Study on executive production in the food industry

Expectations, incentives and recruiting measures What demanding companies in the food industry of potential leaders? What this in turn expect from their future employers? How to find both sides to each other? On the initiative of TOPOS Nuremberg Fachhochschule Erfurt interviewed as part of a nationwide study companies and candidates, special attention was paid to the intermediary role of headhunter.

First of all, the good news for all small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the food industry: They are preferred by three quarters of the candidates who apply for a management position. For large corporations, only half of the applicants were enthusiastic about the preferred company size. Multiple answers were possible. There are many reasons for this: "Shorter decision-making phases, flatter hierarchies, the opportunity to take on a more responsible job faster and thus a faster career are, in my view, only a few factors that make smaller companies particularly attractive," says study leader Prof. Dr , Steffen Schwarz. Obviously, smaller companies are expected to have a good corporate culture and a pleasant working atmosphere. This is the most important incentive that a (new) employer can offer for over 90% of applicants. Management responsibility (75%), a reasonable salary (66%) and good career opportunities (57%) follow.

The companies in the food industry have understood these signals, since their externally communicated advantages largely coincide with those in demand. Only the further training offer (70%) is seen by the company as an incentive more than the potential managers do (46%).

There is a good reason for being so close to the applicants' wishes.

Around two thirds of the companies intend to attract managers in the next 1-3 years. In contrast, there are 80% applicants who want to seek a management position. At first glance, a good starting position for companies. However, at the time of the survey, 55% of the companies were affected by a shortage of specialists and managers, or saw themselves at risk in the future. "So in many places it is time to act and make yourself interesting for qualified candidates," says Prof. Schwarz.

The production (35%), technical (22%) and department or team management (17%) divisions are particularly affected by the lack of managers, according to the companies. The desired candidate - and his areas of responsibility should be goal-oriented, have analytical and entrepreneurial thinking skills, show great commitment or initiative and demonstrate high professional competence - the dream applicant. At 86% each, these characteristics are at the top of the expectations that companies have of candidates for a leadership position. Just behind are flexibility (85%), self-motivation and above-average resilience (81%). In contrast, willingness to travel (45%), foreign languages ​​(41%) or experience abroad (23%) are rather unimportant. No wonder international projects are hardly (16%) transferred to future managers. “From the HR consultant's point of view, this result is astonishing. One could actually expect that the export master Germany also uses the international opportunities in his favor in the food industry, ”says Carl Christian Müller, founder of TOPOS Personalberatung Nürnberg.

In any case, there would be enough interested parties (45%) for a professional activity outside Germany. So here the demand is almost three times as high as the supply. The gap becomes even clearer when it comes to the position of "management assistant". Companies want 55 percent of the candidates to wear it, but only a meager 12 percent of them are interested. The opposite is true for the transfer of national projects. 68 percent of applicants see their future field of activity here, unfortunately only one in four companies offers adequate tasks. There is almost congruence in the area of ​​department management or team management. Here, 80 percent of the companies would like to transfer tasks to the new managers, 89 percent of them would like to take them on.

Search and find

Highly qualified executives who not only fit a company professionally but also in terms of character are usually neither quick nor easy to find. According to the study, companies therefore resort to various options when it comes to acquisitions. Print advertisements (66%), own networks (64%) and advertisements on Internet job boards are particularly popular. The support of personnel consultants has also already been used by 57% of the companies surveyed. The main task of the consultants was by far the external recruitment (88%).

Training measures, for example to improve sales, follow with 48% before the coaching and workshops for employee development (40% each).

The reasons for using external personnel consultants were the specialization of the consultants (56%), no suitable internal staff for the vacancy (48%), professional know-how (also 48%) and the time saved. Around half of all companies do not want to do without the support of personnel consultants in the future either. The companies continue to see the main task of the consultants in external recruitment (86%). Coaching (52%) and the assessment of managers (24%) follow in second and third place.

When selecting the personnel consultants, a high level of industry expertise and the consultant personality (71% each) are particularly important for the contracting companies. It is not surprising that both skills are weighted equally. "Only those who have their own professional experience in the industry can be trusted to solve the existing problem. Only those who know the market, can assess the competitive environment and, last but not least, have an insight into the company, can assess which qualities, both technical and character, an applicant has to bring to the vacancy, ”says Müller.

On the applicant's side, 94% of job advertisements were listed on Internet job boards and recruitment agencies as aids when looking for a job. Personal contacts came in third place with 82 percent.

Decisive for the cooperation with personnel consultants are the interesting, specific offers (69%), the cooperation of the consultants with companies (52%) as well as the specialization of the personnel consultants (51%).

The consultant personality (84%), industry expertise (82%) and existing customer relationships (79%) were mentioned as important requirements for the consultants. 86% of the applicants are obviously convinced of the work and the offer of the personnel consultants. You also want to take advantage of personnel consultancy in the future.

Source: Erfurt [University of Applied Sciences Erfurt]