Blog

You may have noticed we are currently recruiting for O2 Gurus again in our stores.It’s a great role, one which allows you time to keep up to date and play with new technology. Even better – you get the chance to then show it to customers and teach your team mates all about it.

We are asked a lot about the interview process and what people need to know; so I thought it may be useful to let you know what happens.

When you apply for the role make sure you click on the Guru advert in our retail homepage. We have a really useful portal there which takes you into the World of O2 Guru. There are a few scenarios there to make sure that the role is right for you.

Following this you then fill out your application online and attach your CV. The next stage is a telephone interview and a technical test which only takes 30 minutes. The test is only 8 questions long and is based on the sort of things that our Gurus come up against every day. The telephone interview is designed to find out a little more about you and how you like to work.

 If you are successful then you will be invited to meet our managers bringing along a presentation on something technical that inspires you. You get a full brief beforehand though. This runs into an interview – again only about an hour.

Top tips

• Make sure you attach your CV with your application.
• Choose a quiet place for your telephone interview and test. You don’t want any distractions.
• Bring along a presentation on something that interests you – it will be much more comfortable talking about something that you are passionate about.
• Most people are nervous during interviews, just be yourself – we want to meet the real you, that’s why you’ve been invited along

Good Luck

Tom

At the beginning of April 2010, I came to O2 as a Temporary worker through Randstad recruitment. I have a recruitment background and in my previous role, I looked after flex workers. It is really strange going back to being a temporary worker especially as I used to look after between 20 – 40 workers at a time! But I am a not afraid of a new challenge. My fixed term contract at the Randstad branch in Leeds city centre was coming to an end and when I saw an advert for a Recruitment Assistant advertised on the Randstad website, I jumped at the chance to gain more recruitment work experience and learn about the UK’s leading provider of mobile phones and broadband.

Hints and Tips for Temporary work.

Temping offers a realistic alternative to permanent work and has a great many benefits.

It is a great for:

· Meeting new people

· Helping to you to decide what sort of job you would like to do and what sort of industry you would like to work for before making any long term commitments.

· Gaining more work experience and developing your current skills set.

· Getting your foot in the door. You never know what could come out of a temporary assignment!

Treat all temporary placements like a permanent job. Always be in time, enthusiastic, positive and willing to do anything (within reason!). You need to impress, even if your contract is supposed to last two weeks. If you do well at one temp contract and the agency that you are working for will be keen to use you again. Also, as previously stated, it could be your foot in the door. Your contract me be extended or you may even go onto a permanent contract!

Hints and Tips for Telephone interviews.

At O2 I have been conducting telephone interviews for various customer service roles up and down the U.K. In my time of interviewing candidates over the phone I have come across many people who have great work experience and great personalities but some have failed their telephones interviews simple because they have not been prepared. Candidates sometime do not take telephone interviews as seriously as face to face interviews. They think it is going to be a friendly chat that will take five minute and can be done whilst browsing around the Trafford Centre!

Always treat a telephone interview like a face to face interview. Remember the person who is interviewing you will be assessing your skills. They are not going to send you forward for a face to face interview if you do not impress them.

· Prepare! Read the job description carefully and pick out which duties of the role are relevant to your current job. Write down what it is that you do in your current role that is similar. This will help you to answer the competency based questions.

· Also, make sure you research the company, find out about things like the companies values, what their background is and where they are looking to go in. These wells give you a better understanding of what they are looking for in an employee.

· Make sure you have a good reception on your phone so you don’t miss the call.

· You also need to make sure you are in an quiet area where you will not be distracted and the interviewer can hear you well.

· It is also a good idea for you to have your c.v, research and mock questions to hand. Obviously do not stand there and read from a script but If you get stuck you can look at your notes and c.v for help.

· Speak clearly and confidently. Don’t mumble or speak to quietly especially if you are going forward for a role where you need to have good communication skills.

· Finally, believe in yourself! I have interviewed a lot of people who have be so nervous they have completed fluffed the interview. Take 10-15 mins before for the call to relax, maybe with a cup of tea. When the interviewer calls be friendly, ask how they are, try to build up some rapport (but don’t go over the top and tell them your life story!) with them. This will help to calm your nerves.

Janine

I have worked in Recruitment for about 5 years now, recruiting for a variety of roles from call centre & head office staff right through to paramedics & factory workers, working in large international companies through to the NHS. When my temporary contract with the NHS ended in February, it seemed like a natural progression to come in to O2 and gain some more experience working in a large blue chip company.
I started in the recruitment department here in February 2010, as a temporary Recruitment Assistant. I have been recruiting for Customer Service Advisors & Retail Sales Advisors and will be working on the Guru Recruitment campaign starting in May.

Applying for the job

• Always fill in the correct information, O2 will always ask for references from your previous employers and if you have filled this out incorrectly it could come back to haunt you at a later date.
• Read the questions correctly before you apply!
• Read your applications before you press submit, this is your last chance to ensure everything is correct – it can not be changed after.
• Check your emails and junk email for our reply; we will always email you to let you know if you have been successful to go through to Telephone Interview or if you have been unsuccessful on this occasion.

Telephone Interviews

• When you receive the email inviting you to interview, call us as soon as possible, this will stop you being disappointed if all of the allocated interview slots have gone by the time you call us.
• When you call for your interview, if you cannot do the date and/or time we suggest tell us! We can book you in for another day.
• Ensure you are in a quiet place; we need to be able to hear your answers so we can take them down correctly.
• Make sure you have plenty of battery life if we are calling you on a mobile, your interview will last approximately 20 minutes.
• Speak clearly and not too fast (some of us cannot type as fast as you speak!)
• Prepare for your phone interview, read up on interview questions on the internet especially if you have not had an interview in a while, this will stop you being nervous and you will know what to expect.
• If you are not successful, we will offer feedback, take it! We will always let you know what you need to improve on and what you did well.

Face to Face Interviews

• Check to make sure you have received the email and call us back if you have not, we do not want you to miss out on your interview.
• Plan your journey before you go, ensure you have enough time to get there, with time to spare in case anything goes wrong!
• Dress smartly, you will be judged on your appearance.
• Research the company and the role you are being interviewed for.
• Know your CV and make sure your details of previous employers and education are correct.
• Let the interviewers know your skills and what you are good at…. People usually don’t like to give themselves praise, but go for it!
• Don’t go off on a tangent, take a minute to think about the questions you have been asked and stick to the point.

Nikki