The Recruitment, Selection and

Training of People at Arcadia an

Arcadia Case study
 Introduction
• The Arcadia Group Limited is .
one of the UK's largest fashion
retail companies.
• It employs around 25,000
people and has over 2,000
outlets in the UK.
• It also has a growing number of
stores abroad.
• The group includes eight major
high street brands. Each brand
targets its own market
segment.
 Intro(contd)
• Green is interested in all • Green has an excellent grasp of
aspects of Arcadia's business. what customers want and what
they are willing to pay for.
• He wants to know what the
stores are stocking and how • This comes from his life-long
passion for retailing. He started
the products are displayed (this in shoe wholesaling at 16. He set
is known as 'visual up his own business at 21.
merchandising'). Throughout his career, he has
• His employees are set high turned around under-
targets but have the authority performing retail businesses.
to decide how best to achieve • To do this Green has excellent
them. staff around him. This is the result
of good recruitment, selection
• They are encouraged to use and training programs.
their initiative.
 Intro(contd)
• In 2002, Philip Green bought • Philip Green's management
Arcadia for £800 million. style is entrepreneurial.
• He changed it from a public • He is always looking for new
limited company (plc) to a business opportunities.
private limited company (Ltd). • He seeks new and better ways
• Since then the Arcadia Group of doing things.
has been extremely successful. • Green says, 'I am brave but I
• In 2005, the Group's turnover take a view. It is an educated
was over £1.7 billion. Its profits view. I am careful; I am not
were over £326 million reckless.'
 Recruitment
• The success of Arcadia relies on the
quality of its employees, such as its store
managers and its sales staff.
• To attract the right applicants the company
must have an effective recruitment process.
• Recruitment occurs both at store level (with
each store recruiting its own sales advisors)
and centrally.
• Arcadia's Head Office is using specially
designed management development
programmes to target two groups: school
leavers, and newly qualified graduates.
Student training Programs from To attract applications the
Acradia company:
• The Retail Management Trainee • attends career fairs and
Programme (MTP) targets presentations
students with 2 A levels or • produces advertisements and
equivalent. posters
• The Graduate Retail • uses in-store communications
Management Programme • Advertises on the company
targets students who have website(www.arcadia.co.uk/rec
Graduated from University. ruitment).
Key Competencies
• working with people • Recruitment is an important part of
• putting the customer first workforce planning.
• maximizing impact • Organizations must anticipate their
workforce needs and take actions
• inspiring performance
to meet these.
• driving the business forward • At Arcadia, the opening of new
• making the right choices stores and the expansion of existing
• Understanding the role. outlets means more staff must be
recruited.
 Selection
• Candidates who do well in their
answers are invited to an
assessment centre.
• The selection process at the
assessment centre takes place
over one day.
• It involves structured interviews
The selection process for the Retail and team activities. Group
Management Trainee Programme exercises allow a close analysis of
has two stages: how well someone works with
1. an online application other people. This is a key aspect
2. attending an assessment centre. of retailing.
• The online application form • A place on the Retail
involves a number of questions. Management Trainee
• These focus on the Programme is offered to
competencies required by Retail candidates who are successful
Management Trainees. at the assessment centre.
 Training and development
• Recruiting the right people does training on the Retail Management
not guarantee performance. Trainee Programme includes:
Employees must also be trained • induction training to learn about
effectively. retailing and store operations
• Much of the training at Arcadia is • workshops that focus on core skills,
on-the-job and occurs within the these include team motivation and
stores. planning
• Off-the-job training is used for • learning about specific areas of
general management skills. The responsibility, such as managing a
training at Arcadia is linked closely store team
to developing the competencies • visiting stores on placements to
that the company looks for in its learn about how they operate.
recruits.
• These competencies are enterprise
related. They are essential for
anyone wanting to be a successful
retail manager.
 Training and development(contd…)
• Successful recruits must also Internal recruitment is encouraged at
produce a personal development Arcadia. The company appoints
plan. This helps them prepare for managers by promoting from within
whenever it can. Internal recruitment is
their future management position.
preferred because existing employees:

• Know the culture of the business

already; this means that they
understand how the business works
and already have a network of
contacts so can adapt to their new
role more easily.
• Understand the business, this saves
time in training.
• Are motivated to remain with the
• Progression on the Retail business because of the promotion
Management Trainee Programme opportunities. This reduces
can be rapid. recruitment costs because staff stay
A trainee can have their first
longer.
•
management position after just one
year.
 Educational Links
Links with schools and colleges
• To develop its links with
communities and students, Arcadia
is a major business partner to 50
secondary schools.
• It provides both financial and
business skills support to each of
these schools, to support them in
their bids to gain specialist status as
Business and Enterprise Colleges.
An Arcadia employee works with
• The Arcadia group builds links with every partner school.
schools and supports the Fashion o talk to students about retail careers and
Retail Academy to develop interview techniques
entrepreneurial and retail talent in o provide work experience opportunities
for under 16s in local Arcadia stores
students.
o set business studies projects.
Educational Links (contd…)
• The Fashion Retail Academy opened in September 2005 in central
London and is a training ground for entrepreneurial talent.
• The ultimate aim is to encourage students to join established fashion
retailers or to go on to run their own businesses within the retail industry.

• Philip Green said: 'The principal idea and

concept for the Fashion Retail Academy is to
train and prepare the next generation of young
people for the work place by teaching and
developing the fundamental skills required in the
Retail Industry'.
 Conclusion
• The Arcadia Group is a highly
successful retail company.
• Its success is due to the leadership
of Philip Green and the quality of its
employees.
• It has a good programme of
recruitment and selection. It has
Retail Management Trainee
Programmes for school leavers and
graduates. • Each day there are new
challenges.
• On joining Arcadia, employees are
given responsibilities early on. They • Employees have to learn to plan,
are able to progress quickly in the make decisions and lead a team
organisation and can be promoted of people. They receive
rapidly. Working in retailing is substantial training.
exciting. • This helps them to do their jobs
more effectively.