Bet365 widens recruitment pipeline by ignoring traditional channels

Company focusing on core skills instead of hard technical experience

Recruitment is a major concern for IT leaders in 2022, and the situation shows few signs of improving in 2023. With no investment or aid announced in the Autumn Budget, it’s up to private firms to do their best to plug the gap.

One company with a vision for the future is bet365, which launched its Software Testing Academy at the end of October (via the company's tech arm, Hillside Technology). The initiative aims 'to inspire both those already seeking careers in technology as well as those who haven't considered one in the past, but who have the skills to thrive in it.'

Applicants who make it into the Academy go through a training programme combining theory with practical experience, then migrate to a testing team where they continue to improve their skills with a selection of internal and external courses.

Joanna Ward, Head of Software Testing at bet365, told us the Academy stemmed from bet365's previous success in internal recruitment:

"As we continue to expand into new territories and launch new products, there's an ever-present need to increase our workforce. In the past, we've had great success recruiting juniors from within the business and developing them into software testers and beyond, through internal and external training.

"We felt that if we could make it work internally, we could replicate the process externally by targeting candidates from different walks of life. It's also important for us to have robust succession planning to ensure our staff can develop and progress in their careers, which the Academy also gives us."

Rather than hard technical experience, bet365 is focusing on candidates with the core competencies it considers essential for success in software testing.

"We quickly realised that the people who developed and progressed the most all shared similar traits rather than experience. Traits like attention to detail, knowledge retention, communication, etc., and we felt we could explore this further."

Smith says it's really important to refrain from "talking tech" when it comes to opening the recruitment pipeline. Instead, "talk opportunity."

"I believe it's about getting the word out there and covering as many outlets and sources as possible. You must tell people what roles exist in technology and the core skills needed to succeed.

"Companies have to be flexible in their recruitment and assessment of skills. We engaged our Training and Development department to help us shape an Assessment Day so that it was industry agnostic, focussed on the core skills and ensured we didn't fall into any subconscious bias, which is easy to do when we are all so used to recruiting based on experience."

Looking outside the normal recruitment channels is an important first step for bringing new people into IT, helping companies "tap into talent that would otherwise be overlooked."

"We will expand our Academy to cover other technical disciplines next year as we launch the technical operational academy.

"If you're not looking for a job in technology, you probably aren't aware of the opportunities that exist and how they could potentially play into your skill set. The Academy gives us an amazing vehicle for introducing more people to technology and attracting them to the sector."

Bet354 will run the Software Testing Academy's first intake in the New Year at its Manchester office. After that, the company plans to bring in new candidates every quarter.