How to find talent?

The club meeting and grill party held by Trade Marketing Klub on 7. June, was the garden of Szamos Marcipán Szépkilátás confectionery. There was plenty of good food, supplied by Master Good , Univer , Mona, Kőröstej and Heineken and also an Eszterházi cake by Szamos, complete with a TMK logo. We were also able to listen to four interesting lectures about training and selecting talent. Judit Kiss, HR manager of Spar Magyarország is in charge of three areas (administration, recruiting-selection and training) and 60-70 employees. She said, that we have to organise training ourselves, if we want good employees. Their complex system includes all kinds of courses lasting 6-8 months. Sales tasks can only be performed by qualified staff. 500 employees complete sales training annually, who end up with far more comprehensive knowledge than usual. At the present rate of expansion, SPAR requires 1,000-1,500 new staff annually, including 100 in management positions. Adult training is the area where their results are the most impressive. They sign contracts with trainees which ensure that they do not train staff for their competitors. Petra Korda , Customer Marketing Manager and Horváth Rita HR business partner from Unilever also pointed out that Unilever prefers not to train staff who end up working for its competitors. Unilever philosophy holds that previous experience in at least three areas is needed to qualify for a mid-level management position. Beginners are selected on the basis of their competence in the assessment centre. In case of applicants who have experience, career decisions are made by the development centre. The most important criteria needed is the willingness to learn continuously. Differentiation is very important. A good training course can be as motivating as a wage rise and its effect lasts longer. This is why personalised development plans are worked out for employees. Nóra Németh, managing director of Recruitment International spoke about the role they play in recruitment. They have functional structures like, sales, marketing, trade marketing etc. which allow them to provide useful advice for their clients. She believes that good briefs from clients are essential for finding good staff. Recruitment consultants are worth contacting, because they really want to help. Zoltán Tóth, managing director of Grow Sales became a consultant last year after 30 years in management positions. A substantial number of companies come to them for help in HR development. Independent programs for developing human potential also exist, but canned programs can no longer be sold. Programs need to be tailored to the clients’ specific requirement. Forms of co-operation may last for 3-4 years, which allow complete development programs to be built up. Though budgets are often limited, money should always be found for human training and development, because this is the key to future success.