The Company
Barry Callebaut is the largest processor of its type in the World, producing Cocoa, Chocolate and Confectionery for Industrial Food Manufacturers, Artisans and Retail customers. A traditional business, Barry Callebaut has been producing Cocoa for more than 150 years. As a fully integrated business, they are experts within all areas, from the sourcing of cocoa beans through to supplying the major grocery chains. Barry Callebaut manufacture globally from 30 state-of-the-art production sites and employ 9,500 staff in 17 countries across Europe, Africa, North & Latin America, and Asia/Pacific.
The Challenge
Recruitment of a Technical Supervisor.
From speaking with the business, it became evident that Barry Callebaut had a unique set of cultural values shared by everyone within the business. We therefore needed to identify candidates whom personal values were aligned to the values of the company. They wanted to recruit individuals who would share the Barry Callebaut vision and understand the key success factors that would enable the business to achieve its vision.
The role of Technical Supervisor was a newly created post that would hold responsibility for the supervision of Production, Maintenance, GMP and Hygiene within a complex manufacturing environment. The Technical Supervisor would 'up skill' operators, improve efficiencies and yield and maximise a labour budget. They will be developed to a high level, and become a ‘technical expert’ in various processes, plant and machinery applications.
There were two main challenges for Food Careers with this recruitment assignment; Namely, the identification of candidates who combined i.) Personal values aligned to the organisations values, and, ii.) Evidence of technical understanding and/or capacity to further understand the complexities of advanced manufacturing processes, plant and systems.
The Result
To address the challenges of the recruitment assignment, one of the tools Food Careers used was vocational psychometric testing. This enabled us to determine which candidates had existing technical understanding and/or capacity to understand the manufacturing complexities of the business.
A further tool used to ascertain the alignment of the organisations values with candidate personal values was the completion of a personal values questionnaire. This provided us with a deep understanding of what was important to each candidate, their values, beliefs, interactions, and how this affects their performance at work.
The Technical Supervisor also needed to be an excellent cross-functional manager as they supervise production operatives, craft, engineers, and hygiene operatives. We therefore ensured that candidates interviewed had clear evidence of supervising cross-functional teams and were able to provide tangible examples to support their supervisory experience.
Following this rigorous selection process, the successful candidate appointed was identified as an individual who had worked for a Global business, so understood global vision, values, the importance of the various customer segments and Global supply chain. A time-served Engineer, they had moved into Production Management for a world class FMCG manufacturer, and were able to bring practical experience of the tools and techniques that could be applied to improve yield and efficiencies, which was a key requirement of the role.
This recruitment assignment demonstrates how Food Careers can successfully use a range of candidate selection tools and techniques. Vocational psychometric testing was used to indicate technical understanding / capacity to understand and a personal values questionnaire used to ensure a values synergy between employer and employee.
