Since its launch in 2010, Kuehne + Nagel’s graduate programme has continued to deliver to the pipeline of talent for the business, with graduates successfully progressing to leadership and technical roles. But Kuehne + Nagel doesn’t rest on its laurels; continuously seeking to make improvements to processes and the programme to keep attracting the best talent year on year. Last year, the Kuehne + Nagel team undertook a rigorous review of the graduate recruitment process, underpinned with statistical evidence, and this helped them clinch the Innovation in Recruitment award at the 2019 Talent in Logistics Awards in June 2019.
Having reviewed their annual recruitment process in 2018, the Future Talent team wanted to challenge the standard approach used in graduate selection processes; namely application forms. Kuehne + Nagel recognised that the first stage of any application process is always the most competitive, meaning this is where the majority of graduate candidates are de-selected. This is usually on biographic factors such as qualifications and work experience. However these factors are much less valid predictors of future success than motivation and behaviours, and therefore Kuehne + Nagel wanted to screen for these behaviours instead. To do this, the team replaced their first stage of the application process – a standard application form – with a motivation and behaviour-based video interview.
In making these changes, Kuehne + Nagel is now able to look for talent amongst those who may not be good at application forms, but absolutely possess the behaviours and motivations the company is really looking for. Each of the video interviews completed is reviewed by a member of the Kuehne + Nagel recruitment team, and assessed against the ‘KN Behaviours,’ a selection of key competencies that are at the heart of Kuehne + Nagel.
As a result of these changes made last year, Kuehne + Nagel has been able to progress an entirely new, and interestingly much more diverse, candidate pool to the latter stages of the graduate recruitment process.
Kuehne + Nagel suggests that this process could be used widely across the logistics sector. The team states that: “Within the logistics sector particularly we need individuals who bring passion and enthusiasm to their role, who are happy to ‘get stuck in’, provide an excellent service to our customers, and contribute to keeping goods moving around the world. These qualities cannot always be determined from an application form, and therefore by using video interviews to screen for these behaviours rather than the biographic factors screened in applications, we are much more likely to find these candidates making their way to the offer stage”.
To promote their innovative solution, the team also conducted a full refresh of their graduate website, and new marketing materials were produced, including up-to-date job adverts and new programme leaflets to promote the programmes in a punchy and attractive way.
Attracting new talent into the industry is vital to keeping the workforce evolving and diverse, but with little positive coverage about the opportunities within the supply chain industry, it can be incredibly difficult. Speaking to Claire Piotrowski & Hayley Davies, part of the Future Talent team at Kuehne + Nagel, it is their mission to continue attracting the next generation of professionals into the sector.
On the night of the awards, the Kuehne + Nagel team were delighted to pick up the Innovation in Recruitment award. Claire Piotrowski, Head of Future Talent, said “We were very surprised to win this award, given the other fantastic shortlisted organisations, so we are absolutely thrilled. It’s always challenging to move away from processes that have embedded for many years, but I am pleased to say this journey has been a great success. We will continue to review our graduate processes each year to ensure that we are providing the best candidate experience, and offering to those candidates who are absolutely right for our business.”
If you believe that your organisation has taken an innovative and effective approach to attracting talent, solving internal challenges with recruitment and address skills challenges, then it’s time to enter the Talent in Logistics Awards 2020 Innovation in Recruitment category. Entry dates for the 2020 Awards will be announced in the upcoming months. Find out more about the category here.