Company name:

UK’ Manufacturing company

Company size:

1,001-5,000 employees

Services provided:

Talent as a Service

Duration of project:

Long-term

Engineers (FTE):

1.0 FTE

Technology:

SQL, BI, XML and EDI

Our client, a leading food producer in the UK, was hitting a wall. They tried recruiting internally and through local agencies, but new hires weren’t staying longer than a few months. There was a massive gap between what appeared on a CV and the candidate’s actual skills in practice. Their Head of IT, Krzysztof, knew they needed more than just a CV provider – he was looking for a partner who could offer Talent as a Service (TaaS) to handle the entire process, from verification to ongoing support.

We didn’t just start throwing resumes at them. We applied our best practices, including 15-minute “check-in” calls at the two and four-week marks of the process.

• The Turning Point: The client was originally looking for a BI Analyst and using a live-coding SQL test. However, candidates were failing it miserably.
• Going Deeper: During our week 4 meeting, our CEO, Gerard, stepped in as a technical consultant to analyze the test. We discovered it was misleading and poorly designed.
• Redefinition: We realized the client didn’t care as much about a perfect result as they did about the candidate’s way of thinking. We convinced them that they actually needed an SQL Developer who truly understood the environment, not just a BI Analyst. Once we redefined the role, the talent pipeline opened up immediately.

We believe in the power of relationships. While our Delivery Manager, Krystian, was attending London Tech Week, he reached out to the client’s BI Manager for a meeting.

• Trust: Even before the recruitment was closed, we visited their office, had lunch, and met the team. This visit established a “bridge” of trust that made our communication seamless from that point forward.
• Educating the Client: When we finally selected the right person, the client insisted on on-site onboarding because they had no experience with remote teams. We shared our know-how on managing distributed teams and showed them how a remote onboarding – supported by our checklists – would save them costs on travel and accommodation.
• Logistics: We took the hardware headache off their plate. Laptops from the UK were sent to us first; we checked them and then distributed them to the consultants.

Working between Poland and the UK brings challenges that many overlook:

• The 7.5h vs. 8h Gap: In the UK, the standard is 7.5 working hours (with an unpaid lunch break), while in Poland it’s 8 hours.
• Holiday Sync: Poland has many more bank holidays than the UK. To prevent surprises, we created a dedicated Excel comparison of all holidays in both countries so the client knew exactly when their specialist would be at their desk.
• Predictable Budgets: Instead of unpredictable monthly invoices, we prepared annual cost estimates. These included potential time-off (usually 2-3 weeks) and public holidays, giving the client total financial clarity.

Because of the success with the SQL Developer, the client entrusted us with a much harder role: Senior Systems Engineer. A UK agency had been searching for this person for 10 months without success. To solve this, we developed a 0-5 point scoring system to evaluate the skillset. We provided a ranking of candidates, showing Paul (the decision-maker with very high expectations) exactly where each “unicorn” excelled and where they had gaps. Despite starting during the difficult Christmas/New Year period, we delivered the first verified candidates before the end of the year.

We proved that in the TaaS model, we aren’t just an agency – we are an external HR and technical consulting department. We take care of the logistics, verify the technical skills they can’t always check themselves, and build the kind of trust that allows us to scale their business together.