Knauf Insulation began as an idea from two brothers and has grown into a global industry leader spanning 90 countries, multiple brands and with more than 43.500 employees worldwide.
Through its people and state-of-the-art plants, they produce high-performing solutions ranging from drywall systems, plasters and insulating materials all the way to external thermal insulation composite systems.
With over 40 years of experience, Knauf is one of the most dynamic and respected companies in the insulation industry worldwide. Knauf is committed to helping its customers meet the growing demand for energy efficiency and sustainability in homes, non-residential buildings and industrial applications.
At the time, we had just one colleague who handled recruitment for the entire head office, as well as certain roles for the factory. And this colleague sometimes had to manage up to 30 open positions at the same time.
Whilst we thought we’d be improving efficiency and cutting costs, we realised we could no longer manage all these recruitment drives simultaneously. We couldn’t meet a reasonable deadline for finding the right candidate. Sometimes we’d spend four or five weeks looking for someone, only to realise it wasn’t going to work. So we’d call in an external agency, but on a ‘one-off’ basis, which meant quite high fees. We realised we’d lost everything: time, because we’d delayed the launch with the agency, but also money, as we were paying the full price.
The aim of this role was also to provide managers with greater support in onboarding new staff, but the workload involved in recruitment meant we were unable to offer tactical and strategic support. We didn’t have time to review our recruitment channels, for example. Strategic considerations often took a back seat because there was an urgent need to fill vacancies.
In fact, we needed to build a relationship of trust with managers regarding recruitment matters. We needed to reduce our costs. We needed to speed up our time-to-hire, which was extremely long. We also needed our colleague to be able to focus on other HR projects.
My colleague at the time had already had the opportunity to work with Profile Group during a previous role. She knew that if we called on Profile Group, we could work together to devise the most appropriate solution for the situation we were facing.
So we presented the situation to Profile Group. And we very quickly decided together to set up an RPO. My colleague was already familiar with this solution and it quickly became the obvious choice.
We needed to find colleagues at Profile Group who would fit in with our corporate culture.
This solution was perfect for us because we could scale up when we had a lot of recruitment needs, but also scale down when we had fewer. We are a company where recruitment volumes vary, with hiring freezes. Being able to adjust the size of the team according to our needs was one of the key benefits we were looking for.
Relieving the HR department of operational workload and thus adopt a more standardised approach to recruitment, particularly in terms of processes. We took the time to review our recruitment channels and job advertisements.
Costs went down, and it was a neutral equation for the HR department. Although recruitment was still billed internally, the cost was lower compared to what we were used to, with one-off outsourced recruitment drives.
We were able to build a relationship of trust. It obviously took a little time for everyone to get used to new faces. But we were able to build a relationship of trust with all the hiring managers, who increasingly challenged us, for example with VIE contracts. It was the first time we’d done that. And the advantage of working with Profile Group is that neither Camille nor Olivier are afraid to take on a new challenge.
The RPO added value for the HR team, who felt relieved of some of the recruitment burden, but also for the hiring managers and candidates, who benefited from a standardised and professional approach.
I can honestly say that Profile Group consultants are part of the team.
I can see that there’s been a real focus on time-to-hire, on how to conduct intakes with the various managers, and on how to involve business leads other than just department members in the selection of critical roles or senior leadership positions.
As the RPO was rolled out within our organisation, the Profile Group consultants really immersed themselves in our culture and how we operate, always with a focus on client satisfaction and continuous improvement.
We were also able to explore the candidate experience further, to ensure our recruitment processes are robust, as well as the employee experience and internal mobility.
My experience with Profile Group has been extremely positive. The fact that they are external partners allows us to maintain the right distance and gain a fresh perspective. When we benchmark and discuss things with Profile Group, new ideas always emerge. It’s valuable to maintain that neutral perspective on the organisation.
I also hear very positive feedback from business leaders. There are certain niche, highly specialised roles where the process can be more complicated, and for which we need to engage specialist headhunters. But beyond that, Profile Group consultants have played a major role in creating a Talent Acquisition community within the organisation. They are the driving force behind this project. They are the ones who ensure information flows, through various initiatives.
And even during periods when recruitment numbers are down, the system remains effective. I have no doubt about that.