Customer Service
Recruitment Process
Our recruitment process is designed to ensure both that you are right for the role and that the role is right for you. So there are no trick questions, no attempts to catch you out. It’s purely a chance for you to show us what you can do, while getting a better feel for what’s involved.
Initial application
For customer service roles you can apply online or by calling 0800 068 4112 (minicom 020 7406 5790). Don’t forget to quote the appropriate reference number, which is provided at the top of the job profile.
When you make your application, you’ll be asked a few very basic things about yourself – for example, whether or not you’re eligible to work in the UK. You’ll also be asked a series of multiple-choice questions, designed to find out how you would react in various situations you might face in one of our customer service roles.
Telephone interview
If you make it through our initial screening, the next stage involves a short telephone interview. We’ll ask you a few simple questions about why you applied for the role and how you feel about customer service. We can call at a time that’s convenient for you.
Recruitment event
Perform well in your telephone interview, and you’ll be invited along to one of our selection days. Here, you’ll take part in four different activities. How you perform as a whole will determine the overall outcome – so don’t worry if you don’t feel confident in one activity, as you should be able to make up for it elsewhere.
Role play
This is nothing like as scary as it sounds. You won’t be doing it in front of other candidates, and we certainly won’t be testing your acting skills. It’s simply a chance for us to see how you behave in certain situations. One of us will pretend to be a customer with a particular problem. You’ll help solve the problem, as though you were doing the role of a customer service advisor.
Written exercise
There are two parts to this exercise. In the first, you’ll be asked to work out a bill. This involves doing basic arithmetic – adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing – and you’ll be provided with a calculator. In the second part, you’ll be asked to write to a customer, explaining the bill you have just calculated. These are both things you will be required to do in your role.
Case study
This is an interactive written exercise. You’ll be given a fictitious customer query to resolve. Over the course of the exercise, we’ll provide you with further useful information, which should affect how you resolve the query. This is very much a practical exercise, which reflects the kind of work you’ll be doing in the role.
Interview
The aim of the interview is to find out which of our customer service roles is right for you. We’ll ask you to tell us about situations you have been in, and how you handled those situations. It’s important to tell your interviewer what you actually did in the situation, rather than what you think you should have done. And your examples should be about you, not other people. Work-based examples are preferred. But if none come to mind, it is OK to use examples from outside work too.
By attending one of our recruitment events, you’ll be able to see what it’s really like to work for us. If you like it and we like you, we’ll offer you a job right there on the day.
