Growth in FMCG can happen fast. A major new retail listing, an extra production line or a new site can create dozens of vacancies almost overnight. The challenge is filling them quickly without lowering the bar, because in fast-moving consumer goods the wrong hires soon show up in waste, downtime and missed orders.

Plan your hiring before the pressure hits

The most successful scale-ups map their hiring needs early. Identify which roles are critical to launch, which can follow in later phases and which skills are hardest to find. Leadership roles such as operations managers, engineering leads and quality managers should be secured first, as they will shape the teams beneath them.

Treat hiring as a campaign, not a series of vacancies

Recruiting one role at a time slows everything down and creates inconsistency. A structured campaign with a single hiring plan, consistent assessment criteria and a coordinated timeline is far more efficient. Our multi-hire campaigns combine targeted search, attraction and process management so you can hire at volume while keeping quality high.

Give candidates a reason to choose you

When you are hiring in volume, you are competing with every other manufacturer in the area. A compelling story about your products, growth plans, culture and progression makes a real difference to response rates. Strengthening your employer brand helps candidates recognise the opportunity before they even speak to you.

Keep the process tight

Speed matters. Book interview slots in advance, empower hiring managers to make decisions and keep candidates informed at every stage. Long silences lead to lost candidates, especially for skilled engineering and technical roles.

Onboard as carefully as you recruit

Volume hiring only pays off if new starters stay. Structured onboarding, clear training plans and regular check-ins with line managers all reduce the risk of losing people in their first few weeks, which is when new starters are most likely to reconsider their move.

Work with specialists who know the sector

Our FMCG recruitment specialists understand the pace of the sector and the roles that keep production running. If your growth also involves new warehousing or distribution capacity, our specialist logistics recruitment team can support in parallel.

Planning a period of growth? Talk to Nter Talent about building your team at pace.

A distribution centre manager sits at the point where cost, service and people all meet. Get the hire right and the site runs smoothly, KPIs hold steady and your team stays engaged. Get it wrong and the effects show up quickly: missed service levels, rising agency spend and a revolving door on the shop floor. For a role this important, a CV and a single interview rarely tell you enough.

Define what success looks like before you advertise

Many searches stall because the brief is too broad. Is this a new site that needs building from the ground up, or a mature operation that needs steadying? Is the priority throughput, cost control, automation or culture? A manager who thrives launching a greenfield site may not be the right fit for an established operation that needs careful continuous improvement. Agreeing the first twelve months’ priorities with stakeholders gives you a clear yardstick for every candidate.

Look beyond the job title

Job titles in logistics vary enormously between businesses. A Site Manager at one operator can carry more responsibility than a General Manager elsewhere. Focus instead on scale and scope: headcount led, volumes handled, and whether they have owned a P&L, managed a 3PL contract or supported a WMS implementation. These details reveal far more than seniority on paper.

Test leadership, not just technical knowledge

Most experienced candidates can talk confidently about pick rates and labour planning. What separates the best is how they lead people through peak, change and pressure. Ask for specific examples of turning around an underperforming shift, handling a difficult employee relations issue or retaining staff in a competitive local labour market.

Move quickly once you find the right person

Strong operational leaders are rarely on the market for long. Lengthy, multi-stage processes with long gaps between interviews lose candidates to faster competitors. Align decision makers early, keep feedback prompt and be ready with a competitive offer. If you are unsure whether your package is attractive, our recruitment services team can benchmark it against the current market.

Consider the full cost of a vacancy

Every week a key operational role sits empty has a cost, whether that is overtime, interim cover or service failures. Our hiring cost savings calculator helps you understand the real impact of a drawn-out search.

Work with a logistics specialist

A specialist logistics recruitment partner brings existing networks of passive candidates who are not actively applying for roles but would move for the right opportunity. Nter Talent recently built a full distribution centre team of twelve hires for a client under strict NDA, delivering in time for go-live. You can read how we did it in our case studies.

If you are opening multiple sites or hiring several managers at once, our multi-hire campaigns keep quality consistent at pace. To talk through your next logistics leadership hire, get in touch with our team.

We were engaged, under full NDA, by a client that had recently acquired a UK business and was opening a new Distribution Centre in a new location. There was no existing team on the ground: the client needed to build a full site leadership and operations function from scratch, in complete confidence, ahead of a fixed go-live date.

The Brief

Deliver a full retained recruitment project to resource an entire new Distribution Centre, covering transport, operations, finance, supply chain and QHSE, without compromising the confidentiality of the acquisition or the new site.

Our Approach

Confidentiality shaped every part of this project. We operated covertly throughout, sourcing and engaging candidates without revealing the client’s identity or the specifics of the acquisition, while still competing for the same quality of talent we’d pursue on any open search. Every candidate went through video interviewing, leadership assessment and personality profiling, because for a brand-new site the team needed to work well together from day one, not just tick the right boxes individually. Timescales were fixed and non-negotiable, tied directly to the site go-live date, and we ran the project to hit each milestone along the way.

The Results

We delivered the full team on time, hitting every project milestone, with the site going live to the client’s expectations. Roles placed included:

• National Transport Manager
• Senior Operations Manager (GM)
• Supply Chain Analyst
• Management Accountant
• Finance Manager
• Stock & Systems Manager
• Financial Controller
• 3x Warehouse Supervisors
• QHSE Manager

Twelve hires, one new site, and a client who needed absolute discretion at every stage, delivered without a single milestone slipping.

A new scale-up client came to Nter Talent at the earliest possible stage: pre-launch, pre-team, and pre-facility. The founder was entering the D2C subscription space with a wellness product and had a clear but demanding mission: open a production facility and build a commercial team capable of taking the brand straight to the D2C market. There was no existing hiring infrastructure to build on. We were starting from nothing, alongside the founder, on both fronts at once.

The Brief

Hire two full teams in parallel: a production team to get a manufacturing site operational, and a commercial, growth and marketing team to take the D2C proposition to market. Both needed to be in place to hit a single site go-live date.

Our Approach

We started with a full talent market map before writing a single job description. That mapping told the client something they hadn’t planned for: their current site location had strong production talent, but the calibre of commercial talent they needed, growth marketing, social and supply chain leadership, was concentrated in London. Based on our findings, the client agreed to open a commercial office in London specifically to capture that talent, splitting the business across a production site and a London commercial hub.

From there, our process covered every stage of the build:

• A full site visit and strategy planning session to brief on every role, culture and priority.
• JDs, salary benchmarking documents and an agreed interview process for each position.
• Branded recruitment ads for every role, introducing the new business to the market for the first time.
• First-stage interviews run entirely by the Nter Talent team via our video interviewing platform, saving the hiring manager and founder 10 hours per hiring process.
• Personality profiling for every candidate, giving the founder a clear read on fit before final-stage interviews.

The Results

We placed six roles across production and commercial functions:

• Head of Engineering, Production site set-up
• Operations Manager, Logistics & Production
• Head of Supply Chain & Operations
• Head of Growth Marketing
• Social Media Manager
• Production Supervisor

Every hire was made in time to keep the site go-live on track. Beyond filling roles, we supported the founder through the full process of building a team from zero, giving a first-time scale-up leader the structure and confidence to grow both his production and D2C commercial functions together.

A targeted recruitment campaign that combined specialist search with branded job advertising to attract candidates in a competitive international market.

The Challenge

International firm Ordo needed to recruit for a specialist position with a limited pool of suitable candidates.

The right individuals were unlikely to be reached through conventional job advertising alone. Ordo needed a campaign that would capture attention, communicate the opportunity clearly and give prospective candidates a compelling reason to engage.

The challenge was not simply finding people with the required experience. It was presenting Ordo, the role and the wider career opportunity in a way that would resonate with highly sought after professionals.

The Solution

Nter Talent developed a targeted recruitment campaign that brought together proactive candidate search, tailored job advertising and employer brand development.

Working closely with Ordo, the team gained a detailed understanding of the role, the organisation and what would make the opportunity attractive to the right candidates. This insight was used to develop job advertising that reflected Ordo’s brand rather than relying on a standard recruitment template.

The campaign communicated more than a list of responsibilities. It brought Ordo’s culture, ambitions and international outlook into the story, helping candidates understand what they could contribute and what they could gain from joining the business.

Nter Talent then took the opportunity directly to relevant professionals through specialist networks and targeted outreach. Every interaction was consistent with the employer brand, creating a joined up candidate experience from the first advert through to interview.

The Results

The campaign helped Ordo reach and engage candidates who would have been difficult to attract through traditional recruitment methods.

By combining specialist sourcing with stronger employer brand messaging, Nter Talent was able to:

• Reach a highly specific and limited talent pool.
• Generate interest from candidates who were not actively searching.
• Present the role in a distinctive and engaging way.
• Strengthen Ordo’s position as an attractive international employer.
• Improve the consistency of the candidate journey.
• Deliver suitable candidates for a hard to fill position.

More Than a Job Advert

The success of the campaign came from treating recruitment advertising as part of Ordo’s wider employer brand.

Rather than producing generic vacancy copy, Nter Talent created messaging that sounded and felt like Ordo. The role was positioned around its purpose, impact and future potential, helping prospective candidates connect with the opportunity on a deeper level.

This gave the campaign a clearer identity and ensured Ordo stood out when approaching experienced professionals who were likely to have several career options available to them.

Why the Approach Worked

Hard to find candidates rarely respond to job specifications alone. They need to understand why an opportunity is relevant, why the organisation is different and why making a move would be worthwhile.

By combining recruitment expertise with creative employer brand thinking, Nter Talent gave Ordo a more effective way to reach specialist talent. The result was a focused campaign that attracted the right attention, strengthened the company’s employer proposition and delivered candidates for a challenging international appointment.

At a Glance

Client: Ordo

Requirement: A specialist, hard to fill international appointment

Support provided:

• Employer brand development
• Branded job advertising
• Campaign messaging
• Targeted candidate sourcing
• Direct candidate outreach
• Candidate screening and management

Key benefits:

• Access to hard to find candidates
• Stronger candidate engagement
• Distinctive recruitment advertising
• Enhanced employer brand
• Consistent candidate experience
• A targeted and credible shortlist

Securing the right supply chain talent in today’s global market is more competitive than ever. Disruptions, nearshoring trends, and the growing complexity of international logistics mean businesses are fighting hard to attract and retain professionals who can keep operations moving. Salary is one of the most powerful levers you have, and if yours isn’t aligned with market expectations, you risk losing your best candidates to competitors before the conversation even gets started.

Our 2026 Global Supply Chain Salary Guide draws on our in-depth consultant expertise and a rich, continuously updated database of compensation data spanning procurement, logistics, operations, planning, and end-to-end supply chain leadership roles. Whether you’re hiring in a single market or building teams across multiple regions, this guide gives you the benchmarking intelligence to make informed, confident decisions.

Use it to sense-check your current packages, build a compelling offer strategy, and make sure your business is positioned as an employer of choice in a talent landscape where the best people have plenty of options.

Demand for data centre capacity is growing at an extraordinary rate. AI workloads, hyperscale cloud expansion and the ongoing shift to digital services are driving new builds and expansions across the UK, Europe and USA. But while investment is flowing, the specialists needed to build, commission and operate these facilities are in critically short supply.

Where the shortages are most acute

Commissioning managers, mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) specialists and high voltage engineers are among the hardest roles to fill. These professionals combine deep technical knowledge with experience of mission critical environments where downtime is not an option. Tightening grid capacity has also increased demand for electrical specialists who understand complex power infrastructure.

Why the talent pool is so tight

Data centre roles demand a rare mix of skills. Many engineers have strong electrical or mechanical backgrounds but lack experience of live, high availability environments. Meanwhile, experienced data centre professionals are approached constantly by competing operators, contractors and developers. The result is intense competition and rising salary expectations.

How to attract specialist data centre talent

Salary alone rarely wins the best candidates. Engineers want to know about the scale and complexity of the project, the technology involved, the quality of the team and the long-term pipeline of work. Be clear about site locations, travel and rotation patterns, as these are often deciding factors.

A credible employer brand matters here. Candidates in this market research employers carefully, and businesses that clearly communicate their safety culture, investment and career progression attract better responses.

Widen the search intelligently

Adjacent sectors can be a valuable source of talent. Engineers from energy, utilities, pharmaceutical manufacturing and rail often bring highly transferable experience of safety-critical systems and rigorous commissioning processes. With the right onboarding, they can be an excellent addition to a data centre team.

Know the market rate

Offers that fall short of expectations are quickly rejected in this sector. Our Data Centre Hiring Salary Guide gives you benchmarks for key roles, helping you build competitive packages from the outset.

Plan for project peaks

Data centre builds often require large numbers of specialists at the same time. Planning those peaks through structured multi-hire campaigns reduces the risk of delays to critical milestones.

Specialist recruitment for mission critical projects

Nter Talent’s data centre recruitment team works with operators, developers and contractors to secure the specialists who keep projects on schedule. From executive appointments to full project teams, our recruitment services are built around the realities of this fast-moving sector.

Contact us to discuss your data centre hiring plans, or register your CV if you are a data centre professional exploring new opportunities.

The last mile is where logistics becomes visible to the customer. A pallet can travel hundreds of miles without a hitch, yet a late or failed final delivery is what the customer remembers. That makes last mile leadership one of the most commercially important hires a logistics or ecommerce business can make, and one of the hardest to fill.

A role that blends operations and customer experience

Strong last mile managers combine the discipline of traditional transport management with a sharp focus on customer outcomes. They need to understand route optimisation, courier networks, carrier performance and cost per drop, while also owning failed deliveries and service recovery. Candidates who come purely from trunking or warehouse backgrounds may not have that customer-facing instinct.

Where to find last mile talent

Because last mile operations have grown so quickly, the pool of experienced leaders is relatively small. The best candidates often come from parcel carriers, grocery and food delivery, retail ecommerce and fast-growing delivery start-ups. Many are not actively job hunting, which is why a targeted, network-led approach works better than advertising alone. Our logistics recruitment specialists spend their time mapping exactly these talent pools.

What to prioritise in interviews

Look for evidence of data-led decision making. Can the candidate explain how they reduced cost per parcel, improved first-time delivery rates or managed peak volumes? Ask how they have handled third-party carrier performance and kept a dispersed workforce engaged. Remote and field-based roles also demand strong self-management, so explore how candidates structure their week without a site to anchor them.

Make the opportunity compelling

Last mile professionals know they are in demand. A clear story about growth, investment in technology and the scope to shape the operation will attract far more interest than a list of responsibilities. Investing in your employer brand helps you stand out in a crowded market.

Build a pipeline, not just a shortlist

For growing delivery networks, the next hire is rarely the last. A talent partnership gives you ongoing market insight and access to pre-qualified candidates, so you are not starting from scratch each time. If your delivery operation connects into wider planning and sourcing functions, our supply chain and procurement recruitment team can support those hires too.

Looking for your next last mile leader? Speak to Nter Talent today. Candidates can also browse our current logistics jobs.

A long term recruitment partnership that saves time, reduces hiring costs and delivers confidence at every stage.

The Challenge

As Radius continued to grow, hiring became an increasingly important part of maintaining business performance. The business needed a recruitment partner that could move quickly without compromising quality, while reducing the internal time spent managing vacancies, reviewing unsuitable CVs and coordinating recruitment activity.

Like many growing organisations, hiring managers needed confidence that vacancies would be filled efficiently, allowing them to focus on running their teams rather than managing recruitment.

The Solution

Nter Talent became a trusted extension of the Radius team, providing a consistent recruitment process built around quality, communication and long term partnership.

Rather than simply reacting to vacancies, Nter Talent invested time in understanding Radius’ culture, technical requirements and long term hiring objectives. This deeper understanding meant every search became faster, more accurate and more predictable.

By managing the entire recruitment process, from sourcing and screening through to interview coordination and offer management, Nter Talent removed significant administrative burden from hiring managers while ensuring every candidate reflected the standards expected by Radius.

The Results

Working as an embedded recruitment partner has helped Radius:

• Reduce time spent reviewing unsuitable applicants.
• Shorten recruitment times through proactive talent pipelines.
• Improve hiring consistency across multiple vacancies.
• Reduce the hidden cost of vacant positions.
• Give hiring managers confidence that recruitment is being managed professionally from start to finish.
• Build long term access to specialist talent as hiring needs evolve.

Most importantly, Radius benefits from a recruitment process that is predictable. Hiring managers know what to expect, candidates receive a professional experience, and vacancies are filled with the right people more efficiently.

Why the Partnership Works

The relationship has been built on consistency rather than transactions.

Because Nter Talent understands the business, every new assignment starts with context rather than discovery. Communication remains proactive throughout the process, allowing Radius to make informed hiring decisions quickly, while candidates enjoy a positive experience that reflects well on the employer brand.

The result is more than successful placements. It’s a recruitment partnership that saves time, reduces hiring costs and gives Radius confidence that hiring is in safe hands, today and as the business continues to grow.

Most manufacturers outside the major cities are sitting on an untapped competitive advantage in recruitment. They just haven’t learned how to talk about it yet.

If you’re an HR lead at a manufacturing, FMCG, or supply chain business, you’ll know the frustration. Roles stay open longer than they should. Candidates ghost after first interview. The ones you do hire often leave within a year. And yet, when you look around, you see a business with real stability, genuine progression routes, and a team that genuinely gives a damn.

The problem usually isn’t the job. It’s the story you’re telling about it.

What is an EVP, and why does it matter here?

Your Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is the sum of what you offer people in exchange for their time, skills, and commitment. Salary is part of it, but only a small part. Culture, development, flexibility, purpose, leadership, and environment all sit within it too.

In competitive sectors like tech or finance, EVP has been strategically developed for years. In manufacturing, it’s often an afterthought, or worse, assumed to be self-evident.

It isn’t. Candidates won’t fill in the gaps for you. If your job advert says “competitive salary, great team, opportunities to grow” and nothing more, you’re invisible.

The manufacturing EVP opportunity

Here’s the reality: a well-run manufacturing business often has a genuinely compelling offer. Skilled, hands-on work. Clear career ladders. Job security that a Series A startup can’t touch. Tight-knit teams. Real ownership of outcomes.

The businesses that articulate this well, that show candidates what life actually looks like inside their four walls, attract more applications, better-quality shortlists, and candidates who stay.

The ones that don’t keep losing to businesses with shinier brands, even when the actual job is inferior.

Where Nter Talent comes in

Nter Talent works specifically with manufacturers, FMCG, and supply chain businesses across the UK. Not as a generalist agency that dabbles in the sector, but as specialists who understand the nuances of hiring for these environments.

Part of that work is helping clients get clear on their EVP before a single vacancy goes live. That means:

• Identifying what genuinely differentiates you as an employer, not what sounds good, but what’s actually true and provable
• Translating that into candidate-facing language that resonates with the people you’re trying to attract
• Embedding it into your recruitment process, from job adverts to interviews to offer conversations

The result is a recruitment process that works harder, attracts the right people, and reduces the attrition that costs businesses far more than a bad hire.

The practical starting point

If you’re not sure where your EVP stands, start by asking your best performers why they stay. Their answers, the real ones not the polished ones, are usually the foundation of something worth building on.

Then ask whether any of that is visible to a candidate who has never heard of you.

If the answer is no, that’s the gap worth closing.

Nter Talent helps manufacturing and supply chain businesses close it. If that sounds like a conversation worth having, contact us.