C&A
When the Michael Page Design team were given the challenge to recruit Designers and Technologists for one of the largest fashion retailers in Europe we jumped at the fantastic opportunity.
C&A were looking to create a truly International work force to reflect their customer base and wanted to find the best talent in the European market.
Core challenges we faced and ways we overcame them included:
Recruiting for positions overseas
Our consultants responsible for the C&A account travelled and spent time with the key decision makers in their two European offices (Brussels and Dusseldorf). This enabled them to gain a strong understanding of the business’ culture, structure, and working environment.
The consultants also used these trips to spend time in both cities, so they could talk knowledgably about the realities of living there.
UK’s lack of awareness of C&A
Although C&A have more than 1000 stores in Europe, they haven’t had a store presence in the UK for a number of years, so together we created a ‘mini-site’ which was linked to the Michael Page website. This gave candidates information about C&A as well as living and working abroad.
Understanding C&A’s umbrella brands
Whilst visiting both C&A offices, the consultants also went to multiple C&A stores to give themselves a full awareness of all the business’ brands and understanding of the stores’ environment.
Managing international interviews
Interviews are generally conducted in one of C&A’s offices in Brussels or Dusseldorf, so the logistics of managing this process required precise organisation.
We built a relationship with the C&A HR team based on high levels of communication and trust to ensure all interviews are organised efficiently and correctly.
Recruiting international talent
C&A’s desire to build a truly international workforce has required the ability to source candidates from across the world. Michael Page’s network of international offices has been instrumental in sourcing candidates from across the world.
We have utilised a variety of methods to achieve this including our sophisticated, constantly growing, closely maintained database; our highly developed network of candidates; targeted headhunting techniques; branded advertising campaigns on the Michael Page website and Drapers Records.
Our relationship with C&A is both mutually rewarding and extremely successful, and we continue to work closely with them to provide recruitment support across their business.
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