An electronics shop in Northampton found itself inundated with applicants when it held an open recruitment event.
150 hopeful job hunters queued outside of the CeX shop in Weston Favell, Northampton in January when the shop held an open evening to hire new staff. Whilst there were only four vacancies originally advertised, six people were ultimately offered positions.
CeX is a high street retailer that buys and sells video games, movies and electronics, with over 400 stores nationwide.
Mark Jones, the store franchisee, spoke to local newspaper the Chronicle and Echo of his astonishment on the night: “I know people love the brand, but I expected about 20 to 30 people to turn up and I thought that would have been good.”
“To have a queue snaking around the centre was amazing, I nearly fainted when we opened the door and saw the number of people. It took us over two-and-a-half hours to process everyone but I am delighted they came and look forward to welcoming them to the team soon.”
Store Manager Andy Stratford added why he thought there was such a demand for the vacancies: “We are talking about games, DVDs, mobile phones… And of course we have to test everything, so you can spend one minute playing FIFA on a games console to see if it works and the next downloading an app on a phone.”
“Obviously it’s hard work and you are on your feet all day, but it is great fun.”
Too Many Applicants?
Having a brand that people want to work for is something that most companies aspire to. However the exercise cost the CeX store more than just the two-and-a-half hour open evening. The management team then had to sift through 109 applications, time that could almost certainly have been better spent.
This is where our Fixed Fee Recruitment service could have helped. We work with you to develop a job advert and a person specification that’s right for your vacancy. We then post the advert to all major jobs boards, filter through the applications and liaise with the candidates on your behalf, saving you time and effort on the inappropriate applicants.
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