Company Background
As a leading logistics provider specialising in time critical, overnight and scheduled distribution across a national network, the business set out to build a new Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement function across six regions. With service quality, cost control and consistency under increasing pressure, the margin for error was small.
Client
Contact
Sector
Staffing Type
Recruitment Challenge
The brief was precise: appoint region based senior leaders with the right skills and values, at speed and within budget, to create a high performing team built to last.
Mark recognised a limiting belief: that great logistics talent must already come from logistics. The real requirement was not sector familiarity, but portable excellence in lean, automation, safety and customer critical operations. That shift in story repositioned the sector from “traditional trucking” to “mission critical, tech enabled service operations,” making it attractive to high calibre people from adjacent industries.
Recruitment Solution
The process was designed not just to hire quickly, but to hire leaders who would commit, embed and perform over time. Working with the COO and VP of Operational Excellence, Mark implemented a three stage, candidate centred selection process that combined structured assessment, a live business case presentation to the senior leadership team and an on-site final stage. This ensured both competence and cultural alignment, so hires would start strong and deliver sustained impact.
Recruitment Journey
Of the ten hires, only one came directly from logistics. The rest joined from sectors with mature excellence disciplines, including manufacturing, technology, financial services, retail, defence and consulting. This mix injected new playbooks in process design, automation, data discipline and service resilience.
The plan filled all ten roles across six regions to cover ninety locations, with an average 2.5 weeks from shortlist submission to offer acceptance and a best case of ten days. All offers landed within the agreed salary ranges, including relocations. Candidate experience feedback was highly positive, including from those not selected.
What Made it Work: Recruiting for Retention
1. Reposition the sector
Mark told a different story about logistics. He framed it as a high stakes, tech enabled operations environment where excellence is measured daily in service, safety and speed. That narrative attracted leaders from advanced sectors who wanted to do meaningful work at scale.
2. Expand and diversify talent pools
By targeting adjacent sectors with proven lean and CX maturity, the team gained methods and mindsets that transferred immediately to route, hub and depot operations. The diversity of industry background created constructive challenge and rapid idea flow.
3. Select for values and impact, not just CVs
The three-stage process assessed behaviours and cultural fit alongside technical strength. That combination reduces early attrition, increases engagement and shortens time to effectiveness.
4. Make speed a signal
Fast, structured decisions and clear communication showed respect for candidates’ time and signalled organisational intent. This built commitment before day one and supported retention through the first 90 days.
5. Local presence, national standard
Hiring into six regions put leadership close to the work while aligning everyone to the Operational Excellence playbook, creating consistency at scale.
The Results
- Paid claims for damage and loss down 54% versus prior year
- Labour as a percentage of revenue reduced from 8.4% to 7.1%
- Dealer survey scores improved from 4.31 to 4.47
- Overall quality score increased from 94.5% to 97.48%
These outcomes reflect the impact of leaders who embedded quickly, standardised ways of working and stayed to see improvements through.
