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The Supply Chain Social - Interview with Andrew Fitzmaurice - Director at More People

Written by: Supply Chain Online
Published on: 7 Dec 2015

SUPPLY CHAIN SOCIAL TITLE

MORE PEOPLE

Name: Andrew Fitzmaurice
Company: More People
Position: Recruitment Director

What did you want to be when you were at school?
With Top Gun being a favourite movie when I was at school (who am I kidding, it’s still a favourite today!) I fancied myself as a fighter pilot.

When did you first start out in the Recruitment industry?
In spite of being offered a place at the RAF at 18, I instead opted for a Chemistry degree at Newcastle University and following that I started in recruitment in 2004 in the city.

How did MorePeople come about?
MorePeople was founded by two Directors who were lifers in the supermarket supply chain. Guy Moreton was an MD in the cut flower trade and Peter Hunt was a Financial Director in the fresh produce sector. They’d had successful careers supplying the big supermarkets and then they founded MorePeople in 2000. You could say that supply chain recruitment is in our DNA.
I joined in 2010 and became a Director in 2012. Since my appointment we have been committed to building sustainable and scalable recruitment processes which maximise the expertise of our founders whilst also allowing us to build on what we have achieved.

What kind of jobs does MorePeople specialise in, and which regions do you cover?
We work across the UK in the food and garden retail supply chains. If you’re involved in fresh food for a supermarket or plants and garden accessories for a garden centre or a DIY superstore then that’s our bag. We have specialists who cover Commercial, Technical, Procurement, Operations and General Management roles from retailer head office right the way through food manufacturers and importers to the primary growers. It’s mainly permanent recruitment with salaries ranging from £25k to £225k.

What sets MorePeople apart from your competitors?
The expertise of our consultants. Most of our consultants have worked in our market. They have done the roles that they recruit for so they fundamentally understand both our client’s and our candidate’s challenges better than most - This means that they can sell better, genuinely empathise with clients and candidates alike (because they have all been in the same positions themselves) and therefore put the best candidates in the best roles. We like to think that we are professional businesspeople who are in recruitment rather than being generalist recruiters who are in business.

What's been the biggest challenge you and the company have faced since launch?
The shortage of good quality candidates has been a constant. Our markets suffer from a lack of talent coming into the industry so we have to work hard to find the right people, map their careers and understand their motivations. We are challenged with constantly coming up with new ways of engaging with our candidate base. We spend a lot of time supporting industry events and working with universities and associations to try and ‘bang the drum’ for our sector. It’s a great place to work so the more candidates who consider a career in it the better.

There can be no doubt that the rise of social media has had a significant impact on the recruitment industry. How has social media changed the way you work?
Linkedin is pretty much de rigeur for recruitment but it’s no quick fix. Our Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MorePeople ‘Knowledge Centre’ and Newsletters all make up part of our social media sourcing strategy but there are no silver bullets out there. We try to keep our social media focussed on interesting MorePeople news, events and candidate and clients advice rather than simply forcing job ads down people’s throats or regurgitating market news.
However, for candidate generation, nothing beats conversations and meetings with people.

How important are job boards within your marketing strategy?
Job boards provide great market presence and brand awareness and obviously provide us with active candidates. Like social media they are an integral part of our recruitment toolkit and work well alongside the work we do with passive candidates within our network.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
‘You’re tougher than you think you are’. Whether that is overcoming physical challenges in sporting endurance events, facing challenges in your personal life, speaking to an audience of 200 people or even simply picking yourself up and bouncing back from that inevitable offer rejection (which will always happen in recruitment!), I’ve always found this to be true. Only when you push yourself outside your comfort zone do you find this stuff out though!

What one piece of advice would you give to other young entrepreneurs starting out?
Network. Network, Network and ask for help and advice if you need it. There are a lot of great people out there who can offer plenty of insight and guidance. Plenty of people will have had the same challenges before so there are always people you can learn from and most are happy to help.

What's the latest news at MorePeople
We are gearing up for Growth. We have a great team and we are extremely busy. The board of Directors have a 5 year plan for MorePeople which will see us cement our place as the market leader in the world of fresh food recruitment and allow us to build into other areas of the supply chain.

Where would you like MorePeople to be in 5 years’ time?
In 5 years’ time we will have outgrown our current premises and grown the team significantly. I am a firm believer that everyone is in control of their own career destinies at MorePeople – it’s going to be a really exciting 5 years.
In terms of the market, I think that the careers that are available in the supply chain is not currently well-understood by those outside of it. The food industry is one of the biggest manufacturing sectors in the UK but most graduates don’t give it a second thought when coming into the world of work. There are some fantastic careers here; if in five years’ time more candidates new about our sector and we saw an influx of talent that’d be great.

Interview by Richard Marshall - Managing Director of Supply Chain Online

To view the latest opportunities from More People click here