Food Job Blog: The inside track on Food Recruitment and Careers

The Irish government has unveiled a new strategy for the development of agriculture, forestry and fisheries in the country, in a move that could create up to 4,000 new food jobs.

The plan was announced by Taoiseach (First Minister) Brian Cowen this week, at the same time as the Food Harvest 2020 report was officially released. The document was drawn up by a committee of thirty specialists from the field of agri-food, chosen by the Minister for Agriculture, Brendan Smith.

In his speech, Mr Cowen emphasised the importance of the link between food production and employment, pointing out that Ireland currently employs approximately 150,000 people in food jobs and that the sector generates revenue of nearly €24 billion a year. He said:

"At a time perhaps in the last decade when we've seen employment reduced by 1,500 in the agri-food sector, we see the prospect of 3,500 to 4,000 jobs being created by 2020 under these plans,"

The strategy itself includes plans to increase the production of beef and milk, and increase food and drink exportation by approximately 42 per cent. Additionally, the government wants to boost the value of the fisheries and farms industries by €1.5 billion.

Why do some candidates favor the automotive, FMCG, retail or pharmaceuticals industries over the food industry?

Certainly we might have some views on recruitment - but come on - the food industry? The biggest manufacturing sector in the UK - a world leader, a centre of excellence and market knowledge. And yet still economic reports and media channels ignore the sector as little more than a small trifling . The same media experts doff their caps, quite rightly, to the mighty retailers, but do not see the connection or relationships and importance of a strong and vibrant supply base. A sector that has increased employment in the last two years; a sector that is growing; a sector that demands our continual attention as consumers as we buy for our three meals a day.

It also seems to have passed many graduates by as well who don't see the tremendous careers on offer in food manufacturing or retail as something to consider with their 2:1 and 1st class degrees. Perhaps they can't get past the sartorial fear of hair nets and wellies...

Maybe our food manufacturing supply base is more highly regarded abroad? Recently we have entered into projects in India and America, where British food manufacturing expertise is greatly in demand and well rewarded.

In recruitment terms it is true that a lot of the food industry sees it as low cost transactional activity. Quite right you might say as would we if you just want CVs off job boards. But (and there is a BIG but here) we recently completed a really key project for a Client - a business that was the "sick child" of their sector who needed true strategic thought and consultative advice from us. A recent news release from them seems to sum up how important truly effective recruitment proved to be.

They say the "business was restructured during 2009 with the creation of a single leadership team and the reinforcement of our management capability through a number of experienced hires to key positions. These changes are starting to show results with sales in the second quarter up. The first half has seen the launch of 87 new products, representing almost one third of our range, compared with 28 in the same period last year. Not only have we launched more products but they have been extremely well received by our customers and by consumers. In many cases the initial demand being more than double our expectation."

So I think its time all those who are serious about the food industry stuck their chests out and helped make people understand how important the retail and manufacturing sectors are to UK plc and how essential outstanding recruitment is to achieve the goals.

Technical Management is still a major growth area. At Focus Management we are receiving request after request for Technical Managers ... but why so many vacancies? They have moved into the interim market by the look of it!

Our Interim Division is placing large numbers of Interim Technical Managers in food and drink manufacturers across the UK, but why?

Some may argue it is because of the money - interim managers charge daily rates and can often earn more than permanent staff due to their expertise and flexibility.

Others argue that professional interim managers work in the interim market because of the challenge - they do not enjoy working to routine and procedure. Instead they come into businesses that are often failing in particular areas, perform a business turn-around and then move on to the next 'test'.

However, many believe that due to the recession, the interim market has been swamped by candidates who lost their jobs and saw interim as an area worth exploring as a stopgap - but not as a long term career choice. Many of these candidates found they enjoyed working in the Interim market and as a result chose to stay, meaning the demand for interim managers maintained coming out of the recession.

So what does this rapid increase in technical managers mean for the candidates operating in this sector? "Technical managers no longer work only on the factory floor. There's greater visibility, more interaction with customers, and more blurring of areas of responsibility. You can't come in as a [technical] 'boffin' anymore. You have to be multi-faceted, and that includes having financial skills."

Representatives at fast food chain Subway have reported that they have received dozens of food job applications for a store in Ely, Cambridgeshire. The problem with this is that there is no Subway outlet in Ely, nor are there any plans to build one.

Residents in Ely claim that rumours have abounded about a new Subway outlet on the High Street for months, especially after construction started on a vacant two-sided premises formerly occupied by Curry's. A staff member from a nearby café said:

"We've heard Subway is going there for months - everyone's been talking about it."

In response to the flood of food job applications they have received, Subway have categorically denied that they have any plans to open a restaurant on Ely High Street. A spokesperson for the company said:

"This is getting quite worrying now. These are simply rumours - we have no plans to move to Ely at all."

"We have received dozens of job applications as a result of these rumours and they really do need to stop as there is no element of truth in them whatsoever."

The letting agent in charge of the vacant premises also confirmed that no new tenant had signed up yet.

As part of Scotland's official Year of Food and Drink, the First Minister Alex Salmond has announced that the celebration will receive additional funding.

The year-long celebration of Scottish produce was launched back in May of this year, with a budget of £500,000 to spend on various exciting food and drink events. In the pipeline already are, amongst others, the Huntly Hairst Food Festival in September 2010 and the BBC Good Food Show Scotland in Glasgow a month later.

Thanks to the additional £25,000 in funding recently announced, the following events have now been added:

• Living Food at Cawdor Castle in September 2010 - a celebration of organic and local produce
• Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championships at Carrbridge in September 2010

These events offer unique opportunities for Scottish people in pivotal food jobs to celebrate their achievements and increase trade for the future.

Speaking proudly of Scottish food and drink whilst announcing the new funding, Mr Salmond said:

"The food and drink sector is key to our economic recovery. Visitors to Scotland spend £1 in every five on food and drink-related activity and we produce some of the finest produce in the world."

A number of fast food chains in the UK - including KFC, Burger King and McDonalds - have boycotted the plan devised by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to display calorie counts on food menus.

The FSA wanted to make it clear to customers just how many calories they were consuming with their meals, in attempt to tackle Britain's obesity crisis. The organisation wanted fast food outlets to display calorie counts clearly on menus and next to products.

However, displaying calorie counts in this way isn't legally required; so many outlets have dropped the idea after an initial trial. KFC and Burger King have not made a commitment to extend the trials so far, whilst Pizza Hut and Mitchells and Butlers have dropped the scheme completely.

This said, some companies are making more of an effort to keep customers informed as to the healthiness of what they are consuming. Starbucks and Costa Coffee offer a nutritional leaflet in-store (but only if a customer asks a food job worker for one) and Pret A Manger displays a calorie count on all products. Most fast food outlets offer this information on their websites.

Is a calorie count display really that important?

Most customers eating at fast food outlets are unaware of the amount of calories in what they are eating. For example, a Pizza Hut pizza can contain as much as 2,656 calories (an adult male's daily allowance) and a Starbucks carrot cake can be a quarter of an adult female's daily intake at 560 calories.

As the government's 'bonfire of the quangos' continues, many organisations are facing either being closed down or having their budgets cut. The Food Standards Agency (FSA)- the department responsible for public health in relation to food - was on the chopping block, but word has just come through that it has survived.

As a result, however, the FSA will have much reduced responsibilities and funding. It will now focus on maintaining public confidence in food safety, whilst the following responsibilities will be handed over to other departments (the Department of Health and the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs):

• The enforcement of laws surrounding 'country of origin' food labels
• Anti-obesity and anti-junk food campaigns

Some experts in leading food jobs have claimed that the FSA is lucky to have survived at all. The organisation has been involved in numerous scandals in the past including the mis-labelling of Hungarian produce as 'locally produced' and incompetency during the outbreak of avian flu in Norfolk turkeys.

Despite the FSA's dubious track record, Defra has released a statement saying:

"...public confidence in food safety issues will be protected, as the Government confirmed its intention to retain the Food Standards Agency (FSA) with a renewed focus on food safety."

The food job market is definitely picking up. According to recruitment agencies specialising in food and drink, there are more and more food manufacturers starting to recruit again as confidence levels improve. 76% of manufacturers polled in a recent survey felt more positive about the future of their businesses this year than last year, and 65% predicted profit margins would improve.

There was cautious optimism about the recruitment market in food manufacturing despite the gloom surrounding the economy, not least because the sector had proved its resilience throughout the recession. We are also seeing companies promoting people internally and then backfilling the more junior roles.

A year ago many clients were recruiting a large number of cost reduction specialists and although this is still strong, NPD, Sales & Marketing, and Process Management recruitment are a major focus now. Retailers and manufacturers have recognised you can only play the price tune for so long - then you need to innovate and wow the consumer. In a recent survey 57% of food manufacturers were planning to invest more in new product development this year than last year.

Plans have officially been unveiled for a new shopping development in Sunderland, in a move that could create up to 150 food jobs for the area.

The development on North Hylton Road- which will cost approximately £10 million to complete - will include an as-yet unnamed supermarket as the site's main tenant. All the planners Nils Satis Nisi have said is that there will be a "major international supermarket retailer" situated there. A deal is expected to be closed sometime in the next month.
The site is also expected to encompass a fast food outlet and a bakery, amongst other retail stores.

Worry for local traders

Although many residents are delighted at the new shopping opportunities that will soon be available in Sunderland, a number of local traders and retailers have expressed their outrage at the plans. They believe the new 169,000 square-foot development will ruin local businesses, and that the planners have not done their research on the impact of such a huge development on the area.

At a recent public meeting where the developers unveiled their ideas for the site, one local shopkeeper, Ronnie Singh, said:

"This development will clean us out. It will take away our businesses and our livelihoods,"

"It's not creating jobs, it's taking them away."

Nestle have stated that they are going to try and prevent the current dispute they are experiencing with UK staff from becoming industrial action.

The company wants to prevent the dispute from becoming more widespread and for this reason, is negotiating on a site by site basis.

Nestle found out that there would be strike ballots occurring at some Nestle UK sites but they insist that talks will continue in an attempt to resolve the issue without it spreading further.

Nestle believe that the dispute is becoming 'silly' because the difference between what they are offering and what the unions are prepared to accept is so small.

The dispute has occurred because Nestle are offering a 1% rise in basic pay as well as increases to the performance related bonus scheme that they are currently running. But the unions want a 2.5% increase in basic pay.

The unions expect to start balloting members in the next four weeks or so and they hope to have some results within around six weeks.

Both sides are hoping for a simple resolution, but as negotiations begin to become exhausted, it's starting to look as though the ballot is the only option for the unions.