to!)

When we obtained feedback from the client on the candidate interviews’, it was Angela’s presentation which really stuck out and raised a smile from many of the interviewers and we felt that this was a great example of how a personal touch and going that extra mile can help make that all important lasting impression.

What do you think? Please do let us know your thoughts; we would also like to hear your stories. Have you yourself gone the extra mile, or do you know someone who has, whether in their job, life, or on an interview, we really want to know.

If you would like to learn more about Angela and her presentation, Angela has agreed that she would be happy to share more detail, so do please let us know and we can put you in touch.

Want to hire someone like Angela, or maybe you are the potential next Angela?  Then why not give us a call: 0845 620 9720, or email: mail@douglas-jackson.com