0%
Drop-off between assessment and interview, vs ~15% expected
80 of 120
Assessed candidates moved to structured interview
15–20 min
Assessment time, screening 500+ applicants a role
applicants per vacancy for early careers and analyst roles, screened by a small TA team
Subjective hiring, regulatory exposure
500+ applicants a role, and no consistent way to choose.
Virgin Money is a UK retail and commercial bank of more than 7,000 employees, operating under tight FCA and PRA oversight for consumer banking and mid-market roles, where talent decisions carry significant fairness, audit and defensibility expectations. It attracted 500+ applicants per vacancy for early careers and analyst roles, but a small TA team and heavy reliance on manager-led interviews left hiring decisions inconsistent and subjective.
That inconsistency created fairness and quality risk, driving uneven outcomes in a regulated environment. Managers applied their own criteria and captured limited evidence, leaving little to fall back on if a hiring decision was challenged.
One evidence-led process for every hiring decision
Wave Connect scored every candidate the same way, every time.
Saville and Virgin Money introduced a structured decision flow anchored in Wave Connect. Candidates completed a 15 to 20 minute assessment aligned to role standards, producing a data-backed fit-score. The resulting shortlist moved to a scored interview, using the same questions and criteria for every candidate.
Hiring decisions were recorded in an evidence trail, so managers could explain why a candidate did or did not progress. Role standards tied selection criteria to the job rather than manager preference, and validated cut-scores set a consistent threshold for progression across every requisition.
Scored interviews replaced unstructured conversations with standardized questions and anchored ratings, and fairness monitoring tracked stage-to-stage outcomes and completion rates to surface gaps quickly. Together, the process reduced subjectivity and gave Virgin Money a defensible, audit-ready record for every hiring decision.
Score every candidate the same way
Every applicant completed Wave Focus Styles within 48 hours. Results mapped against a role-specific profile built from top performers.
Interview on the same criteria
The shortlist moves to a scored interview, using the same questions and anchored ratings for every candidate.
Evidence trail, Fairness monitoring
Every decision is captured in an evidence trail, so managers can explain why a candidate did or didn't progress.
drop-off sustained between assessment and interview stage
A more robust, fairer hiring process for every candidate
Every hiring decision now rests on the same evidence, from first assessment to final interview.
The assessment stage sustained 0% drop-off between assessment and interview, against roughly 15% Virgin Money expected from past experience. Of 120 completed assessments in the early cohort, 80 candidates progressed to structured interviews, all judged against the same questions and scoring rubric.
Consistent screening and evidence-based fit-scores filtered high volumes early, freeing TA and manager time so a small team could run the process at scale. Managers now hold an audit-ready record for every decision, improving response times to challenges and reducing exposure to inconsistent practice.
“We now have a more robust, fairer hiring process, protecting our managers and evidencing our hiring decisions with a clear criteria for selection.”
Talent Lead, Virgin Money
Hiring before and after
How shortlisting, evidence and fairness changed once every candidate was assessed the same way
Hiring at volume and losing people fast?
Our business psychologists will walk through your roles, volumes and current process, and show you what an assessment-led funnel would look like for your organization.
