MSC have over 25 years experience in automotive recruitment
The automotive industry is a vital part of the UK economy and despite the brexit fears, there remains a strong demand for skilled and qualified individuals. The automotive sector is integral to the European economy and the links between vehicle exports in the UK and EU are fundamental to the prosperity of the whole region.
The automotive industry turnover in the UK is around £69.5 billion and employs nearly 800,000 people. The continuing investment from large industry leaders ensures global demand for high calibre candidates.
If you are looking for the highest quality candidates for a role in the motorsport and automotive industry, look no further than MSC. As a headhunting firm, we can source all senior managers from the automotive Industry including Managing Directors, CEO’s, Manufacturing Directors and Managers for large and small businesses. We are committed to helping businesses find exactly what they are looking for. MSC works with industry recognised institutions, trade associations and leading automotive consultancies across the globe to identify and attract the very best individuals for your vacancy.
We work with a wide range of automotive clients across the globe in public and private organisations, covering the following:
Manufacturing
Motorsport
Technology
Engineering
Safety
Research and Development
Supply Chain
Import and Export
We always deliver the agreed targets and endeavour to exceed expectations to provide a service beyond the market forefront. Our staff always aims to meet the standards and expectations of your company in order that we may provide you with our finest quality executive search service.
MSC has a proven track record of delivering successful appointments in a wide range of industries across the globe. Our success stems from sourcing and persuading the very best people to work for our clients. Candidates and clients trust MSC because we deliver more than we promise. That’s why clients across Europe and the globe always return to us as you can see from our portfolio of customers and their references.
We have headhunted key individuals for a wide range of Tier One Automotive Companies across the UK and Europe. Some typical roles we have headhunted for in the automotive sector include:
Managing Director
General Manager
Chief Operations Officer (COO)
Operations Director (Tier One)
Global Automotive Sales Director
Operations Director
Head of Automotive
Business Director – Digital Design
Senior Design Engineer
Quality Manager
Product Engineering Manager
Automotive headhunters are specialist headhunters focused on filling executive roles in the automotive industry.
Thanks to a shrinking labour market, manufacturing companies are finding it tougher than ever to fill positions with the best candidates. When an automotive company takes it upon themselves to fill a role using their in-house Human Resource team, the results are very rarely as hoped. Not only does it often take many months to fill the positions, but it often transpires that they have either made the wrong hire, or had to settle for a less than desirable candidate who needs to be trained up.
Relying on job postings or employment websites and agencies, is now being reconsidered at many big firms, as they wake up to the ugly, drawn-out recruitment processes that have been costing them time, energy, resources and – frequently – man power.
Finding outstanding talent with specialised skills is increasingly problematic. Not only is the best talent often already happily employed in well-paid jobs, but employees who have been with a firm for many years, whose experience equals specialised skills, are preparing for retirement. The labour market is also getting increasingly tight, with competition between firms for the top talent that is available has never been more fierce.
To make matters worse, when an automotive company does make a hire, they often find that the employee ether doesn’t fit into their company’s culture, or that they lack basic transferable skills, such as the ability to work in a team and/or communicate effectively.
The bottom-line is that hiring is tough. There are positions to be filled, but there are insufficient numbers qualified to fill them. To replenish the pool of potential candidates, there are a few potential solutions, but not all are viable. Another, more viable solution, would be to hire expert retained automotive headhunters to take care of the process for you.
Here are a few reasons why you should consider working with retained automotive headhunters:
Traditionally, when a company is looking to hire a new employee, they will post a job ad. This will attract a large number of candidates, some who are currently in employment but looking for a change, and some who are presently unemployed.
As the market dynamics change, however, the amount of top talent that is available to automotive firms is getting sparse. The automotive industry is struggling to find – and retain – outstanding talent.
One of the reasons for this is the downsizing of the automotive industry that began in the immediate aftermath of the recession. Before the recession hit, engineers were all over the market, and firms had no problem hiring who they needed. If they wanted the best candidates, it didn’t take them long to find them and they could afford to be picky. Times change; now they can’t.
Because the labour market has constricted, automotive companies are even finding themselves restructuring so that they can accommodate to a prospective candidate – as opposed to the other way around.
Many firms are turning to expert automotive headhunters because these recruitment firms are able to uncover the outstanding candidates that a company themselves is unable to find. Retained headhunters don’t wait for a mass of candidates to apply for a vacant job in the vain hope that a top-level candidate will put their name forward. Instead, they will use their extensive and rich network of contacts to seek out the very best candidates who are suited to your vacant job role, even if the candidate is currently in employment.
There is a big problem with working with contingency headhunters, regardless of your industry. A contingency headhunter works for a commission-based fee, and you don’t pay them anything until you have made a hire. As a consequence, they work for you and as many other firms as they want at the same time
The problem with this is particularly acute in the automotive industry, where talent is sparse. With many companies hunting down in-demand candidates at the same time, working with a contingency headhunting firm means that you could easily lose out to a competitor.
Companies just like yours are battling harder than ever to fill vacant job roles in the automotive niche. As such, it makes much more sense to work with a retained headhunter who asks for a portion of their fee upfront, and then dedicates 100% of their time and resources to you. You get exclusive access to their best candidates, thereby getting ahead of rivals and improving your chances of making the best hire right from the off.
The automotive industry is not massively popular with graduates, even those who have the skillset that your firm is seeking. This is partly due to an image problem. This means that not only hiring the best talent has become problematic for automotive firms, but retaining staff has become a big issue, too. It is in many ways an ongoing challenge that is showing no signs of going away.
One reason is that schools and universities often give favourable portrayal to computer jobs, whilst forgetting that cutting-edge technology is being developed in all sorts of industries. As a massive consequence, the interest of graduates in the automotive industry is ever narrowing, and the amount of newly available young graduates is getting smaller with each year that passes. Many of them automatically discount what the automotive industry has on offer.
Working with headhunters can solve this problem. Headhunters recognise that it is absolutely crucial for an automotive firm to be able to sell themselves to expert candidates who would otherwise not even consider applying for a vacant automotive role.
Automotive firms are not necessarily adept at tapping into what makes a top candidate tick, and thereby convincing them to bring their specialised skillset to the company. On the other hand, a retained headhunter knows the industry and the jobs inside and out. There is also a good chance that they will understand your company’s culture better than you do. Having someone to view your company and position objectively goes a long way in being able to identify who you are looking for. More importantly, they know how inspire an outstanding candidate to make a job or even a career change.
There is no doubt that the labour force in the automotive sector is dwindling. While this is a cause for concern, it is not necessarily entirely unexpected. Baby boomers, who comprise a huge amount of the automotive workforce, are coming to the end of their careers, and the industry is not expecting a wave of new talent to come in and replace them. As such, automotive firms should not always expect to be able to hire a polished candidate who is at the top of their game.
Headhunters recognise this, and they also realise the need to match solid candidates with excellent transferable skills to job roles, even if the candidate has no industry experience. Headhunters look out for soft skills, such as communication and team work, and match them to your job roles, giving you the chance to engage them and polish them up in the workings of the industry. Developing raw talent is a way to ensure employees will stick with you. In this way, automotive headhunters are focused on the skill rather than the niche, and this is one way in which the automotive industry needs to readjust.
