7/8

Vodafone had been working to shift a new set of valuesto the core of every aspect of the business – from theway people interact and work to the way the companyrecruits. As Vodafone’s global head of talentassessment, Margarita Echeverria was part of thatprocess. A key touchpoint for huge numbers ofcandidates, assessments would be part of educatingnew employees about Vodafone’s spirit behaviours –their values. That achieves three positive outcomes –help both the candidate and the hiring manager assesshow well they’d fit, build the brand, and improve theexperience for those applying.

“Recruitment is a point of contact where you buildrelationships and create expectations of what it will feellike to work for the company. It’s the very beginning ofbringing them into the culture,” Margarita explains.

The challenge she faced was in finding a tool thatwould support this vision.

“There is very little innovation related to assessment atscreening stage,” says Margarita. The solutions wefound to manage high-volume roles were tootraditional and not engaging. They were toocomplicated at that early stage in the process.”

Margarita also needed the software to work acrosseight vastly different markets. That’s when Margaritamet with Dale, Weirdly’s CEO – and immediately sawpotential in the software.

Vodafone’s assessmentcentre turns brandambassador

Weirdly + Vodafone

1

Markets participated Useful for interviews

9.8/10

NXS (cNPS) rating

8.9

Vodafone connects with candidates ineight very different markets

Completion rate

95%

Margarita’s approach would be to put Weirdly at thevery beginning of the recruitment process as a way ofgetting to know candidates pre-interview - and forcandidates to get to know Vodafone.

For the candidate, the solution would feel like a quick,engaging survey, rather than an assessment. It was thefirst opportunity the business had to see how theirspirit behaviours would translate into specific scenarios.

“We were not really after right or wrong answers,” saysMargarita. “It was more about understanding theirpreferences, and sharing what we prefer at Vodafone.We saw how we could use those to find people with theright fit for us.’

Alongside the survey, the Weirdly team prepared apack of interview questions for hiring managers. Thesurvey results would automatically producerecommended questions.

“How the candidate answered the assessments wouldinform the interview process,” explains Margarita.

While shortlisting wasn’t a core goal of the solution,Margarita says Weirdly certainly contributed to it.Perhaps more importantly the tool could validatedecisions made through other processes.

“The clever thing was, if Weirdly showed that acandidate was a good fit, the other points of theevaluation would say the same. It meant the peoplewho were hired always had good alignment with ourvalues framework”.

Weirdly also gave Vodafone a data point to contributeto the hiring decisions and make the interview processricher.

“It meant we weren’t just looking at credentials. It wasmore about how you behave,” she says.

Weirdly could contribute so much to the processbecause of the robust science hiding behind its easy-to-use UX.

“When you look at the psychology behind it, you realiseit’s not just a survey. There is a validation process. Ireally would like to highlight that this is a rigorousprocess. It’s not just a bunch of questions.”

Bringing Spirit Behaviours to candidates

A rigorous process, not just abunch of questions

Weirdly + Vodafone 2

Custom solution brings eight markets together

Involving teams in the eight markets was critical to thesuccess of the programme. They weren’t obligated toroll out the initiative, so needed to see its value, andunderstand how it could work for them.

Weirdly and Margarita worked together to bring theteams along for the journey in a series of workshops,hosted online. These took the markets through thetool, and also gave them an opportunity to input theirfeedback. These, says Margarita, were incrediblysuccessful.

“The sessions were very thorough, each covering adifferent element of the solution. Teams got to askquestions and complete a survey. Markets knew exactlywhat was going on, and how their feedback was usedto craft the solution”.

The implementation of the tool went as smoothly ascould be expected for such a complex roll out.

“It was easy to scale across markets and for highvolume roles. The tech worked really well. Even thoughsome of our markets have limited or unreliable internetconnections, we had no issue whatsoever with theplatform. Candidates could access it on either mobile orcomputer.”

Seven of the eight markets rolled out the tool – theeighth market couldn’t due to security restraints undernew GDPR legislation. Feedback from the markets wasoverwhelmingly positive – on average they scored theusefulness of the tool for the interviewing process9.8/10.

“Recruiters thought the portal was innovative and hiringmanagers loved having a tool that let them talk aboutvalues and culture, rather than just education andexperience”

For Vodafone, candidate experience was the mostimportant measure of success. Margarita says Weirdlyachieved that, and more.

With a completion rate of 95%, candidates also ratedthe Spirit Assessment experience a 8.9 from a possible10. Candidates in all markets scored the solution wellabove the goal of 8/10, with some markets producingaverage scores above 9/10 This is particularlyimpressive when you consider that some candidateswere answering questions not in their first language.

“The UX was great. Candidates thought it was a nicesurprise to see a company focussing on getting toknow them as a person. It gives them freedom to bethemselves,” says Margarita.

Margarita says that what stands out most to her is howgreat the team at Weirdly is to work with.

“Everyone is so professional and flexible to the needs ofthe customer. There was a good dialogue and honestcare of the client. I felt very listened to and supported.It worked like a true partnership”.

The result? A tool that ticked all the boxes.

“Weirdly let us be more than an assessment area. Wecould be more strategic than that – we could becomean ambassador for the brand.”

Rolling out to the markets Candidates score the experience8.9/10

Weirdly + Vodafone 3

Completion rate – 95%

A true partnership

9/10 candidate score in somemarketsUsefulness for interviewing 9.8/10

Customisation brings the value

“Other assessments are off-the-shelf and hard tochange – the only thing you can do is add your logo,”says Margarita. “Weirdly is a very agile organisation. Thisis the first time ever the markets participated in co-creating an assessment solution and they found it areally enjoyable experience.”