FROM APRIL 2015'S RECRUITER MAGAZINE

For luxury car manufacturer Bentley, being an employer of choice means receiving a lot of applications. The problem is, not always the right people apply.

Last month the company held a recruitment day at its Crewe headquarters following the announcement of the creation of 300 roles supporting the launch of its new vehicle, the Bentayga. The aim was not just to help fill those roles but to build a talent pipeline and ensure hiring managers knew of interested, potential and up-and-coming talent.

Due to the luxury nature of the vehicles, some roles were very niche and therefore hard to fill — creak and rattle engineer, for example.

The day saw about 1,100 people enter Bentley’s doors over a four-hour period, with some queuing through the car park and down the street from 8am, an hour before the advertised start time.

Recruitment manager Helen Judson told Recruiter it was the first time Bentley had held a recruitment day designed to attract experienced professionals. The company usually holds a yearly event aimed at apprentices.

“We’re looking for people with material science degrees… ideally people with wood science but that’s like winning the lottery.”   

Head of laboratory Dr Helen Davock, whose team is responsible for quality control, on why she found roles hard to fill.

“Candidates are having conversations with the hiring managers. Normally HR is the gateway and they [candidates] don’t get to talk to the manager until after the assessment.” 

Recruitment manager Helen Judson on how the day was different to normal recruitment tactics.

"It was a coincidence that we have some roles open at the moment. I was more interested in what talent is out there in the local area.”   

Lifestyle licences manager Alison Lacy, whose department sits within the sales and marketing division, on what she had hoped to get out of the day 

Sarah Marquet