Chapter 03

Case Study: The Midlands Spring Company (pg. 88)

What was the recruitment and selection strategy, and what was the outcome of the process?

The case revolves around a small, somewhat old-fashioned manufacturing company located in a small Derbyshire village, quite a few miles from the nearest towns and cities. Its geographical position has implications for its labour supply, particularly at the managerial level. However, almost all of the skilled and semi-skilled workers do live locally. One of the key issues in the case is to do with labour markets and difficulties surrounding finding people with specialist skills who can also fit into a rather unusual ‘factory culture.’

The case study is also about owner/managers of small businesses who have little experience of the more technically challenging aspects of HR – recruitment and selection – and are struggling to make key appointments that are critical to the company’s survival and prosperity. They have already made one expensive mistake in the appointment of a Quality Manager that didn’t work. They are now looking to appoint a Works Manager who would be responsible for all operations and in particular the staff who worked for the company.

The consultant who worked on this project was one of the authors, and he was employed under a national scheme whereby the Training and Skills Council – it was some time ago – funded a consultant to work for a SME up to 50% of the costs; the rest was covered by the company.

His approach was to work closely with the two owner/managers rather than take full responsibility himself. This involved several conversations with them on the type of person they wanted and the skills/competences he/she needed to have. It is important to note that the person appointed had to be able to work with the owners and feel comfortable with the culture and traditions of the business. On the other hand the person needed to be technically qualified, be capable of leading change and have a good understanding of business and the business the company was in. So agreement of the person specification was a critical phase, but it wasn’t simply a product of a technical job analysis process, but a much more holistic approach to identifying the person who the company needed.

What followed was then a discussion over where such a person might be found, and this involved looking at locations where similar businesses were to be found and considering using specialist trade press to advertise the vacancy or use local/regional newspapers. It was decided not to use a recruitment agency on grounds of cost and reliability. The consultant wanted the owners to ultimately take responsibility for this appointment and be part of the whole process.

As a result of advertising, quite a number of applications were received, and all were read by each of the two owners together and by the consultant looking at them independently. They all used an assessment template based on key requirements and expectations designed by the consultant that reflected technical expertise, management experience, business acumen and personal qualities. However, the template was used flexibly as a guide to sift out those applications that clearly did not meet the requirements, but not to exclude applicants who didn’t fit exactly but nevertheless were of interest.

A short list of six applicants was drawn up and each one was invited to visit the factory one Saturday morning according to a schedule. They were taken around the factory and had informal conversations with the two owners. Each was then interviewed by the owners together and then by the consultant. As a result of this process a ranking of the applicants was made, but not on the the basis of a scoring matrix, which was not considered appropriate in this situation.

The final decision came down to two quite different people. One older and more experienced in the spring business, but who would have to move from the South to Derbyshire if he were appointed; He had just left his current employment because he wanted to return to the Midlands with his family. The second was considerably younger, lived 20 miles away and had most of his managerial experience in the manufacturing of plastic pipes. To the consultant, he was a slightly more risky appointment, but he scored better on his social and interpersonal skills.

The consultant summarised the case for both and offered his opinion on who might be the most appropriate choice. The two owners, after reviewing and discussing the relative strengths and weaknesses chose the younger applicant.

The decision turned out to be a good one and the new works Manager quickly fitted in and began to modernise the production processes. He also forged good working relations with the two owners.

The overall cost to the company of making the appointment was relatively modest at approximately £2,000.

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Oxford University Press, Online Resource Centre, Chapter 03.

Chapter 03