Case Studies

It is therefore fundamentally important that a company like Tangent (that is actively engaged in the provision of consultants worldwide) has adequate emergency measures in place to support its workers whatever the location. Tangent has been placing contractors overseas for  40 years and have used this time to create and hone what we believe are the finest emergency response and support protocols in existence in recruitment today.      

We have a 24-hour emergency support line available to all staff, and a 24-hour contractor support team plugged into all the major news feeds (Reuters, Bloomberg, CNN, BBC,  Al  Jazeera etc). We actively look for trouble spots and once identified we immediately check to see whether any of our consultants or their families are affected. If we have any concern that they are,  we will immediately attempt to contact them and then activate our emergency procedures. Our first concern is that they or their family are in a safe and secure location. Once we have ensured that they are we can then discuss whether evacuation is appropriate and act as the situation requires.

One example of these protocols working exactly as planned was the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011. At the time Tangent had over 40 consultants working in Tokyo which was considered relatively close to the epicentre. The problems began as our staff experienced the terrifying earthquakes that shook the city and ultimately caused the Tsunami. These problems were then horrendously exacerbated as the nuclear plant at Fukushima began to fail. Our support staff were alerted to the problem early and spent the entire weekend tracking down all Tangent staff, (and many staff from other contracting companies who did not have the same emergency procedures). One by one we ensured their safety and with the support of our customer we began to evacuate people initially to the city of Osaka much further away, and then for those that wanted it we arranged flights to nearby locations in other countries where they could continue their work remotely.

All staff were accounted for within 2 hours of the problems starting and all were evacuated from Tokyo in under 48 hours. We have seen similar responses from our support for emergencies in many other locations worldwide.             

The project would require a partner that could not only find the hard to reach skills within communications but could also manage the entire logistics & compliance side of the operation in a region that is well known for being difficult to manage. The upgrade required various skills sets including

• PS Core & Virtualisation expertise
• Project & Programme Management
• Radio Design & Optimisation
• Core Network Design
• RAN Engineering
• Transmission & Microwave

The Solution

Whilst a technology or communications project across multiple hard to manage locations may seem complicated, to Tangent, it is just another day. Having worked in over 170 countries, the specific locations of the upgrade and the potential issues that would be involved in having talent enter the countries compliantly were no surprise. Using our trademarked processes within Talent Flow our specialist recruiters quickly identified the engineers needed for the project.

Having previously provided talent to each location in the past, Tangent were able to use their experience and dedicated logistics & compliance teams found within our Bond service to ensure the project ran smoothly. Our Logistics team managed all aspects of the engineers' journey including;

• Flights
• Accommodation
• Transportation
• Cash advances

Whilst our compliance teams managed the entire work permit & visa process to ensure all engineers were supplied compliantly.

The Result

100% of required skills were provided by Tangent.

Over 95% of the engineers required worked the entire duration of their contract

In the words of the Rollout Director…

“We selected Tangent as the recruitment partner for this project as their approach and experience made everything seem so simple, it gave me and the project team the confidence that there was no hurdle they could not overcome. Having selected them as our partner they quickly identified the talent we needed on the project, placed them in country efficiently and compliantly and managed them in the country to ensure they could focus on their jobs. If you are looking for a recruitment partner that can manage complex international projects then there really is no one better than Tangent”

The Challenge

Our client, a major IT manufacturer producing innovative and frequently ground-breaking platforms principally for the retail market, wanted to expand geographically into Middle Eastern markets – particularly Saudi Arabia. A number of Recruitment Agencies had been endeavouring to fill the roles that the client had sent them for 5 months to no avail.

The roles (Account Management and field-based positions) were in themselves not particularly difficult in terms of identifying potential candidates but the employment compliance requirements for the country posed a significant challenge in that many potential candidates could, or even would, not be considered. Tangent had been successfully finding recruitment solutions for both contract and permanent roles across the Middle East for the best part of a decade. The institutional knowledge built up from that successful business was, we believe, a significant factor in our subsequent success with this client. At the outset, we arranged a meeting with the client in Dubai in order that we could fully understand their requirements and the type of individuals they were looking for to ensure the best fit with their unique business culture. Daily contact and the establishment of strong relationships with the Client Requirement Teams (from Senior Field Managers through to the Recruitment Teams) was also crucial throughout the process – given earlier delays through the initial agencies contacted there was a desire to move fast once the details of potential candidates were submitted to them and positions frequently changed.

The Solution

Armed with the role requirements, our knowledge of the working environment and a good understanding of the cultural fit needed we searched for likely names across our network. Unlike other organisations Tangent invest in building networks of passive candidates ensuring our clients have access to talent not readily available n the market.

Potential candidates were engaged and interested names submitted to the client. Given the number of open roles there were frequently up to 10 candidates chosen for an interview at any one time at Interview Days in different locations across the Middle East – thus the need to control logistical arrangements properly was very important. With over 900 contractors currently working in over 75 countries the Tangent Candidate Care Team are well versed in ensuring logistical arrangements are dealt with effectively and smoothly – indeed they have won a number of Industry Awards for their work. Another differentiating factor as far as the client was concerned around the logistical support provided through Tangent was our ability (thanks to our financial strength) and willingness to cover all the costs of the logistical arrangements up-front, and then subsequently invoice the client later.

The Result

Candidates submitted for interview has been well-prepped and were fully committed to the potential role and to the required start date, so once offered jobs post interview all accepted with no drop-outs. Thus 6 roles that had remained vacant for some 5 months before involvement by Tangent were filled successfully within 4 weeks of us being engaged. Given this success rate the client has included Tangent in the agencies they use elsewhere and we are currently working on a number of positions with them.