Parcel collection and sending service company Doddle asks its job applicants to bring a personal item to interviews and then brag about it – to check their fit with the company. 

Doddle director of people Karen Bates, who joined the company in January, told Recruiter it was “amazing” what the “bring and brag” exercise shows about a person. 

“We can tell whether that person’s core values fit Doddle’s core values, just by how they talk, how passionate they come across about whatever it is they decide to bring to show us.”

The company currently has 34 UK stores and about 300 employees but plans to double that by the end of the year. By 2017, the plan is to have 300 stores and about 3,000 employees.

Bates is no stranger to the pace of retail recruitment though, having joined the start-up from NBTY Europe, the parent company of brands such as health food retailers Holland & Barrett and GNC, where she was head of HR.

She said the challenging aspect of recruitment for Doddle was the sheer number of applications received – 75,000 people applied for the 300 roles filled so far, mainly advertised through job boards.

The ‘bring and brag’ exercise was one of the final tools to whittle down prospective employees who first have to answer screening questions online.  

The company is also planning on growing its own talent by implementing a talent programme and apprenticeship scheme.

“Rather than always going outside to look for a new manager, for example, we want to be able to promote from within, to create talent pathways and get people ready to take over,” Bates said.

The apprenticeship scheme will be launched internally next week and externally in July, timed to coincide with the end of the school year. 

“The ultimate aim is that we would recruit through that apprenticeship scheme and that would be our talent pipeline – so bring them into our business and progress everybody up into management roles, field management roles and ultimately into support centre as well.”

Anybody already working for the company can opt into the scheme and work towards the Doddle-designed NVQ (national vocational qualification), which is a mixture of retail, logistics and customer service skills from entry to management level.

The company is working with government agencies to get its apprenticeship scheme accredited.

On her decision to move from NBTY to a fledgling company, she said it was “a very, very exciting opportunity” to be part of a start-up and to help set the “people direction” from the beginning. 

So what did she ‘bring and brag’ about in her own job interview? 

“I am a competitive swimmer and brought my award [from] when I was named sports personality for my town. This shows my determined and competitive side. I also brought a picture of one of my rescue dogs to show my compassionate and caring side.”

Doddle was launched last year by Network Rail and Travelex founder Lloyd Dorfman.

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