Travis Perkins unveils shop floor training plan for London recruits
20 March 2015
Travis Perkins said it would be offering tailored shop floor training to potential recruits as the builders’ merchant unveiled plans to boost its workforce by 4,000 staff at 400 new branches across the UK over the next four years.
Fri, 20 Mar 2015
Travis Perkins said it would be offering tailored shop floor training to potential recruits as the builders’ merchant unveiled plans to boost its workforce by 4,000 staff at 400 new branches across the UK over the next four years.
Speaking to Recruiter at the Retail Recruitment career fair at London’s Hilton Metropole Hotel, Travis Perkins’ retail operations resourcing specialist Anna Ganapathee said: “It’s not that most people are scared of the customers, they’re just not very good at selling. It’s the interaction with customers. We have noticed that in the business and we’re doing something about it.”
Travis Perkins said it would be boosting its workforce with distribution facilities to be opened or extended in Warrington, Leeds, Northampton, Coventry, Cardiff and Tilbury.
Roles include 170 apprenticeships, 200 branch managers and assistant managers a year, skilled IT professionals and supply chain specialists.
Ganapathee, said the firm had by the second day managed to attract 40 CVs at the event which also featured Arsenal FC, River Island, Zara, Office and Ann Summers.
Of those, six were from store managers, five from deputy managers, three from supervisors, some from the shop floor and two were from the most prized of all – design consultants.
Design consultants (shop floor sales staff) have been so difficult to find this year, said Ganapathee, that for the first time the group is trialling a training program in its London stores where Travis Perkins recruits people with the right behaviours and supports them with sales training.
“It’s getting them in, making sure they have the behaviours, that they’re approachable, energetic, creative, passionate and love their job and know their job inside out,” said Ganapathee.
“We’re saying we’ll take you on a training program. We will pay £16k just to train. You’re training for six months to a year and we’ll teach the product training on kitchens and bathrooms and products on the sales floor.
“Then you move to a kitchen and bathroom adviser role at a big store or a medium store and, once you finished the training, you’re signed off as a design consultant.”
Speaking to Recruiter at the Retail Recruitment career fair at London’s Hilton Metropole Hotel, Travis Perkins’ retail operations resourcing specialist Anna Ganapathee said: “It’s not that most people are scared of the customers, they’re just not very good at selling. It’s the interaction with customers. We have noticed that in the business and we’re doing something about it.”
Travis Perkins said it would be boosting its workforce with distribution facilities to be opened or extended in Warrington, Leeds, Northampton, Coventry, Cardiff and Tilbury.
Roles include 170 apprenticeships, 200 branch managers and assistant managers a year, skilled IT professionals and supply chain specialists.
Ganapathee, said the firm had by the second day managed to attract 40 CVs at the event which also featured Arsenal FC, River Island, Zara, Office and Ann Summers.
Of those, six were from store managers, five from deputy managers, three from supervisors, some from the shop floor and two were from the most prized of all – design consultants.
Design consultants (shop floor sales staff) have been so difficult to find this year, said Ganapathee, that for the first time the group is trialling a training program in its London stores where Travis Perkins recruits people with the right behaviours and supports them with sales training.
“It’s getting them in, making sure they have the behaviours, that they’re approachable, energetic, creative, passionate and love their job and know their job inside out,” said Ganapathee.
“We’re saying we’ll take you on a training program. We will pay £16k just to train. You’re training for six months to a year and we’ll teach the product training on kitchens and bathrooms and products on the sales floor.
“Then you move to a kitchen and bathroom adviser role at a big store or a medium store and, once you finished the training, you’re signed off as a design consultant.”
