VHR was appointed as the recruitment business partner by a Norwegian MNC for their pioneer management team in a new start up plant in East Malaysia

An European based Conglomerate that produces solar grade silicon and alloys for the foundry, carbon and micro-silicaindustry. Due to the considerable growth in the metal industry in South East Asia, client had therefore decided to have their electrode paste factory set up in Sarawak, East Malaysia.They had decided to engage VHR to recruit 3 key positions namely Plant HR Manager, Production Manager and Maintenance Manager.

Challenges

To understand and identify the search requirements of the vacancies via remote communication channels namely Skype and Telephone conference due to the hiring managers were all based abroad. In specific, the alignment of Client’s expectation due to their first plant set up in Malaysia, including but not limited to candidate’s on-boarding time frame, local HR policy and skill sets required for ideal candidates and etc.

And, due to the nature of the plant construction is a green field project, VHR needs to find candidates who are not only qualified in skill sets but also to excite and convince them to relocate into a relatively remote and emerging industrial park.

Solutions / Discovery

VHR had tried to understand the Client’s given parameters to derive various recruitment approaches. VHR had finally crafted a recruitment strategy which includes head hunting the qualified candidates as well as job advertisement posting for locals in East Malaysia.

On top of that, VHR had also gone extra miles by providing market insights of their competitors in local market where client could have an in-depth understanding of the recruitment / staffing practices in Malaysia. Additionally, VHR have done the market research in terms of Sarawak accommodation / transportation / living expenditure information — both for Client and Candidates — in order to align mutual parties’ expectation. VHR had also assisted the Client to provide the relevant information to obtain the employment permit to work in East Malaysia.

Note: In Malaysia, HR recruitment policy is difference in between West Malaysia and East Malaysia.

Outcome / Impact

After gone through several interviews and discussions with the candidates, VHR had successfully closed all three engagements. The Client is very satisfied to go through the recruitment journey with us. All candidates had successfully on-boarded in Q3 2014. The first phase of the green field construction project was amounted to NOK 60 Million and the new facility will be ready for production in 2015.

Additional Information: Testimonial from HR Director

VHR has helped (us) to close 3 key positions in the new Sarawak Plant. These candidates will form our core functional team during the start-up phase.

The first search assignment we worked together is the HR Manager opening. It was indeed a fast turnaround time from VHR to present some qualified benchmarking profiles. We had thereafter, expanding our searches of Production Manager and Maintenance Manager with VHR.

I believe VHR is an accountable and dedicated executive search company. They have given a professional, and yet personal service. Their advice during the process has been of great importance to us. We were very happy to work with them, and would not hesitate to ask for their services again.