0:00 - Introduction
2:47 - What high-volume, high-stakes hiring looks like at Entain
16:34 - Defining and running a behaviour-based hiring engine across 2,400 shops
36:00 - The results Entain saw
40:39 - The next challenge: transforming global hiring in Customer Care
49:46 - TA Disruptor tips
TA DISRUPTORS Podcast 🚀 Season 5 - Ripping up the volume hiring rule book
Attrition at 40%. Over 162,000 applications a year. A team of six. And 2,400 shops that need the right people — not just any people. So how do you transform high volume hiring in one of the UK's most heavily regulated industries, without a massive team or a massive budget?
Meet Andrew Porter, Group Resourcing Director at Entain — the company behind Ladbrokes and Coral. Andrew has spent his career leading recruitment transformation across multiple sectors, and at Entain he's done something remarkable: scrapped the CV, removed telephone screening, and rebuilt the entire retail hiring process around behaviours — cutting attrition by 15 percentage points and saving an estimated 9,000 hours of screening time in the process.
Join host Robert Newry and guest Andrew as they discuss:
📊 Why 162,000 applications and 40% attrition forced a rethink: When you're replacing the same role two or three times a year, more sourcing isn't the answer. Better hiring is.
📝 Why CVs are a 500-year-old relic that don't work for high volume roles: When you're hiring 18-year-olds into complex, regulated environments, a CV tells you almost nothing about whether they'll succeed.
🎯 How Entain identified the five behaviours that actually predict success: Interacting, influencing, adapting, organising, and processing — defined by getting out into shops, not by debating job descriptions in a boardroom.
🔄 How scrapping the CV and phone screen transformed the funnel: Behavioural assessment replaced manual sifting, delivering 35,000 completed assessments, 70–80% completion rates, and an interview-to-offer ratio improvement from 1:5 to 1:3.
🏆 How to bring hiring managers on the journey: Weekly "Pit Stop" drop-ins, dedicated regional recruiters, mandatory training, and a Hiring Manager of the Month award turned sceptics into champions.
📈 The results: Attrition down from 40% to 25%. Hires reduced from 5,000 to 3,000. Candidate NPS at +53 (world class). Hiring manager NPS at +36 and climbing. Sourcing costs slashed.
🌍 How Entain is scaling this globally: The same approach is now being rolled out across customer care — replacing 15 different processes with one consistent global model. Early results from India: 70%+ assessment completion and candidate satisfaction in the 90s.
Tune in to hear how one of the UK's largest employers rebuilt hiring from the ground up — and the practical lessons you can apply to your own high volume hiring challenges. Don't forget to hit 'subscribe' to be sure not to miss more episodes of the TA Disruptors podcast.
Thanks for listening, and here are some helpful links:
Connect with Robert on LinkedIn: https://hubs.li/Q0282KjJ0
Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjporter1/
Sign up for the TA Disruptors newsletter - it's the easiest way to be updated with the industry's brightest ideas and the freshest need-to-know data - every week: https://hubs.li/Q0282H370
________________________
Talent acquisition is changing faster than it ever has before. ChatGPT and other AI tools are turning the selection process on its head. This podcast is designed for disruptive Talent Acquisition leaders who want to get ahead. For the innovators, the movers and shakers, and the TA leaders who will survive and thrive in this new era by moving quickly to future-proof their recruitment processes. Even when you're feeling overworked and overwhelmed, we'll help you keep up with the latest ideas from the industry's brightest innovators and the freshest need-to-know data from new research. TA Disruptors has got you covered.
All brought to you from the team at Arctic Shores.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.