Sourcing HR professionals to lead new structure
Following the acquisitions of Robert Wiseman Dairies and Dairy Crest, Müller UK had grown from a marketing / sales orientated business employing around 700 staff into one of the largest dairy companies in the UK with 12,000 employees at many locations throughout the UK.
A new HR Director was appointed from Proctor & Gamble to oversee the establishment of a new integrated HR function for the whole UK organisation.
The Challenge
A new HR structure was planned involving the appointment of key company-wide positions in Head Office together with a number of HR Business Partners for each main area of the business. There were a number of existing HR staff within the business but, due to the growth and position of the integrated UK organisation, new external staff from who could bring in expertise of working within a large distributed organisation were required, and quickly.
The Solution
ResourceBank had supported Müller UK with the recruitment of staff at its Market Drayton office and, following a meeting with the new Müller HR Director, ResourceBank was retained to search for and shortlist candidates to staff up the new HR organisation. Emma Taylor from ResourceBank assisted Müller to develop full job descriptions and ideal personality profiles for nine roles:
- Head of HR Shared Services,
- Head of Talent Development
- Employee Relations Manager
- Recruitment Manager
- Reward Manager
- 3 x HR Business Partners
- HR Administrator
ResourceBank launched a multichannel campaign to identify potential candidates. Branded advertising was supported by a significant search and networking programme led by Emma utilising her extensive HR talent pool. While Müller is a leading branded FMCG business, the HR Director was more interested in sourcing HR professionals with the expertise, personality and attitude to drive forward the new integrated HR strategy. Emma therefore focussed her search on identifying candidates with strong communication skills, commercial outlook, experience of culture change and a track record in the specific HR expertise.
The project commenced in November 2014 and within a few weeks, candidate long-lists had been developed for all key vacancies. Emma Taylor screened and then interviewed all candidates in person in order to assess cultural and personality fit to the Müller values. She was able to present a shortlist of between 2 and 4 candidates for each all vacancy to the Müller HR Director.
The candidates were from a variety of backgrounds and sector including public sector, manufacturing, engineering and media, but all had the personal qualities and competencies required to succeed at Müller.
Final interviews were arranged during December and January and, by the end of February, six candidates had been offered and accepted. The remaining roles were filled within two months.
The Outcome
As a result of the fast, effective and tailored recruitment services provided by ResourceBank Executive, the HR Director was able to establish the new integrated HR function on schedule, supporting the new Müller Wiseman organisation during a phase of development and change.
ResourceBank has also been retained to work on a number of other projects for Müller including the provision of Exit Interviews across the business and the recruitment of specialists within Finance, IT and Engineering.
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