NES Fircroft was chosen by our client as the exclusive recruitment partner of their newly established production plant in Koluszki. The plant produces components for safety systems, and the equipment must meet very high standards in terms of reliability and precision, meaning that the entire operation requires large teams of highly specialised engineers.
The manufacturing process consists of complex heat treatment and machining techniques through a range of industrial robots. In advance of the plant opening, the technological lines needed to be transferred from Norway to Poland.
In the short six month time-frame, our client’s HR department faced 2 major challenges:
- designing and implementing HR processes for the emerging structure
- recruiting sufficient numbers of qualified staff to run the plant
Our Solution
Through our market expertise we were able to offer a full end-to-end solution, appointing three experienced consultants to deliver the support, one of which worked permanently from the client’s office to gain invaluable insight into the client’s processes and culture.
Our dedicated team worked closely with the line managers and HR manager in order to gain an in-depth brief which allowed them to develop a comprehensive employment plan, prepare a recruitment schedule and prepare the job descriptions. As part of the preparation we analysed the scope of applicable advertising channels in order to garner the most effective media, considering a variety of options from press and radio to television and job portals.
To raise the profile of the roles, NESF orchestrated extensive promotion in the local, national and wider regional media, including:
- printed advertisements in local media
- digital advertisements on industry-specific European job portals
- establishing contact with universities to liaise with graduates and alumni
- running social media campaigns in conjunction with our large company LinkedIn following
To allow prospective candidates to gain an insight into the working life of the plant, we recommended that our client hold an open day at site which allowed both parties to ascertain enthusiasm levels and committment to the plant.
Using a direct search approach NESF leveraged our broad international database to approach prospective candidates with discretion. Our thorough process meant that we qualified the CVs, conducted telephone interviews, and where appropriate, face-to-face interviews with candidates, and followed up all references. Through this approach we were able to construct a short-list of only the most qualified candidates for presentation to the client’s line managers, and smoothly managed all subsequent offers and financial negotiations.
The results of our support
NESF sourced 31 high-quality candidates, including robotics engineers, process engineers specialising in heat treatment and senior engineering managers within the required timeframe.
The key to success was our close cooperation between our consultants and the client’s management team, ensuring real-time communication and understanding surrounding the needs and speed of the developing operation.
The enhanced RPO model enabled substantial control and influence for the HR Manager on the recruitment process from a KPI level, eliminating the need for the client to employ expensive additional HR resource and invest in their training.
Our functional structure delivered significant client value:
- significantly lower recruitment costs
- reduction of the time-to-hire rate to 83 days for engineering staff and 32 days for qualified technicians and operators
- streamlined recruitment process through enlisting one sole recruitment provider
- built-up database of industry-specific local candidates
- relieving the HR Manager of orchestrating the recruitment process, allowing them to focus on other HR areas