(North East) The process for me was extremely long! I applied in December 2015 just before xmas. Two weeks later (Now Jan 2016) I got asked to take the on-line assessment, this was fine, it was just a multi choice programme where you chose what you thought was the best option.
Another 2 weeks passed then I finally heard via email that I was successful, and I had to go on to take a supervised assessment at one of their offices. This was booked for a week later as there was only two dates to chose from with limited time slots.
They do tell you prior that you need to be available to take all assessments etc but they don't tell you during your application when it will be, not even roughly.
Supervised assessment was also fine, simple to do and very well explained plus before you dive into the assessment there is a tutorial.
The assessment (split into two parts) consisted of sitting at a computer where you put on a headset and listen to four sets of calls, you have to choose answers, input data and switch screens, this is what this assessment is for. There was no physical role play or responding to do as its all automated via PC. However the job role doesn't relate at all to the call types.
The four calls were;
Someone wanting to hire a car, you had to click through options, inputting what they wanted in the car, then choosing options to sell them a higher priced deal.
Someone wanting to raise the credit limit on their card, you had to input the name, account num and telephone num then click through screens to check if it could be done and select options then to email a different department.
Someone calling to ask why their mobile contract payment was twice the amount as usual and what extra charges there were, they want to pay it off, you have to input the name and phone number find the account then input card details.
Someone wanting to buy a hotel room for a week but finds it expensive on top of what they already wanted, you have to input data and pick options to sell them one of your packages.
The second part of this supervised assessment is a 'personality' thing, still on the PC undisturbed by anyone, you have a lot choices always shown in pairs and you had to just pick which one was more like you. They were never related, and there was never a question, you just had to pick which one was more you:
ie - 1. I do not get angry easily - 2. I own up to my mistakes; so you would have to pick one of these.
They all show up repeated times but in different pairs.
After this the assessment was over and we had to wait to receive an email as to if we were successful or not. This came within the hour!
Next was a telephone interview arranged for later in the week, again there was limited dates (one on my occasion) and time slots. It was a half hour interview with a role play.
I was told if I was successful after this stage there would be yet another interview, making this a total of 5 assessments ( they assess your initial application) which is ridiculous. I understand its and NHS role where I'll be working an important telephone line, however they take applications from people with no training and give full training for 6 weeks, I don't know what they get out of spending two moths assessing everyone 5 times!
I was told the face to face interview wouldn't be until the end of Jan/beginning of Feb, then if that was also successful I would then be put forward for the 6 weeks training which is a pass or fail only. But said training wouldn't be until July. So they expected me to remain jobless until July, okay.
During mine, the interviewer sped up immediately upon giving me the role play information, I asked her to repeat but she refused like she had decided she did not like me and the interview was already over in her mind. This is where I felt the interview go really downhill.
There was no Glassdoor reviews during my interview process for this role!
