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Attracting talents is more important than ever in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape. But it is a process that is being made increasingly challenging by the current demographic transformation, changing labor markets and globalization. Site-specific factors such as Brexit – which has made it more complicated for UK companies to reach the European applicant market – present additional issues.
In an effort to set themselves apart from other companies, overcome obstacles to the hiring process caused by Brexit and find the best candidates, colleagues at the NORMA Group site in Newbury, UK, had to develop an innovative and flexible talent acquisition strategy.
Resource optimization is a cornerstone of our long-term strategy at NORMA UK. Recruiting the right potential and talent from all over is an essential part of our strategic growth plan.
Everything began in Newbury in the third quarter of 2022.
“We were keen to develop a strategy that would offer NORMA UK the flexibility to hire talent from around the world. It was a process that required many hours of close collaboration with the UK government to ensure we fulfilled all the necessary requirements”, explains Paul Kelly, HR Business Partner NORMA UK. “After three challenging months that were both time and resource intensive, the Home Office approved the sponsorship license for highly skilled migrant workers in October 2022. This license provided us with an excellent opportunity to consider candidates from any country in the world.”
But it didn’t stop there:
“We needed to narrow our search and find a country that would offer a large engineering talent pool. India presented us with an untapped market for highly skilled engineers, with over one million young professionals graduating each year”, he continues.
The NORMA UK team partnered with an executive consulting agency based in Chennai, a city in southeast India. The agency’s professionalism, extensive knowledge and experience in the labor market were of great value to the hiring process. An outstanding selection of CVs were soon arriving in the HR department’s inboxes, and they all met the desired criteria.
After a whole week of online application interviews, it was very clear that our strategy had the potential to become a tremendous success.
So in March of this year, Tatjana and Paul traveled to Chennai to meet face-to-face with sixteen potential candidates, almost all of whom had the skills, knowledge and experience they were looking for.
Tatjana and Paul shortly before they meet the candidates.
“It all started with a call from the consulting agency telling me that there was an IME position available at one of their clients. Little did I know that this call would change my life for the better”, explains Satheesh Krishnamoorthy, one of the candidates who was hired. “Soon, I had the opportunity to meet Paul and Tatjana. The professionalism and attitude they both displayed reinforced my desire to work with them at NORMA UK.”
After seven days of interviews, it was clear that the level of expertise actually exceeded expectations. That meant that the real challenge now was to select three engineers from a pool of fourteen candidates, all of whom were ready for the job.
After careful consideration, the decision was made in favor of Satheesh Krishnamoorthy, Rickson John-Peter and Kishore Kumar, who not only had the required skillset but were also an excellent fit with NORMA Group’s corporate values.
“The decision to move from India to the UK was not an easy one, but I was looking forward to the new challenges and exploring new technologies”, explains Rickson. “I thank the team for this opportunity and look forward to helping everyone continuously improve the customer experience through innovation.”
Obtaining the visas took a further two months. On Thursday, July 13, 2023, it was time for Paul to take a trip to welcome the new employees to the airport in London.
Paul welcomes Kishore, Rickson and Satheesh at the airport
“Everything went according to plan and I traveled with Kishore and Rickson, to the UK. I was thrilled with the perfect preparation by the team, from the personal pick-up by Paul to the provision of accommodation for our stay”, Satheesh points out. “Many thanks to Paul, Tatjana and Maciej for making all this possible. I look forward to a long and successful relationship and contributing to the success of NORMA Group.”
“We are very happy and grateful for the opportunity to advance our careers and develop ourselves at NORMA Group”, says Kishore Kumar. “Thank you to everyone involved and the great team here at NORMA UK, especially Tatjana, Paul and Maciej.”
Maciej, Satheesh, Tatjana, Rickson, Kishore and Paul at the NORMA Group site in Newbury.
“We warmly welcome Kishore, Rickson and Satheesh to NORMA UK and will actively support them in their challenging and exciting transition to living and working in the UK”, Paul assures.