I am impressed with how Red handles their internal recruitment. I found their approach to candidates very professional yet inspiring. Going through the process was a great experience for me.
After submitting my application through Linked In, I got a call within minutes. It was a brief conversation about my background and motivation - I suggest not saying anything fancy, as the talent acquisition manager simply asked me in the end if I am motivated by money. I told her I was a graduate with student debt and no savings, and that seemed to be a good enough answer. I got invited into first stage interview which was an assessment day.
There was about 10 people taking part in the assessment day, and two managers leading it. I was stressed going there, and I thought it would be long and daunting, but they actually made it great fun. You get to bond with the other candidates a little, and you get to chance to be creative as well. The activities were very interesting. Remember to show your confidence and don't be afraid to brag, as long as it helps you complete the task.
I got feedback three days after the assessment day - I was invited into second stage interview. This time it wasn't fun, although also great experience. First, you meet the talent acquisition manager again, who then leaves you to be interviewed by many people one after another. Be prepared to repeat yourself as they all would ask you to introduce yourself and WHY RECRUITMENT. Again, I got the impression that they would be satisfied with a money-based answer. I think they are trying to attract 'hungry' young people.
All the guys interviewing me were team leaders or managers and they all were very friendly and had a good chat with me. I got to ask questions to my prospective manager and he took his time to answer me quite honestly. With a couple of guys I had a chilled conversation about my interests and previous jobs, which was a good stress relief and made me think they really wanted to know about my personality.
I took a walk around the office and could see that people were smiling and waving to me, which is always a good sign. In the lift I met a guy who started a few months ago and he told me he truly loved being there since he joined.
I got feedback a couple of days after the interview - I got the job. At that time, I had received another offer closer to my living place so I politely declined. The talent acquisition manager asked me if I agree to be called by their HR Director. He gave me a call some time later and spent half an hour on the phone with me going through my objections. He asked me to come for an informal chat so I can reconsider my choice, to which I agreed.
The HR director met me in a very nice conference room, offered my drinks and first had a long chat with me about my studies, my dissertation topic, and my hobbies, which I appreciated. After that he put up a presentation about career growth at RED and guided me through that. He told me the feedback of the interview panel and to my surprise, turned out that the interviewers all did some sort of psychological evaluation of my personality, which came out pretty accurate. The HR director spoke about which team he would put me in and why, and how he saw my career growth in RED. Then I got to meet my prospective immediate manager, who turned out to be a very nice guy with what I thought was true passion for mentoring his own team. He also was open to all sort of questions. After that, I said I would reconsider the offer and I gave myself a couple of days to get back to them.
In the end, I decided to go for a different company mostly because of the proximity. I now have half an hour cycle to work, and to commute to RED would've taken me an hour on tube. Having said that, I believe RED is a great company and certainly they have a great approach towards internal recruitment and they treat quality candidates well. I strongly recommend to apply to them if you're looking for a job in this area. Even if you don't get the offer, the experience is very educational!
