ith supermarkets re-examining their supply chains and sourcing a far greater proportion of fruit and vegetables directly than ever before, much of the discussion has focused on the potential impact of the decision on their suppliers. However, it has since emerged that the move is having every bit as significant an impact on the fresh produce recruitment sector.
“We’ve seen a major change in our recruitment business over the last 12 months, from traditional suppliers to retailers,” explains Max MacGillivray, founder of Redfox. “Two years ago the bulk of our business was with companies supplying goods or services to the retailers. Over the last year, we have seen the ascendency of direct sourcing from retailers, so we now have a very strong relationship with Tesco, sourcing commercial and technical people for them.”
No mere trend, MacGillivray argues that Tesco’s supply chain strategy echoes a “fundamental change” within the fresh produce marketplace, with rival UK retailers Asda and Morrisons also shaking up their supply chains in recent years. “This is going to become a way of life in the supply sector because Tesco and the other major retailers have pinned their colours to the mast, committing themselves to direct sourcing,” he says.
Lively market
For Joep Maussen, co-founder of Fruit Recruit, the last year has been largely positive, with the company experiencing growth through existing clients and launching a new online recruitment portal. “There has been lively demand in the market, with retailers and suppliers carrying out highly specialised searches at a worldwide level, which reflects the global nature of the fresh produce business,” he says.
Working with “two of the top four” global retailers has, says Maussen, given him an insight into the move towards direct sourcing among much of the sector. “With two of our clients, we have clearly seen the trend towards global sourcing emerging,” he says. “There is a need among the retailers to reduce the cost of products and make savings. One way is to work as directly as possible with the source.”
Skills shortage
However, although MacGillivray says Redfox has been approached by other retailers asking them to help recruit new staff members for direct sourcing, he says sourcing the right candidates to fill these positions is still a “very difficult” process. “The big issue is finding the best possible people because clients only want to hire the best,” he says.
For MacGillivray, the problem facing recruiters is a “fundamental skills shortage” that he believes has been exacerbated by a lack of university graduates with qualifications suitable for the industry. “We’ve lost a generation and that’s why there has been such a skills shortage,” he advises. “For that reason, we’ve been sourcing people from further away from the UK than ever before.”
Like MacGillivray, Maussen believes that one of the key challenges facing recruiters working within the fresh produce industry is how to bring more young people into the sector. “That is a challenge we are still facing,” he admits. “It’s still not the most sexy industry available to young graduates.”
However, the impact of the economic recession on employment levels may have an indirect effect on the fresh produce sector in some countries. In Spain, where an estimated 40-45 per cent of people under 25 are out of work, Maussen says there is evidence that young graduates are “increasingly willing” to accept any job offers.
In common with Fruit Recruit, Guy Moreton, MD of MorePeople, says his company has experienced a “very positive” 12 months in terms of its recruitment business. “We’ve had one of our best ever years following on from our best year ever,” he says. However, Moreton says the year was not without its challenges. “Clients have been very fussy and candidates have had to be exactly right, whereas in other years they might have been more open in who they would talk to, so the whole process takes a little bit longer,” he explains. “The challenge is we are quite candidate poor in terms of the numbers of people that we can talk to.”
For Moreton, the shortage of suitable candidates is a consequence of the economic climate. Although there have not been widespread redundancies in the fresh produce industry, as there have been in other sectors, he believes people are staying in jobs they may not be 100 per cent happy in given the uncertain times. “People are less likely to move about for their next job than they were five or six years ago, so the overall market is still very tough,” says Moreton.
He adds that he has detected a “significant increase” in cautiousness among employers over recent months, with more companies either electing to eliminate vacant positions or holding out for “absolutely the right person”.
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However, MacGillivray says that “over the last two to three years”, more graduates have “woken up to the fact” that they need a university degree or suitable training to work in a sector that offers a wealth of career opportunities. In fact, he predicts that within the next five to six years, there will be “more good people” seeking to enter the sector.
Despite this, it is clear that problems remain for recruiters working within fresh produce. “We are appalling at advertising ourselves,” says MacGillivray. “Most people don’t have an understanding of where products come from and the fault with that really lies with the retailers because they are the ‘front of house’ for the fresh produce sector.”
However, Moreton says that attracting young graduates to the fresh produce industry remains “tough” for recruitment specialists.
“Hardly any graduates have any perception of what the fresh produce industry is - they get it mixed up with agriculture and think it’s low paid and dirty,” he says. “They don’t hear about the stuff that makes working in fresh produce great because the fresh produce sector has done a really bad job of promoting itself.” -
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