NOS & CVWarehouse, a genuine partnership
The Portuguese company NOS was formed in 2014 following the merger of two major telecom providers and is the country’s third-largest provider of satellite and cable TV, mobile telephony and internet. NOS keeps on growing: in 2015, the company had over 4 million mobile customers, a market share of 29% and profits of 83 million euros. NOS does not cater only to private individuals: it also provides companies with a full range of telecom and ICT services. The SME business unit at NOS has been working with CVWarehouse since 2015 and their collaboration is already bearing fruit.
NOS has been working with CVWarehouse for years. However, the SME business unit only followed suit in 2015: ‘That is mainly due to our specific structure,’ says Olga Sakellarides, Sales Development Senior Manager. ‘We work with a network of partners who sell our products and services in every region of the country. They need a lot of sales talent, and now we are helping them to find it. We offer a standardised process and a unique experience for the candidates, mainly thanks to CVWarehouse.’
Demanding jobs and a high level of recruitment
NOS has around 600 staff members in its sales network. ‘In addition, we take on around 60 to 70 people every month,’ says Olga. ‘Not just because we are constantly growing, but also because our turnover is quite high in the first few months. During the first two months, the dropout rate is around 70%. That’s huge. But after a year, the figure drops to just 2%. In order to sell our products on the SME market, you need to be cut from the right cloth. If there is genuinely a match, your job will bring you pleasure and satisfaction.’
The SME business unit wants to improve the quality of the candidates.
This is not just good for the company (which invests heavily in training and education) but is also to the benefit of the candidates themselves: ‘An authentic employer brand ensures the best experience. Candidates will need to gain a good impression of our culture and the role they will need to play at our company in advance.’
‘We’re on the right path,’ says Olga. ‘Three years ago, 75% of our candidates turned down a contract proposal. Currently, this figure is only 30%. Ultimately, we want to get the ratio as low as possible and today we have all the tools we need to achieve this.’
Different partners on board
‘We have a complicated recruitment process as so many parties are involved: the sales network, our recruitment partners and our organisation as well,’ says Olga. ‘In a situation like this, you need a system that will allow you to present yourself to the outside world as a single brand. Thankfully, we came into contact with CVWarehouse last year. Since then, we have been rapidly evolving into a well-oiled machine which allows us to approach candidates as a single employer brand.’
‘We recently organised workshops with all our partners to introduce them to the CVWarehouse process and system in detail,’ explains Olga. ‘The knowledge and insights we shared gave our partners plenty of new resources which they can use not only to streamline their recruitment efforts with our brand, but also to help them work more efficiently. Before, we weren’t particularly productive and we were too traditional. However, the world is constantly changing and CVWarehouse is helping us to evolve along with it.’
We work with a network of partners who sell our products and services in every region of the country. They need a lot of sales talent, and now we are helping them to find it. We offer a standardised process and a unique experience for the candidates, mainly thanks to CVWarehouse.
— Olga Sakellarides, Sales Development Senior Manager at NOS
People first, technology second
‘I don’t have to tell you that recruitment is a people business,’ explains Olga. ‘However, many providers of Applicant Tracking Systems focus primarily on technology. CVWarehouse is the only provider whose entire approach puts the candidate in a central position: the best experience at the best time and in the best way.’
In fact, it was the CVWarehouse’s people-oriented approach that convinced Olga to enter into a partnership. ‘I was actually sold during the very first contact,’ says Olga. ‘CVWarehouse really tried to get to the bottom of our challenges and understand our process, with the aim of helping us as effectively as possible. The platform is only one part of the solution; a single piece of the service puzzle. Once they got to know our recruitment process, they worked with us to develop an optimal workflow; one that really works for us and makes us more productive, consistent and appealing.’
A genuine partnership
The SME business unit at NOS is currently reorganising the recruitment process. Although this department started working with CVWarehouse last year, the department had not been able to take the time to utilise the company’s full potential until now. In the meantime, concrete steps had been taken to optimise the recruitment process: ‘Our business is really crazy: everything moves so fast and we constantly need to recruit large numbers of people for various partners in various regions and contexts. We can’t allow ourselves to waste time. CVWarehouse responds very quickly to our questions, with answers that we can quickly put into practice. New features are developed very quickly too. It’s reassuring to know that they can easily keep pace with our business. That makes it a genuine partnership.’
Saving time and money
These days, the recruitment follows the same process using the same tool, which saves time: ‘The integration of CVWarehouse ensures streamlined communication flows between candidates, recruitment partners, our commercial network and us. This allows us to manage the interactions more effectively, which gives the sales network the chance to stay focused on creating value: selling our products and services to the SME market.’
Time is money, so there are also financial advantages. ‘But there’s more,’ says Olga enthusiastically. ‘With CVWarehouse, all the relevant statistics become available immediately, allowing us to respond to conversion ratios in our recruitment pipeline in real time. In addition, we are continually building up a strong database based on such characteristics as work experience and behavioural competences. These are used to refine our selection process, leading to discussions with candidates that are more valuable to us – and successful recruitment.’
