Finding the right roadtransport personnel can be a daunting task
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for employers who do not have the time or expertise to search for the perfect candidate. Now Campbell Automotive Recruitment is ready to do the job for them.
• An agency specialising in recruiting truck salespeople has been set up by two former commercial vehicle rental firm executives. Tim Campbell and Michael Finnigan, who formed Tim Campbell Automotive Recruitment in April, say they can find the right person for any job in road transport, using a vast list of contacts and confidential interviews.
The two, formerly of Intertrail Rentals, say most managers do not have the time or expertise to interview candidates for a job. Even if they do, someone who performs well in a face-to-face chat, may not be the right person. "Anyone can pass an interview and fool an employer," says 30year-old Campbell. "We can assess whether someone who is good at his job will fit into the culture of a company."
They aim to fill 70 vacancies in their first year, and next year hope to boost this to 200, branching out into other fields by taking on specialists to recruit transport managers and fleet engineers. Campbell and Finnigan employ an office manager, Keith Taylor, and a psychologist trained in interview techniques.
CONFIDENTIAL
They say effective recruitment means not only finding the right person to fill a vacancy; it also means persuading him or her to accept it. 'The best people are usually not looking for jobs," says Finnigan, 29. To do this involves confidential interviews where the client's name is not revealed until the last moment. "If you tell a person, they often have preconceived ideas and reject the offer outright," says Campbell. "Also, the customer doesn't know who the applicant is. Both parties speak more freely to us than in a standard interview situation." They do not like being called headhunters (they prefer "executive searchers") but they admit that tracking down executives and persuading them to leave their jobs is what their task amounts to.
For most vacancies they single out five or six candidates before approaching them. "Sometimes, though, we know the right person right away," says Campbell. They say their first job is to establish exactly what the customer wants. For this they have to know how dealer networks and major contract hire firms work, and what sort of people they tend to employ.
Campbell and Finnigan began setting up the Preston-based agency in early 1988 while still employed at Intertrail, but it took a year for the essential Department of Employment licence to come through. Their wives, Pam and Cheryl, are directors. Campbell had previously worked for Mercedes-Benz, Leyland Daf and ERF; Finnigan for finance house Forward Trust.
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who will go on the "milk round" of university and polytechnic recruitment fairs this autumn in a bid to attract graduates into road haulage. They say the industry does not sell itself to bright youngsters — many of whom are lost to computers, banking or commerce — although, they claim, there are more opportunities in the industry than ever before. At the moment, their customers are truck manufacturers, dealers, contract hire and rental companies. They are expanding into transport recruitment because, they say, there is a lot of crossover between the two through big transport companies like BRS and Transfleet, who have both hire and distribution arms. They hope the moves will take them from 11 to 20 staff by the end of the year, and allow them to open a second office.
Because their licence classes them as a recruitment agency and not an employment consultancy, they cannot charge someone for finding them a job. They do, however, get frequent requests from people seeking a career move. Each staff member can handle up to nine assignments at one time: it generally takes them from a few days to two months to find a suitable candidate for a position.
STAFF PACKAGE
The jobs they fill range from salesmen to managing directors. They can even recruit office staff as part of a package if, for example, a dealer is opening new premises, and they do not believe that recruitment advertising works. "Some ads get no response: others get hundreds of applications which the employer cannot handle. We sometimes get called in and handed a mish-mash," says Campbell.
To find one applicant they might talk to 50 people. They have hundreds of contacts on a computer data base, and to keep in touch with the industry they read every trade magazine and visit most trade shows, collecting as many business cards as possible. In the end they only use around 5% of the data they collect. "This is the part that many clients do not appreciate," says Finnigan. "They only see the tip of the iceberg. One had been looking unsuccessfully for six months; we found him someone in two weeks. He couldn't believe it could be so easy."
If the task is to find a sales manager in a region, they will scour their contacts in that area. "If we don't know the right person, we know someone who will," says Campbell.
Campbell and Finnigan also run an advertising, public relations and management consultancy which they have set up alongside the recruitment agency. They say their other activities stem from headhunting: they were once asked to find staff by a dealer who was opening new premises in the south. They advised him to acquire an existing company instead.
The industry must change its attitude to recruitment, they insist. There is now much more emphasis on finance, with many truck buyers opting for credit packages, and talented sales staff are needed. "It's a whole new ball game today," says Campbell, "and many dealers are not wellequipped in terms of personnel."
11 by Murdo Morrison