Podium candidates: The Experienced Food Industry Talent You Could Be Missing
By Denis O’Driscoll
Managing Director at Corvin Fox
When a food manufacturer is recruiting for a senior or specialist role, there are always candidates who make it through to the final stages but don’t get the job. They have the technical experience, leadership ability and cultural fit the hiring team was looking for, but there is only one position to fill, and for whatever reason, they miss out.
At Corvin Fox, we call these podium candidates – although you may have heard them referred to as Most Suitable Candidates, or MSCs.
For businesses facing a difficult recruitment market, podium candidates could provide a much quicker route to the right hire, particularly compared with starting from scratch. With 75% of food manufacturers now struggling to find skilled candidates for key roles, being able to revisit pre-vetted professionals can be particularly valuable.
Because these candidates have already been identified, assessed and taken through the final stages of another search, manufacturers can skip much of the initial recruitment process and move straight to interviewing a high-quality professional with a proven track record.
This article explains what podium candidates are, why they can be valuable to food manufacturers and how we identify and cultivate this pool of talent at Corvin Fox.
Key takeaways
- Podium candidates – also known as Most Suitable Candidates (MSCs) – are experienced professionals who reached the final stage of a recruitment process but ultimately missed out on the appointment. This makes them a useful source of talent for similar roles, as their technical experience and cultural fit have already been assessed by recruiters.
- Podium candidates can shorten a new recruitment process because the initial search, screening and assessment have already been completed, allowing the new employer to move more quickly to its own interviews and checks.
- They can also give employers greater confidence when making senior appointments. Insight from a previous hiring cycle can help to reduce the uncertainty around a high-stakes hire.
- Corvin Fox identifies and assesses around 150 professionals for senior roles before creating a shortlist of six to eight people. We maintain relationships with podium candidates throughout their career to identify those who could be a good fit for future vacancies.
What we will cover
- What is a podium candidate in recruitment?
- Why you should hire a podium candidate
- How we source podium candidates
What is a podium candidate in recruitment?
A podium candidate is a senior or specialist professional who has recently reached the final stages of a recruitment process for a food manufacturing business, but was not ultimately appointed. They have already been identified through a specialist search, assessed against the requirements of the role and interviewed by a prospective employer.
Being a podium candidate does not mean being an unsuccessful one. In many cases, the decision comes down to a specific factor that has little to do with their overall ability to do the job – such as location, salary expectations or subtle differences in experience.
These professionals are often still open to the right opportunity, and have already demonstrated that they meet the technical and cultural requirements for a senior role in food manufacturing. For another organisation with a similar vacancy, that means much of the initial search and assessment has already been completed, while the candidate has already shown that they are interested in making the move.
The new potential employer can then carry out their own final interview and, if the fit is right, move ahead with an offer.
Why you should hire a podium candidate
Faster hiring
A conventional recruitment cycle can take around 12 weeks, from mapping the market and approaching potential candidates through to screening, interviews and a final shortlist. With a podium candidate, those early stages are no longer necessary. The new employer can pick up the process with someone who has already demonstrated the experience and capability required, rather than spending weeks establishing whether they are worth interviewing.
Less risk
Podium candidates have already had their technical experience, track record and suitability for the role scrutinised by experienced recruiters. This is a strong starting point for a new potential employer to perform their own interviews and checks – particularly when hiring for an essential senior position.
While it can be difficult to judge how well someone will perform in a senior role before they have started, getting these appointments wrong can be costly. The insight from a previous recruitment process can give the new employer greater confidence when making that decision, particularly for roles where a poor appointment can leave a critical position vacant and put additional pressure on the existing team.
Ready-to-move talent
A podium candidate has already made the decision to explore a new opportunity. If one role ultimately goes to someone else, their interest in finding another one does not necessarily disappear. For a manufacturer with a similar vacancy, that can make the conversation much more straightforward. The professional has already demonstrated an appetite for a move, while the new employer can assess whether the opportunity, location, package and responsibilities are right for them.
How we source podium candidates
As a dedicated recruitment agency for the food manufacturing sector, Corvin Fox recruits for senior and specialist roles on behalf of manufacturers across the UK. This brings us into contact with many experienced professionals who are highly suitable for particular jobs, but miss out on the appointment at the final stage.
Our permanent recruitment process begins with an on-site visit to understand the role, the organisation and the type of person who will work well within the business. We then map the market and approach around 150 professionals who could be suitable for the position.
The team then assesses those professionals against the requirements of the role, looking at technical experience alongside career history, leadership style and cultural fit. Candidates who do not meet the brief are removed before they reach the client, leaving a shortlist of around six to eight people who have been properly assessed.
One of those candidates will usually take the role, but the others who reached the final stages will still be strong matches. These are the professionals who become podium candidates, provided they remain open to another suitable opportunity.
We maintain relationships with these professionals throughout their careers, keeping in touch as their circumstances and career plans change. This means we know which people may be open to a new opportunity and can introduce them when their experience matches a new vacancy.
Podium candidates are a great choice for any senior or specialist roles, including:
- Site directors, general managers and factory managers
- Group technical directors, quality managers and food safety leads
- NPD managers and innovation leads
- Engineering managers and maintenance specialists
“When you’ve taken the time to identify 150 people, assess their experience and narrow that down to a handful of strong candidates, it makes very little sense to forget about the people who came second or third simply because someone else got the job.
If a similar vacancy comes up a few months later, I’d always want to look at those people before starting another search from the beginning. You’re starting with people who have already been properly assessed, rather than hoping you find the right person somewhere in the wider market.
For us, that is the real value of having a podium network. We’ve already done a lot of the work involved in finding good people, so it makes sense to use that knowledge when another manufacturer needs someone with similar experience.”
– Denis O’Driscoll, Managing Director at Corvin Fox
Conclusion
Podium candidates give food manufacturers a new way to approach hiring for senior or specialist vacancies. Before starting another lengthy recruitment campaign, it is worth asking whether your recruitment partner has suitable podium candidates already in its network. You may be able to reach the right people much sooner, with the initial search and screening process already underway.
At Corvin Fox, our work across the food manufacturing sector gives us access to experienced professionals who have already reached the final stages of senior recruitment processes. When a suitable vacancy arises, we can introduce relevant podium candidates to the role and give the new employer an opportunity to meet them.
If you’re looking to fill a senior or specialist role in food manufacturing, contact the team at Corvin Fox to find out whether we have a podium candidate who could be right for your vacancy.
