Garment technologists for Jack Wills case study Michael Page Buying & Merchandising

The background

Jack Wills were rapidly expanding their technical department and looking to fill two completely new roles for two additional garment technologists.
Candidates needed a strong technical background and to be able to fit garments, create specs, get involved with garment testing and build good relationships with factories’ design and buying department. It was also essential that the candidates had worked within a similar business on a comparable level of product quality in order to fit into the Jack Wills way of working quickly and efficiently.

The roles

  • Garment technologist for outerwear
  • Garment technologist for jersey and wovens

The challenges

Sourcing candidates with a very similar background coming from a premium brand or retailers who produce a comparable quality of product to Jack Wills was the main challenge of the brief.
Another challenge was finding candidates who had:
  • Worked specifically on the same product areas
  • The right personality/aligned values for Jack Wills as a business and with branded experience within the salary budget given by the technical manager

The solution

We took the following steps:
  • Initial search across our large database of both active and inactive candidates, searching specifically for technologists with the relevant product areas
  • Approached senior technologists and technical manager clients in the industry to ask for referrals on good candidates they have worked with
  • Used LinkedIn and other networking sites to source candidates by product type and background
  • Advertised the roles on both the Michael Page website and Drapers (trade press) to attract new candidates

The outcome

  • Both roles were filled within two weeks of the initial brief. Three months in, both candidates were still happy and doing well in the roles
  • We have continued to recruit garment technologists for Jack Wills
To find out how we can help your retail sector recruitment process, please contact Dave Mann.
T: 0207 269 2562
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