Since director Max MacGillivray started out four years ago the recruitment process at Redfox has centred around three main aims - the search for the right people, the use of the most up-to-date systems and, most importantly, a postive attitude. “Finding the right people is fundamentally important to driving the business, as is using the right software and, most importantly, having the passion,” he says. “We have placed so many key individuals and we have seen the businesses that they have been appointed to grow and the industry grow with it.”
The firm has come a long way since its beginnings as a one-man venture into mid-to-senior management recruitment for the fresh produce sector, adds consultant David Macaulay. “We have grown into a team of eight based in the UK, four UK-based sub-contractors and an office in Madrid,” he says.
The Redfox team knows how to see past the trappings of finding a new job - the cover letters, staid CVs and application forms - to find the right candidate. The personalities of both the client and the candidate beyond the initial application are central to the recruitment strategy at RedFox. “A CV is a very staid document and very one-dimensional,” Macaulay says. “But we focus on the personality of the client in order to try to add value to the business. And on many occasions the candidate turns into the client, and that is very satisfying. We see ourselves as career guardians.”
But the work does not end when the position is filled, adds Macaulay. “To get a phone call two months into a job when you have placed an individual, and to find that they are excelling and getting it right, is what we are aiming for,” he says. “The idea is to marry the right person with the right company and, if you can do that, you can make a real difference to the business.”
MacGillivray predicts that around 200 candidates will be placed in 2007, taking three months on average for a candidate to be placed, both in the UK and overseas. “And we have to treat each of them as individuals,” adds Macaulay. “If you break that number down per consultant, you can see how much time and effort goes into the recruitment process.
“Some recruitment businesses are designed for a volume game but that is not what we are about. We have to understand the needs of the client and the candidate and deliver what they want. We are looking for long-term relationships. We design everything we do in order to get placements right first time.”
The Redfox recruitment process is straightforward. “The idea is that we will be as open and as contactable as possible and transparent in everything we do,” Macaulay says. “The candidate knows where they stand as soon as possible. They are the decision makers. Our role is to look out for them on a confidential basis.”
Macaulay adds that the right candidates are vital ingredients to the recruitment process. “We can only continue to grow if we are able to keep getting in touch with the right people,” he says. “What we are trying to do is talk to as many people as we can about what it is actually like at Redfox.”
MacGillivary and Macaulay are confident that the changing shape of the fresh produce industry could pose a multitude of growth opportunities for Redfox. “There will end up being a small number of large companies and we want to get into the high-growth areas,” says MacGillivray. “Around 38-40 companies are really growing as a result of the consolidation. These are high-growth companies looking for high-calibre candidates and we intend to align ourselves with these businesses.”
The Redfox team admits that recruitment is one of the challenges facing the fresh produce trade. “The sector is like a triangle the wrong way round,” says MacGillivray. “The industry used to be a popular thing to go into in the 1980s-90s, but with the demise of farming, those with a background in the business stopped coming into the sector.
“We are not seeing the same number of young people going into agricultural schools and colleges,” he adds. “Many of the courses still available have had to be dumbed down to attract students.”
Macaulay stresses that the industry needs to take action to attract new blood. “The sector is unknown among young people,” he says. “They don’t have an understanding of what the supply chain is from growers to retailers. No one is shouting about this industry and seeing the opportunities. We are dealing with the fall-out from this but that is not our responsibility. This is an industry issue. The Fresh Produce Consortium and the superpowers of the industry need to encourage a united approach.”
But Redfox has undertaken a number of initiatives in order to attract and keep people in the business of fruit and vegetables.
The firm uses some of the latest systems, including specialist head-hunting software, the Dilliston system, in order to speed up and simplify the recruitment process for both the client and candidate.
The brand-new RedFox website will be launched today. The distinctive red, white and black redesign, which features a live job board, a job of the day, and a sector search, alongside advice and testimonials, is integrated with the Redfox database to enable candidate details to be stored on the system directly. This means that candidates will be contacted within 24 hours of registering. The website also features a section aimed at graduates for candidates looking to enter the sector that details basics such as how to write a CV and interview techniques, as well as advice on writing your resignation.
MacGillivray says the launch of the website and the introduction of a successful text-messaging service two months ago is testament to the investment being made in improving the recruitment process.
“The way we see it, it is up to us to prove who we are and why both clients and candidates can trust us,” adds Macaulay. “Both the website and the text-messaging option offer another route for potential candidates to get in touch.”
The opening of a Redfox branch in Spain in September 2006 has opened a door between recruitment in the UK and on the continent. “The European office is one way that we are trying to bring people into the industry as it has enabled more dialogue between the European and the UK side of the business,” Macaulay says. “This has opened up a lot of opportunities for us as it has enabled us to get talent from Europe to the UK and back again.
“Our man in Spain has given us a competitive edge as we are in the position to offer candidates international opportunities.”
Joep Maussen, who has worked within the produce industry for 16 years in countries including Spain, Germany, Holland, England, South Africa and Brazil, is based in the Madrid office. “My role is to focus on getting people from the UK to Spain and back,” he says. “The Spanish branch has a similar vision to the UK-based Redfox and the system used in Spain is linked to the UK database.”
MacGillivray says that the addition of a Redfox office on the continent has been a step towards filling a gap in the market. “The sector we are in is very specialised, but there aren’t that many recruitment companies in mainland Europe,” he says. “The market is huge and we want to duplicate the success we have had in the UK in Europe.”
The firm is planning to build on its increasingly international presence at the Berlin-based trade show, Fruit Logistica, next month.
“This is a global trade that we are involved in,” says MacGillivray. “We always get requests from Spain and, interestingly, Canada, looking for fresh produce people from the UK. The UK market is so far advanced that they think it would be of benefit to them,” he adds. “The expansion of our office overseas will happen in the future, and we will continue to be an impartial sounding board for employers, but, for now, we are looking forward to the launch of our brand-new website.”
For more details visit www.redfoxes.co.uk
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