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BMW
Portugal
The
challenge - to recruit a totally new team from the Board to administrative
support.
Background
As
part of its global strategy, BMW Group decided to set up its own
import and marketing operation in Portugal, substituting the existing
independent organisation on 1 January 2005.
The
new company - BMW Portugal - would only be supplied with two people
from within the Group - the President and the Finance Director,
the rest of the nearly 60 strong team would be recruited by the
company's newly appointed recruitment consultancy in Lisbon, Ad
Capita International Search.
Methodology
and marketing campaign
Together with our client we decided to use
a mixture of search and advertised selection for all positions.
We advised that although advertising for senior managers was normally
ineffective and counter-productive in Portugal, in this case,
the prestige of the BMW brand and corporate image would be highly
appealing at all levels. In addition BMW felt that the very high
profile advertising campaign, with a series of full page broadsheet
ads in the key weekly paper "Expresso" would also serve
as important teaser marketing for the launch of BMW Portugal itself.
Clearly,
such an approach meant that we had to be prepared to deal with
large volumes of applications complemented to our targeted search
methods. BMW is renowned for the highest levels of rigour and
quality and our work for them would be judged on that basis. We
were determined that every application, however inappropriate
to its target position, would be dealt with fairly and respectfully.
We created two separated dedicated areas in our web site - one
for candidates, describing the positions in detail and capturing
applications and CVs and one for BMW with an advanced tracking
system whereby managers in Portugal and at HQ in Munich could
monitor, week by week, exactly what was happening to each recruitment
and the candidates under assessment.
The
process
The whole process took almost exactly a year, from first advert
to final candidate choice. The advantages of spreading the process
out over such a long period were very great. With the exception
of certain key operational positions, we worked from the top downwards.
Thus, as Board members were appointed they could be involved in
selecting their management teams and, in turn, managers could help
choose their own teams. A second advantage was to allow the process
to be organic: as the management structure built up and the new
company began to build its foundations in the market, so the team
members could adjust their needs to the realities of the situation.
In this way, the organisation chart set out in December 2003 had
undergone some critical alterations by the time we got to the
end of 2004.
The
marketing campaign produced a bigger response than anyone could
have imagined - over 15,000 applications and 2.2 million web hits
(nearly 500,000 page views). Our tailored web and database systems,
with individual consultant screening filters, meant that we could
indeed fulfil our client's stringent requirement for fairness
and thoroughness. No application went unanswered or unscreened.
We received a large number of complimentary e-mails and phone
calls from candidates - many screened out at an early stage -
and a remarkably small number of complaints (all of which were,
of course, scrupulously followed-up).
For
many key positions - mainly management and specialised technical
posts -we complemented the selection process with our usual search
activities, using our own databases, industry contacts and other
information sources. Around a third of chosen candidates were sourced
through search and the rest responded to the advertising campaign.
The
result
The
result of this challenging, intensive and very exciting assignment
is the most talented, motivated and team-oriented company we have,
in our experience, ever seen. The words of BMW Portugal's President
sum up the level of our client's satisfaction:
"We
are exceptionally satisfied with our recruitment and in particular
the service and support your team have demonstrated throughout
the period. You have been dedicated to a level of excellence
that is best illustrated by the fact that we have found a team
from a selection of maybe more than 15,000 candidates, all of
whom have been treated in a fair and transparent manner."
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