Q&A: Auto Trader’s Christos Tsaprounis

Auto Trader’s Head of People and Culture Christos Tsaprounis discusses how the company attracts, keeps and develops its staff

What apprenticeship training schemes do you carry out?

We run 10 apprenticeships a year and most are in software engineering, but we also have one in procurement. It’s a great way for us to get additional support and for someone to progress and develop in that area.

We’re also running a number of coaching apprenticeships for existing employees. There are eight people going through that at the moment and they’ll end up with a professional qualification.

How do you source talent for your organisation?

Our attraction strategy is quite varied. We use online platforms such as LinkedIn, Glass Door and Indeed, but we also have a referral programme which is very successful where staff can recommend people.

We also do lots of outreach with schools and colleges and we used to run events where people would come to our offices. Obviously, those have stopped due to the current situation, but we hope to get them back eventually. Currently they’re now virtual events so we can stay connected to the various communities.

We don’t use agencies to recruit, but we do have an internal team to source talent.

What are the key skills you want from people entering your company?

It all depends on the role. You could be a graduate or an apprentice, what matters is that you can join and have a career at any point with Auto Trader in a host of areas such as software, customer facing roles, finance, the people team, there’s a big variety.

We are looking for people who are technically excellent but that also align with our six values; being community minded, courageous, determined, humble, curious and reliable.

However, we don’t want people to just fit in with our culture but to add to it.

How do you make sure employees are engaged at work?

The approach we take is to create a culture of diverse individuals so that the work environment encourages people to be their best. It’s constantly evolving. We also have a variety of benefits and rewards for employees so that staff can work on things that matter to them. We have various employee networks so that people can work together and collaborate with other groups and charities. This pays a lot of dividends in terms of employee engagement.

It’s important that people believe in the purpose of our business – driving change together responsibly.

One example of this is that everyone gets two days a year to volunteer with a charity or organisation and about 50% of staff do this.

How do you make sure staff are happy?

We approach wellbeing holistically, so we’re looking at physical, mental and financial health. All of this was impacted by COVID. We have a network of colleagues that provide support including mental first aiders who do a lot of proactive work. During lockdown we had a coach for physical exercise so that everyone could take part. The coach also looks at nutrition.

What opportunities do staff have to progress their careers?

Auto Trader has various programmes depending on the role of the employee, but we’re particularly proud of our accelerator for mid-career staff. This helps people move from mid-level to more senior possibilities.

Where is your focus for the next six months?

The first priority for us is to support our colleagues in terms of wellbeing because it’s still a challenging world. The second priority is to look at new ways of working. We call it connected working. Employees can spend time in an office so they can have the opportunity to collaborate with others and spend quality time with their colleagues. But all with the flexibility to work from home too.