Client case studies

National Milk Records

Recruitment, management and HR training for field-based managers.

The challenge

When NMR wanted to recruit a new field-based workforce to help change the way that data is collected, it faced a significant challenge: more used to working with self-employed people, NMR’s field managers lacked experience in either recruiting or managing their own staff.

The solution text

Simply providing interviewing skills would not be enough. The area managers would need to know how to identify someone with the right skills and attitude for NMR – and also have an understanding of basic employment law and NMR’s HR policies.

NMR selected Xpertise’s soft skills division for the work: having previously worked with the team on other projects, NMR felt that Xpertise had the right experience and approach. According to Linda Brightwell of NMR, a bespoke course would be essential. “For our recruitment programme to be a success, we needed to provide exactly the right skills. We needed a training programme which was 100% relevant to us, not an off-the-shelf course.”

Xpertise worked with NMR to devise the structure and content of the course. It was decided to develop a three-day course, the first two days being run consecutively (covering recruitment and selection), with the final day being run at a later date (covering management skills). In this way, training would be delivered when it was most needed and most relevant.

Xpertise developed the course – and ran an initial pilot to a selection of area field managers who were about to employ new people. The pilot proved more than useful. The excellent input of the area field managers identified several areas of improvement which hadn’t been previously apparent. For example, the pilot showed that help was needed in identifying and using NMR’s forms – and also in understanding some of NMR’s HR policies.

The first two days of the course helped people to identify the skills, attitude and knowledge which applicants would need for their role. Employment law, such as discrimination, was also covered – using quizzes to reinforce the learning and keep the course engaging. People were also shown how to recruit and interview along NMR’s best practice guidelines – and how to make a selection, give feedback, follow the defined process to ensure an offer letter is drawn-up quickly and even prepare for the new employee by organising equipment and transport. The final day covered the skills needed to manage the new field employees – and was linked to NMR’s induction and internal training processes.

According to Linda Brightwell, it has been “one of the most valued course which NMR has provided, smoothing the process of taking on new staff – and even helping the area managers, who don’t often meet during the course of their work, to build an excellent rapport with each other. And not only did everyone benefit from the course, they all also really enjoyed it.”

The programme is now being rolled out nationwide, placing NMR firmly on track to meet its recruitment goals.