To meet the huge challenges the consumer product industry has experienced over the pandemic with surges in demand, premium pet food provider Canidae has built a flexible and resilient talent acquisition strategy with Recruitment Processing Outsourcing (RPO) provider Talent Works. Throughout the past year, the new strategy has supported Canidae as it has moved to meet a significant increase in demand in sales and marketing roles across the US and at its new Stamford, Connecticut headquarters. The company moved headquarters from Norco, California, to Stamford, CT in 2020.
Nationwide, Talent Works has worked strategically with Canidae’s hiring managers to place candidates in a number of challenging roles, rising to what are often unpredictable market conditions experienced by the consumer goods and product industry. The hiring model will reflect Canidae’s ‘Full of Goodness: good for pets, good for people, good for the planet’ proposition.
The new RPO strategy is based on a direct sourcing model and will work to expand the company’s national team and to support its continued growth in 2021 and beyond. Talent Works is helping to navigate a new and complex hiring landscape, working to help hire corporate roles in Connecticut, and field sales roles nationwide.
Talent Works is also implementing a new employer brand and awareness campaign and recruiting for Canidae manufacturing roles at the Pet Nutrition facility in Brownwood, Texas where the company researches and develops its pet food recipes. Canidae is quickly becoming an employer of choice in this local market amongst a competitive manufacturing FCMG candidate marketplace.
“We are on a mission to make a difference to our consumers and the planet, and that starts with our people, who are the bedrock of our organization,” said Bret Furio, Candiae CEO. “We’re looking forward to our biggest year ever, and we’re pleased to be working with Talent Works. The elite team at Talent Works is managing a flexible and sustainable RPO strategy that is attracting and securing the talent we need, at Stamford, Brownwood and across other locations nationwide. It’s reassuring to have the right partner in place that will help us to grow as we navigate uncharted territory.”
Talent Works is working alongside the company’s in-house hiring team as it launches several new systems, new training programs and new applicant tracking technology to help drive the business forward.
“The value of this flexible RPO relationship for our business is that it allows us to focus ongrowth and success, not recruiting,” Karen Casey, Head of People and Culture, Canidae.“This future-proof, flexible RPO model has allowed for an ebb and flow in talent acquisition that has catered to the needs of the business, even amid a time of continuous change.”
According to Jody Robie, SVP & Shareholder for Talent Works North America, Canidae is a prime example of a small but growing enterprise that is using RPO to its advantage to alleviate the pressure many businesses experience in trying to juggle hiring with other business critical activities. “It is a perfect example of just how well the RPO relationship can work in terms of being agile and helping companies to reach out to the right talent when a natural talent pool may not be present,” she said. “We’re enjoying supporting the team to help meet their new hiring requirements on a daily and weekly basis, and seeing demonstrable results as the business grows.”
