Building an ERP team from scratch

  • Client
    Frontier
  • Industry
    Agriculture
  • Location
    UK
  • Projects
    Exclusive hiring project

Frontier is the UK’s leading crop production and grain marketing business, with a market share of 20% and an annual turnover of £1.5bn. They were ready to invest in their digital future and hired a Head of Digital Transformation to make it happen. We started working with the team in June 2022 after the new head hired one of our project manager contacts who we had worked with before and known for a long time.

He reached asked us to help quickly stand up a technical team for an ERP implementation project, for which we assessed and shortlisted 3-5 candidates per role within 48 hours of briefing. The profiles we presented were so strong, the hiring stakeholders were often stuck for choice when it came to choosing who to offer! We filled every role provided, often without a formal job specification.

Talent attraction for an ERP project

Frontier needed candidates who understood the industry, had expert knowledge of ERP products and would thrive in a fast-paced environment. As with most contract roles, they would also need to hit the ground running and start delivering on projects quickly.

With a long background in the ERP space, the account manager for Frontier had already built a diverse network of talent and possesses a wealth of sector knowledge that feeds into the talent mapping process we undertake for hiring projects like this. The competitive market and scarcity of local talent required a broad and inclusive approach to candidate attraction.

  • Competitor analysis & headhunting

  • Targeted campaigns

  • Market insights & rate analysis

  • Job spec development

When the candidates just don’t exisit

For a few of the roles, Frontier requested candidates with experience in a very rare skill – Excel EFACS. We scoured the earth looking for somebody with this experience, but to no avail. So, with such a high priority project on the line, we had to work with the client to re-assess the specification. We market mapped candidates with experience in rare ERP products and shortlisted those who we felt confident had the ability to quickly learn new tools.

This ensured that Frontier got the talent they needed quickly enough to get the project underway. The candidates hit the ground running and swiftly learnt Excel EFACS while making an immediate impact on their project deliverables.