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3 bridge construction specialists at amazing speed with Riverstate.
Joachim Puls has been building bridges for 21 years – today he serves as Managing Director of Via Structure GmbH, based in Berlin. As the engineering division of the main shareholder EUROVIA Deutschland, the company handles large and small bridge construction projects throughout Germany, with a particular focus on public-private partnerships. Since its founding in 2017, the company has grown rapidly, which Puls attributes in no small part to the careful selection of suitable employees: “Every employee here is hand-picked by me. We now have 80 people working for us, with an order backlog of €75 million – I’m really proud of that.” When recruiting, Via Structure uses all media, from traditional newspaper ads to recruiting videos on Facebook. However, managing these channels and hand-picking candidates takes time, which is often in short supply in management. “There’s simply no such thing as a one-size-fits-all path to success these days,” explains Puls. “You have to really engage in the search extensively, and that naturally requires a significant amount of my time as managing director. That’s another reason we work with recruitment agencies like Riverstate.”
The managing director liked not only Riverstate’s concept, but also the tenacity it demonstrated right from the start: “I found Riverstate’s concept to be sophisticated because they promise that recruiters will first assess the need and only engage if they believe they can truly meet it. This isn’t necessarily common practice in recruiting, but it gives us additional security. At the same time, Riverstate really fought to win us as a client. This tenacity led me to believe that the same can be expected for the implementation of the staffing contract.”
Lead recruiter Yasmin Hoffmann laid the foundation for a quick and smooth filling of the position on setup day by creating a detailed candidate profile. Specifically, Puls was looking for a construction manager and a foreman, but in addition to technical criteria, the extensive on-site interview at the Via Structure office also focused on the necessary soft skills and corporate culture. Language requirements were also taken into account – as the company operates bilingually thanks to its shareholders in the Czech Republic and Poland.
“Riverstate’s setup day is something I’d never experienced before, but it turned out to be extremely positive,” says Puls. “The candidates Riverstate later presented to us were accordingly well-chosen. Thanks to Riverstate’s mediation, both parties were also relatively well informed about each other, and that definitely took some work off my hands and saved me time.”
To play this intermediary role in the highly specialized bridge construction sector, a basic understanding of the industry is essential. Talented individuals know exactly what to look for when selecting a company. To reach these talented individuals, and more importantly, to convince them, a recruitment agency must have sufficient industry expertise. Puls sees this as a given at Riverstate and was particularly surprised by the quality of the employer brochure produced by Riverstate:
“Riverstate serves many industries, not just construction, and we naturally like to use technical terms. However, Riverstate brought a genuine understanding of our industry, so we didn’t have to explain or correct much afterward. I didn’t expect the resulting employer brochure to be so detailed, and it certainly contributed to the high quality of applicants.”
Armed with the employer brochure, the Riverstate team began searching for suitable foremen and construction managers. The first results weren’t long in coming: “After the setup day, we actually had initial interviews just one week later. Riverstate seems to be truly implementing the initial inventory check; I don’t think it would have happened at this speed otherwise, especially since our request for a second language certainly didn’t make the search any easier.”
The quality of the talent presented was also high, so it didn’t take long to find the right candidates: “The number of candidates presented to us before we decided on someone was truly manageable. This testifies to the high quality of the selection process on Riverstate’s part.”
The first contract was signed just two months after the search began, and two more contracts were signed soon after. Today, Via Structure, with support from Riverstate, has not only filled the two originally scheduled vacancies, but has also filled a senior construction manager position with a suitable candidate.
“We didn’t actually commission Riverstate to find a senior construction manager. However, when a suitable profile surfaced during the search, they didn’t want to deny us the opportunity – we couldn’t pass up. In the end, we actually found a new senior construction manager, as a welcome by-catch, so to speak. It was another plus for Riverstate that they also thought outside the box when it came to profiles.”
With Riverstate’s support, Via Structure was able to recruit three new specialists, and project planning for the new employees is already in full swing. As the company continues its growth trajectory, the next recruitment process is already in the pipeline, and the managing director is looking forward to another collaboration with Riverstate:
“The recruitment process with Riverstate was a seamless one that worked with astonishing speed. If we need help again, we will definitely turn to Riverstate.”
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