Case Study: Santander UK improves candidate quality and assessment efficiency with Sova Assessment

Santander UK - Customer Case Study

Santander UK worked with Sova Assessment and Alexander Mann Solutions to improve a high-volume recruitment process for frontline customer service roles and its Emerging Talent programme. The existing two-stage assessment was slow, did not reflect Santander’s updated behaviour framework, and needed to become more efficient, effective, and candidate-friendly across mobile, tablet, and PC.

Sova Assessment created bespoke, blended online assessments combining cognitive ability and situational judgement questions, integrated with Santander’s TalentLink applicant tracking system. The new process cut assessment completion time from 11 days to 1.5 days, increased completion rates by 68%, improved hiring efficiency by raising hires per assessment centre from 5/10 to 8/10, and showed strong predictive validity, with 84-90% of predicted high performers rated highly by managers while maintaining a 50:50 gender balance.

Santander UK

Hema Bakhshi

Resourcing Strategy & Innovation Lead, HR