SUPPLY CHAIN RECRUITMENT         

The Client

DHL is part of the World’s leading logistics group, Deutsche Post DHL. The company  offers integrated services and tailored, customer-focused solutions for managing and transporting letters, goods and information.

Tried and Tested - A Preferred Supplier

Following a 100% success rate with DHL Industrial via the Network Rail and the Severn Trent Laboratories contracts, DHL Stoke, which is currently Sainsbury’s depot of the year, approached Network Recruitment following a recommendation. Network Recruitment, were chosen to take over the recruitment for this particular DHL role as a preferred supplier. As the Hiring Manager had previously dealt with Network, DHL were confident that Network was capable of recruiting for this role, due to previous success and experience working with them.

A Challenging Role to Recruit

DHL had initially followed company policy by advertising the vacancy for a Maintenance Manger internally using the DHL Jobwatch and notice board. With little response the vacancy was then opened up to external applicants on the DHL website.

The HR team at DHL found the normal methods for recruiting were not working. They were having difficulty recruiting for this specialist role, due to the site being fully automated and so asked Noel Brennan at Network to get involved. HR Advisor at DHL, Ruth Brown, advised Noel that they required an individual that had a strong engineering background with strong managerial and team management skills. It was this balance of skills that had proved difficult for DHL to find.

Managed On Time

Once Network were appointed as the recruiters for the role of Maintenance Manager, Noel met with the recruitment team at DHL in October 2010, following the initial brief with the aim of understanding the particular requirements of the role and the environment. This would help Noel ensure any candidates he put forward would be both a good skills and personality match. Despite DHL having found this role challenging to recruit for Noel was able to provide the first short list of candidates, whom had already been pre-screened and reference checked by November. Interviews were arranged and DHL met with the first candidates in December. However, DHL’s HR Department experienced some changes and restructures and as a result by January 2011, Noel went back to meet with the Operations Director and begin a new search. In the same month a Candidate was screened, interviewed and the vacancy filled by the end of January 2011.

Specialist Doesn’t Mean More Expensive

Although Network is a specialist recruiter, DHL found they offered similar percentage fees as other agencies they had previously used.

Delivered on Promises

Ruth Brown, HR Advisor at DHL worked with Noel throughout the recruitment process. She believes Network delivered on what was discussed at the start of the project and met all the teams’ expectations. She was particularly pleased with the level of communication throughout the process with Noel.

By trusting in Network’s expertise in Engineering & Manufacturing, Logistics and Supply Chain, the new candidate provided by Network, that had proved so difficult initially for DHL to recruit for has now settled in to the role and is exactly as the HR and Engineering Team expected.  

"Communications with the appointed contact was good throughout and a visit was arranged to ensure a full understanding of our company and our requirements. The relationship with Noel is good and he calls for regular updates. We would use network again, they were not as ‘pushy’ as other agencies and seemed more professional in their approach."

- Ruth Brown, HR Advisor, DHL Stoke