Cold Call!
Attracting specialist staff to the very far north of Scotland had been a recruitment nightmare for the UK's only manufacturer of chest freezers – Icetech Freezers, based in Thurso. So, when they needed two new members of their management team, they decided to look for some professional support and made a Cold Call to Jonathan Lee.
Working with Jonathan Lee Recruitment proved that knowing your candidates and providing a thorough briefing meant no shortage of suitable candidates – whatever the location!
Managing Director Ian Cassidy takes up the story. "Relocation has been a problem for us in the past when recruiting, so naturally we expected it to be a hurdle again. We chose Jonathan Lee Recruitment for a number of reasons. We wanted to gain access to a broader network of candidates, which would then be narrowed to a core of suitable candidates for u s to see, we recognised that Jonathan Lee Recruitment could achieve this much more effectively and efficiently than we could manage internally. Also, the company had originally been recommended by another white goods manufacturer."
Gordon Palmer in the Leeds office was the consultant who worked with Icetech Freezers. "We took a very detailed brief from Icetech Freezers; we had placed someone there previously so we knew how the company operated, but we wanted to have a very clear picture of the nature of the roles. A crucial part of our candidate selection process was to establish - beyond any doubt - that anyone we put forward was absolutely clear about exactly where the company was based and precisely what this meant in terms of relocation."
"It's no great surprise to me," continued Scotsman Gordon, "that people are happy to move up to Thurso. It's a beautiful part of the world. You just have to recognise that life up there is rather different and everything is at a distance!"
Clearly Gordon’s approach worked because he was able to put forward five candidates for each of the two positions.
Ian Cassidy again: "We found it hard to decide between the candidates – all of them were very capable and could have done the job. We were delighted with the service. Jonathan Lee Recruitment really took the time to understand our requirements and then made sure they translated that into a precise search for suitable candidates."
