The Challenge
Our client is one of the world’s largest gold miners and operates major assets in four countries. They are ASX200 listed and aim to deliver superior returns from finding, developing and operating gold mines.
On the back of a successful capital raising drive, the client was looking to rapidly expand one of their major Southern Hemisphere sites to deliver a prompt return for investors. As a result, they had an urgent requirement to bring on more than 80 technical mining professionals for ongoing roles in a short timeframe. These individuals would be required to work in a harsh remote site environment on a challenging month on; month off roster. The client was seeking to partner with a Talent Acquisition company with the experience and expertise required to deliver this complex solution.
The Solution
NES Fircroft listened to the concerns and emphasised our proven ability to recruit in this challenging mining environment, by drawing on specific past successes.
We were able to advise the client of improvements that could be made to enhance their current recruitment processes.
Ultimately we proposed three distinct options that could be implemented in partnership to overcome their specific challenges:
- An RPO model tailored for the mining industry;
- A traditional contingency based solution; and finally
- A dedicated account manager providing permanent recruitment solutions.
Following our detailed presentation of the potential solutions, the client selected option 3 as they knew the sheer the volume of work required dictated the need for a dedicated NES Account Manager. This individual could then partner on a more intimate basis with the company’s internal HR and Site Management team, as opposed to a standard agency recruiter servicing a plethora of clients. As a result, NES were able to build a deep-seated understanding of our client’s operations on this particular site. Such knowledge was instrumental in us delivering candidates closely tailored to their requirements – both cultural and technical.
The Results
Since being awarded the status of preferred supplier, NES Fircroft has utilised its detailed understanding of both the mining industry and our client’s specific individual needs to implement a robust recruitment solution focused on delivering timely results.
This has enabled our team to provide a number of highly sought-after technical recruits for this site. We are now proud to say we are one of the client’s top suppliers in the Southern Hemisphere and both parties have benefited from developing a close working relationship through reduction in time to hire and improved quality of candidate short lists.
Our dedicated account manager maintains daily contact with their in-house recruitment team and the line managers on site, flying to the site on a monthly basis for progress meetings regarding new and existing vacancies. We continue to provide added value to this company in the form of detailed weekly progress reports and broader mining market data – specifically salary benchmarking. Four months into the project and NES has improved overall recruitment efficiency for our client and enjoys of a 74% fill-rate on vacancies released to agencies for the project.