Case Study

Location: South Africa
Service: Recruitment Summit
Sector: Engineering and Construction
Positions: Engineers, Project Managers

The Client

ArcelorMittal is the largest steel company in the world, with 310,000 employees in more than 60 countries. ArcelorMittal South Africa, founded in 1928, is Africa’s largest steel producer, producing 7.1 million tonnes of liquid steel per annum. They produce flat steel and long steel products. In addition, ArcelorMittal South Africa operates a metallurgical by?products processing division, called Mittal Coke and Chemicals.

The Challenge

The 2010 World Cup and the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link projects in South Africa have resulted in huge infrastructure investments across the country with ArcelorMittal contracted as major suppliers. This coincided with a 5?year strategy for sustainable growth resulting in huge recruitment needs, especially for engineers and project managers.

ArcelorMittal faced challenges trying to recruit for these vacancies within South Africa due to a lack of candidates with the required skills and experience. The company therefore needed to open up their recruitment channels internationally in order to meet their development goals in this area.

Our Approach

In partnership with Global Career Company, ArcelorMittal participated in the Careers in Africa Summit in London in May 2008.

Our extensive networks meant we were able to provide ArcelorMittal with internationally oriented candidates who have built on their South African qualifications with experience in developed markets. These candidates possessed the skills which, in many cases, were in short supply in South Africa.

The opportunity to tap into the EU market represented a major development in ArcelorMittal’s recruitment strategy. Prospective candidates were fully pre?screened in advance of the event to ensure only those who met the agreed criteria were short listed for interview.

The Outcome

ArcelorMittal met with and interviewed 45 candidates over the course of the weekend Summit and made 15 offers. Access to a unique pool of candidates with the required skills and experience in one location over one weekend was of immense value to ArcelorMittal and something they could not have achieved elsewhere.

The Summit also helped to further promote a positive company image to candidates who had already scheduled interviews with ArcelorMittal, whilst also improving brand recognition across a section of the audience who had not previously considered a career with the company. This in turn increased activity around their exhibition stand leading to
even more networking opportunities. Following the success of the Summit, Global Career Company now works as an African recruitment partner to ArcelorMittal on an ongoing basis.