Set-up of a central quality management department for a foodstuff corporation.

The starting point:

Through strong expansion, a company in the foodstuff industry with production factories in several countries reaches the limits of decentralized steering. Therefore, a central quality management department shall be set-up and established at the headquarters, with the goal of centralizing several important quality functions.   

The solution:

Before the company can begin with setting-up the department, the head of the department has to be found. This person has to be able personally and technically to use the design opportunities of the new function to fulfil the objectives. Further set-up of the department shall be made in agreement with the new head of department.

The process:

Together with the board of directors, the position of the head of department was defined after a first consulting meeting, and a requirement profile for the technical and personal skills was created. Depending on the technical requirements, a recruiting strategy for suitable candidates was prepared. Due to the specific requirements of the position, this was made by using all possible search channels (database research internal and external, adverts, direct contacts, contacts through our own network).

After identification of technically suited candidates, through resume review, personal meetings with the candidates took place for short listing. Through a semi-structured interview with biographic and situative questions, the personal suitability for the requirement profile was reviewed and assessed. After completion of the personal meetings, the suitable candidates were recommended to the customer for a first round of introduction.

Rau Consultants planned and coordinated the first round of introduction, and held the meetings upon request of the costumer at the headquarters of the customer, with representatives of the board, human resources, and the project manager attending. The meeting helped to get acquainted, to represent the company, and the position, and to audit the technical qualification of the candidates.

After the end of the first round, the candidates were discussed together with the representatives of the company in order to prepare decision-making for the further selection process. In parallel, the Rau Consultants project manager obtained the opinion and impression of the candidates, and discussed them. Rau Consultants additionally supported the board of directors in decision making with comprehensive recommendation of candidates, including benchmarking of TARGET/IS, and the review of references.

Then three suitable candidates were selected for the second round of sessions who fulfilled the requirement profile. With the relevant representatives of the company and the Rau Consultants project manager attending, the impressions from the first meeting were reflected, in the second session, open issues were clarified, and a more in-depth discussion on the contents of the position, the possible processing of the candidate, and targets and expectations took place.

After the end of the sessions, the candidates were ranked together with the board of directors and human resources, based on all gathered findings, and the further processing was planned. The parties agreed to invite candidate no. 1 to a third session on short notice to clarify the final details. After negotiation of the details, the contract was executed with the matching candidate after the third session.

During the phase of integration of the candidate, the Rau Consultants project manager supported the training on the job with two phone feedback calls with the supervisor in the company (board of directors) and the candidate. This service supported the integration and checked whether cooperation between employee and candidate went on as well as expected. Both parties gave positive feedback, so there was no need for further clarification.

The result:

A candidate was found who was a personal and technical match, and who is capable of realizing the strategic aspects and further staffing of the department for centralising the quality management.

In the second step, the new structure of the department was developed, and the other functions were defined, in close cooperation between Rau Consultants and the new head of department.

Contact persons:

For questions or remarks on our proceeding in the recruitment process please turn to Brigitte Keller or Matthias Hennig.