Of customers and candidates
20 years of a logistics consultancy network. Seeking out suitable candidates to provide companies with logistics advice is the everyday business of members of the logistics consultancy network Experts for Experts. Its representatives from ten countries came together in September for a conference and an exchange on the latest trends in the industry. The partners also cooperate on multinational projects in joint teams.
The market for logistics specialists and managers is currently in an exceptional condition worldwide – a state of affairs that was also a key topic at the 20th anniversary celebrations in Stresa (northern Italy) of Experts for Experts, an international logistics consultancy network. The segment represents an important sub-sector of the alliance’s activities, which also encompass accompanying mergers and acquisitions and honing strategies.
Santiago Tarín Puig, who represents the network in Barcelona with his firm Master Consulting Group, is often asked whether recruitment hasn’t become superfluous after the advent of LinkedIn. His answer is clear. “LinkedIn isn’t one of our competitors – but rather a field for recruitment.
There’s no lack of demand. Frederik Zitz, of the Hamburg-based firm Elmar Hertzog und Partner, who flies the flag for Experts for Experts in Germany, has ascertained that the market has partially dried up.
“We’re used to high demand for certain experts, such as dispatchers or customs specialists. The fact that there are now vacancies in firms right up to management level for which candidates are hard to find is new for us though,” he commented.
The selection of candidates is one of the most important tasks for all partner companies in the network. Denise K. Montrose’s enterprise, Small World Recruiting, which represents Experts for Experts in the USA, generates enough business through its recruitment focus on the logistics sector. “In general it’s difficult to find enough suitable candidates in this industry however,” Montrose revealed.
Britta Hedegaard, who has been advising international firms from Denmark on recruitment for 15 years, said it’s sometimes like finding a needle in a haystack. The focus is on the candidate. “We treat them like VIPs,” Hedegaard said.
“If a mutual relationship is taken seriously and treated confidentially, professional bonds can develop that last for an entire career, sometimes for decades.” The trick, she added, is to match the future matrix of a firm’s requirements with the candidate’s performance and expectations.
From companies for companies
The anniversary conference programme also featured some enterprises invited by Orazio Stella, of Loriga & Associati in Milan, and Olivier Binkhorst, the current president of Experts for Experts, whose operation is based in Rotterdam.
Staff selection is one of the secrets of success for Sabina Crippa, the human resources director of the firm Number 1, the former logistics arm of Barilla that was spun off. “Our firm is owned by the staff. Everyone is a shareholder and seeks to create a good working atmosphere,” is her credo.
Every three years, the satisfaction of the 1,800 employees is measured anonymously by an external service provider. The level of satisfaction last stood at 80%. The enterprise’s good reputation has improved and widened the field of candidates.
The strategy of a shipper was described by Massimiliano Maffioli, the chief people officer of McDonald’s in Italy. Its employee turnover of about 24% a year is counteracted by development plans for employees and qualification programmes for supervisors, amongst several other schemes.
Christian Zesiger, based in Basel, and Jean-Claude Rossé, who operates from the city of Zurich, represent the Experts for Experts network as equal partners in Switzerland. They too were involved in organising the anniversary celebrations.
Its share of personnel consulting is small; providing support for mergers and acquisitions and on management matters more significant. “Creative and constructive” is Rossé’s motto for the Swiss activities of the network.