SME Manufacturers

Something that myself and Natalie felt strongly about when we were setting up HJC, was to give back to the Manufacturing community… this was not something that we just wanted to say to make ourselves feel important. It was that we work within the manufacturing sector day to day and once you have showed that you can handle the complexity and demand of recruiting within the manufacturing sector…you are very much brought in to the community by virtue of referrals and word of mouth. So we felt it was important that we were able to impart some of our knowledge and experience to other companies or individuals that just need advice and guidance without someone trying to give them the BIG SELL. I feel that is something that our industry has lost...along with many more things, recruiters just want to see how they can convert a general inquiry or advice into a placement fee. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t come to work for free, however, I feel if you give… you will receive and this has been the case throughout my and Natalie’s career to date. One of our previous acquaintances has been campaigning for a number of years to have SME manufacturers in the UK work together, that SMEs can help each other with advice on subjects such as employee engagement and what is working best for them in a competitive and fragile environment (not to steal each other’s prized manufacturing secrets). He sees this as helping the manufacturing sector stay strong and survive. HJC were invited to a meeting for The Manufacturers Alliance South Manchester group, this was hosted in Flintshire by Peerless Gas Controls Ltd. http://www.peerlesscontrols.com/ Just to give you an idea about the day’s agenda – Breakfast & Introductions Site tour around Peerless with the group MD Steve Presentation by HJC on Talent Acquisition Best Practice TMA Problem Solving Workshop To be honest, I didn’t know exactly what to expect when we arrived… but when we did, after taking a few wrong turns, we came to a hotel conference suite where we met a number of manufacturing ‘Bosses’ that were all tucking into their breakfast and reacquainting as The Manufactures Alliance holds an event each month with its members at different Manufacturing sites. You know what it’s like when you turn up to a room full of people, it’s sometimes difficult to engage, except tell them how the weather was on the drive down… this time was a little different in that the members where very welcoming…asking me a very personal question as if you answer it wrong you can be an outcast, “what sauce do you like with your barm…brown or red” so the ice was broken as a brown and red argument ensued. After breakfast we were then taken round the site tour at Peerless Gas Controls Ltd… which to be honest, is a very interesting company and part of an international group, who have an excellent customer base and a fantastic reputation within their industry. After our site tour…we were up next with our slot for the day. I think everyone is always a little apprehensive about providing a presentation/workshop, personally I think I am a comedian (THINK) and we didn’t want it to be death by PowerPoint, we wanted to engage and actually stimulate some real conversation. We focussed our workshop around Succession Planning and how it is key for SME manufacturers. We wanted to give them information that they could take away and really apply to their businesses. It was a really interesting experience as we stumbled across a number of topics that the SME manufacturers where feeling challenged by and we were able to provide solutions and templates so that they could overcome some of these challenges It was a really positive experience for us and we would definitely advise any SME manufacturers to get in touch with The Manufacturers Alliance as these groups are definitely making a different to the SME manufacturing community. We are proud to be an associate of theirs and able to support SMEs.