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As a family business on the radar of top talents with Riverstate.
Dr. Ecklebe GmbH is an automation systems manufacturer headquartered in Wernigerode with offices in Berlin and Magdeburg. As a medium-sized specialist in innovative automation and IT solutions, the company must confidently navigate many industries, even with a small team. This requires employees who are not only highly qualified but also able to independently manage projects and represent the company. “We offer a relatively broad range of technically sophisticated solutions that you probably wouldn’t expect from a company of our size,” explains Managing Director Dr. Andreas Ecklebe. “But communicating this externally is a real challenge. We simply operate under the radar of candidates.” The fact that the company has to be selective in selecting suitable candidates makes this challenge even greater. Employees should integrate quickly and bring a certain level of expertise with them. “Attracting skilled personnel is already difficult, and as a small medium-sized company, we can only afford to train employees for years,” says Dr. Ecklebe. “Additionally, our headquarters are located in a very rural area.” In order to specifically find highly qualified specialists who fit perfectly into the company, Dr. Ecklebe GmbH now fills key roles with Riverstate. The collaboration began with a kind of pilot project for the sister company Dr. Ecklebe Engineering – and a certain amount of skepticism. “We actually didn’t think we had a chance of finding someone because we were very small at the time, with only four employees,” says Dr. Ecklebe. “But with Riverstate, we were able to gain a good colleague. So we thought, if it worked there, it would probably work for other job profiles too.”
Riverstate specifically took over the reins for those job profiles that had been giving Dr. Ecklebe GmbH a headache for years. “In IT, we felt our own search was hopeless, and the search for project engineers and electrical designers could take years,” says Dr. Ecklebe. “With Riverstate, we found the right candidates in about two to three months in every case, and we always had a single point of contact.”
In quick succession, the company was able to fill four key roles with Riverstate that would have previously remained vacant for a long time: In addition to a project engineer in plant engineering and an electrical designer, Dr. Ecklebe GmbH was finally able to hire two software developers (front- and back-end).
However, there was a difference not only in the speed with which key positions were filled, but also in the quality of the employees found. In the past, people had often been hired through traditional channels such as job advertisements or word of mouth – sometimes with mixed results.
“The performance of employees we recruited ourselves sometimes wasn’t what we had imagined, so we had to go our separate ways,” says Dr. Ecklebe. He no longer sees any fear of making the wrong choice: “With Riverstate, there’s definitely been a significant improvement in the quality of the people. The commitment is there, the willingness to work is right, and the ability to learn is there. We would have had a hard time finding such candidates without Riverstate, that’s for sure.”
As a family-run business that maintains local ties despite international clientele, Dr. Ecklebe GmbH values not only professional expertise but also the harmonious integration of new talent into the team. Riverstate’s on-site experience of the applicants’ future workplace on the setup day and the inclusion of colleagues and the company’s core values in the applicant profile is therefore in line with the company philosophy.
“I think it’s good to meet in person for this purpose; it simplifies communication and gives both sides a better feel and better insight,” says Dr. Ecklebe. “I found Riverstate’s setup day to be positive, even necessary.”
The managing director also found the subsequent search process to be seamless. With a dedicated contact person from setup day to the hiring of the new employees, Dr. Ecklebe could trust that his discussed wishes were always respected and that feedback was always just a phone call away. This resulted in a reliable pool of candidates from which the company could choose. “All of the applicants Riverstate presented to us fit the profile very well,” says Dr. Ecklebe.
Without its own large HR department or a comprehensive recruiting strategy, Dr. Ecklebe GmbH had hardly consciously mobilized resources for employee recruitment before collaborating with Riverstate. Compared to its previous approach, engaging professional recruiters was an investment, and the company is now reaping the benefits.
“At first glance, recruiting is obviously a relatively costly process,” says Dr. Ecklebe. “But if we had really intensively searched internally and ultimately hired someone out of necessity who wasn’t ideal for the role, the cost ratio would shift significantly.”
Especially for important positions, Dr. Ecklebe sees the collaboration with Riverstate as a relief and a guarantee of success. “When you need to search specifically and reach out to good people, especially for key positions, professional recruiting simply makes sense,” says Dr. Ecklebe.
As a family-owned company, Dr. Ecklebe GmbH relies on organic growth, relying entirely on the excellence and reliability of new and existing employees. With many innovative projects in the pipeline, the Riverstate-supported reinforcement with new top talent comes at just the right time.
“For a long time, we had growth of one or two employees per year, or 5%, but we would like to increase significantly in the coming years and expand by 10 to 15% annually,” says Dr. Ecklebe. “That’s a whole new ballpark for a medium-sized family business that grows from its operational business.”
To manage this development, attracting new talent remains a priority – and key positions will continue to be filled with Riverstate in the future. “We want to continue to grow and strengthen our core areas,” says Dr. Ecklebe. “We will continue to turn to Riverstate in the future, especially for positions that need to be filled at short notice and for key roles.”
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