Immediate entry of a clothing brand into the Lithuanian market
In 2012, between the announcement of H&M’s entry into the Lithuanian market and the opening of the first stores in two major cities, H&M had a four-week timeframe to find and recruit almost 100 executives, store managers, designers and sales consultants.
To meet H&M’s expectations of an impeccable solution, with a seemingly impossible 4-week deadline and the goal of recruiting 100 full-time employees, we reviewed over 2000 candidates. There were just 1.3 million pre-Christmas labour market participants then.
Solution
H&M has appointed Manpower to handle the entire recruitment process, along with related campaigns and the tight project timeline, across the Baltic countries. Five consultants from the Lithuanian team were assigned to the project and a Manpower office was opened in the port city. Our team had to design a complex recruitment project, including all the necessary steps, a forecast of progress and worst-case scenarios for each phase of the project.
In planning the complex project, unusual tools were used to attract employees – advertisements on the largest digital billboards, in the most popular leisure newspapers and posters in the most popular coffee house chain in Lithuania.
Before opening the stores, H&M did not have a representative office in Lithuania. So we organised the premises for the candidate meetings, and organised and coordinated the process of signing the contracts.
Result
Despite the challenges, H&&M’s arrival in Lithuania was not only due to its global competence, but also due to its local labour market expertise. A flexible and innovative approach to managing H&M’s expectations and plans, and the added value of candidates and stakeholders, accelerated the achievement of the desired result.
We had a great opportunity to prove ourselves once again and improve the level of efficiency in the company. In a short space of time, we have conducted over 1000 job interviews and delivered over 300 final candidates to the client.
Finally, the opening of the largest Baltic store in Lithuania came at the right time – H&M has now been operating in Lithuania for 10 years and has continuously delivered on its promises to the market;
