Food Job Blog: The inside track on Food Recruitment and Careers

..so another huge food industry surprise comes out of the blue - the 'merger' between Greencore and Northern Foods. Everybody probably knew that Northern were not the force in industry that they once were, and from a recruitment point of view, once Northern 'centralised' this function it became very difficult to work with them in anything other than a purely 'transactional' way.

So what does the 'merger' do for recruiters? Will this mean another colossal centralised department, with 15 suppliers on a faceless PSL and fees at 12%, no opportunity to visit site and meet with line managers. No opportunity to look around the factory and really get a feel for the processes and the day to day issues from 'the horses mouth'?

Almost unanimously, the factory teams don't like this 'centralised' approach to recruitment. Neither do candidates.  The factory teams like to work with recruiters that they know and have chosen because of their capability and service. The best candidates expect us to have met the factory teams and had a good look around the factory - how else can a recruiter sell the role accurately and effectively.

In my view, which ever way you look at it, the 'centralised' approach to recruiting only serves to downgrade the whole activity unless the relationship is extremely strong and exclusive, and the savings achieved by driving down PSL rates are arguably 'wooden dollars' as ultimately the best placements are not made this way.

...just on my way out to visit a client to discuss a new brief. It's a client who knows me really well, has been giving me briefs consistently for five years. I know their factory inside out and have recruited 67% of their manufacturing team to date. The role is with me exclusively, allowing me the time to do a thorough search and screening exercise. The client will pay full fees because they appreciate the 'value-add'
If I have time later in the week, I'll have a glance through the 'portal' at the 12% fee roles I'm sharing with 15 other agencies. Then I'll sit down and prioritise my workload.