Case Study

The Client

We worked with a global chemical business that has operations spanning most countries around the world and a turnover in the hundreds of billions.

The Vacancies

Maintenance technicians and maintenance engineers (electrical, mechanical, multi-skilled and instrumentation/control, automation)

The Challenges

The client was investing in a large expansion of their site and, as a result, needed to fill a high number of maintenance technician and maintenance engineer positions with varying skill sets.

• As a general rule, the maintenance job market in South Wales (where the client was located) has been a very difficult area for recruiting in recent times. For more details read our “where have all the great maintenance technicians gone” article.
• The company works a complex shift pattern that was difficult to explain and communicate, and candidates were not overly keen to work the shift pattern on offer.
• In order to go through onsite training, candidates starting with the client initially receive a lower salary. A lot of candidates were unwilling to take a pay drop for a period of time.
• The salary package was quite complex, and the salaries on offer were not enough to attract people from other similar sites in the area.
• The role itself, despite involving maintenance work, also required undertaking non-maintenance related tasks to ensure that the processes onsite run smoothly.
• The hiring manager had high standards when selecting candidates via CV review, meaning we would need to produce a higher volume of candidates to get enough people through to interview to fill the roles. In turn, this meant that they were very selective in making offers of employment at interview stage.
• The interview stage with the client was very thorough, involving a lot of time spent on-site with them undertaking face-to-face interviews. They also had a range of testing (technical, numerical and reasoning) and a site tour. Candidates were not enthusiastic about committing four hours to an interview for a role they might not get.
• The client runs a very thorough, extensive, and lengthy onboarding process via a third party, which candidates found frustrating at times.

The Solution

Sigma worked closely with the client to ensure we understood what sorts of industry backgrounds and skills they wanted to consider for each of the skill sets. Then, we were able to address all of their needs.

• We drafted individual SEO adverts for each of the skill sets and displayed the salary and shift pattern as clearly as possible.
• A sourcing plan was implemented to thoroughly search all of our available databases for candidates.
• We reached out to a wide audience due to the volume of people we needed to find and filter through the process to ensure that the client was only reviewing the best options available.
• Sigma consistently contacted candidates via alternative methods (text messages, emails, answerphone messages, etc.) when we were unable to reach them via the telephone.
• We undertook thorough screening calls with all candidates to ensure they would be qualified to interview for the client.
• We went into great detail with candidates regarding the complex shift pattern and the salary and benefits package during our screening interviews.
• All information relating to the role, company, shift pattern and salary was sent in a job information pack to the candidates after the screening interview so they could confirm that they were happy with all of the details, and still wanted to proceed with applying for the role.
• We presented all the CVs with thorough notes for the client.
• We ensured that, due to the volume of interviews being booked, all dates and times were communicated effectively to avoid any issues for the client. At one stage, we had 14 in a one-week period.
• We briefed the candidates fully with the details of the interview process.
• We were very prompt in collecting feedback from the candidates to relay to the client.
• Once offers of employment were made, we made sure to keep in close contact with candidates as they went through each stage of the onboarding process to ensure that any problems or missing information were resolved swiftly, and that start dates stayed on target.

The Results

During the 12-month expansion project period, the client employed nine maintenance staff via Sigma. As the project continued into the following year, a further six staff were hired. At the same time, Sigma also assisted the client in recruiting four maintenance engineer positions for their day maintenance team.

Other successful Sigma assignments have included chemical engineers, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, process engineers, quality manager, laboratory technicians, instrumentation engineers, automation engineers, control systems engineers and chemical process operators.

Sigma Recruitment – chemical recruitment

Since Sigma Recruitment opened in 2005, we’ve developed an enviable reputation as one of the leading independent manufacturing and engineering recruitment agencies. We’ve recruited for a wide variety of companies, from Fortune 500 firms with sales in the hundreds of billions to niche high-tech start-ups and everything in between; we can recruit across the United Kingdom, including locations such as Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Bristol, Birmingham, Cambridge, Gloucester, Leeds, Manchester, Oxford, Reading and Swindon.

If you’re looking to recruit candidates with engineering, technical, STEM graduates in the chemical manufacturing sector, then Sigma Recruitment is ideally placed to help you find the elusive high-calibre talent your business needs. If you’re looking for a chemical recruiter, then please book a call with our founding director today! And we will show you why we are one of the UK’s leading manufacturing and engineering recruitment agencies.