Yell’s Head of Talent: Don’t Be Negative About Your Employer During Interview

Interviewing isn't exactly most people's idea of a good time. Some interview experiences can even leave jobseekers bewildered and disheartened. But not at Yell. Now in its second year, Glassdoor's 2017 Candidates' Choice Awards for the Best Place to Interview has honoured Yell as the #2 Best Place To Interview in 2017.  So, who better to talk to than their Head Of Talent, Mark Cull, and find out exactly how candidates can secure a job that they really love. Glassdoor: What are 3 interview questions you ask all candidates? How would you describe Yell to your friends? Choose one of our values that best reflects you and tell us why? You are hired and have been working with us for a year. Two managers are discussing you, what are they saying? What’s the best/most memorable interview answer you’ve ever heard? For me it’s a simple one.  I asked someone why we should choose them and they said, ‘because your customers will love working with me’. What is your interview deal breaker? Negative comments about previous/current employer throughout the interview. What’s the most creative/out-of-the-box question you ask at your company? You’re made CEO for the day, what would you do? What is the biggest misconception candidates have about interviewing at your company? Perhaps that our interview process takes a long time.  Whilst we are thorough, we do move the process along at pace to ensure that the candidate is not taking too much time out of their current role. How do you make candidates feel comfortable in an interview? We make them aware from the start that it is a two way process to find the best fit for them as well as us, so they should relax and be themselves.  We also assure people that nervousness in an interview is not a reason for rejecting them, if anything it shows us that they care and are keen to do well. How has your interview process evolved in the last year? Improvements? We are constantly evolving the process and listen to feedback left on Glassdoor and via a survey tool we use to measure our process.  At telephone interview stage for our sales positions we now give a decision and feedback verbally at the end of the call to every interviewee and candidates appreciate this instant and open approach. What is one piece of feedback you’ve received about your interview process that changed how your HR team approached candidates? A number of applicants were suggesting that it would be valuable for them to be able to sell themselves to us via video as they felt it would be a more effective way of us seeing their credentials as opposed to a CV.  We have now launched a ‘Pitch Us’ video interview for Field Sales candidates that can be accessed via our careers site. How do you define a great interview process? A great interview process should leave the applicant feeling like they want to work for you even more than when they first applied. How do you evaluate an interview? We are mostly basing our decision on four things; their ability to do the job, culture fit for Yell, do we match their ambitions and are they willing to develop and improve during their career with us. What do you love to see in a CV? What makes you say ‘Yes’? One of Yell’s 5 values is ‘Results’ so I personally like to see strong achievements outlined on a CV with numbers included.  This could be a Developer that has increased page download speed or a customer service advisor that has improved customer satisfaction scores. What interview question stumps candidates the most? What are you known for? Early arrivals: annoying or appreciated? Early arrivals are appreciated and whilst an hour or so early is too soon I would always advise people to arrive early to and get a feel of the company.