All Case Studies
Enterprise Partner
Building the Tesla’s of the Sky
£
0
k
SAVED vs agency models
0
hires across all sites
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sites embedded across the UK + europe
locations:
- UK
- Germany
- France
Overview
Building the Tesla’s of the Sky
We are on a flight path with Collins Aerospace to build out a global talent acquisition function from scratch!
With over 70k employees across 300 sites globally, Collins Aerospace has been redefining aerospace for over 100 years. This includes producing the suit that took Neil Armstrong to the moon and transmitting his “one small step for man” line back to Earth with their communications equipment.
Today their advanced aviation equipment, electrical power generation, distribution and control solutions can be found in over 22,000 aircraft. This spans space exploration, military, commercial aircraft and the planes you fly on holiday in.
Collins Germany x Bond:
There’s a common stereotype that suggests cross-continental partnerships don’t work! For various reasons – language barriers, miscommunication, time zones. This was not the case for Bond with Collins Aerospace at their Germany sites.
Despite being a remote & UK-based team we made this dynamic work seamlessly and are embedded across 3 sites and counting in Germany.
Embedded @ 1 German site flourishing to 3:
During Bond’s time at its first German site the team proved just how much of a game changer embedded is and how well we can deliver. This led to us being referred to 2 additional sites.
How we did this:
Our biggest priority was focusing on building strong relationships, communication, and trust. This was ultimately the catalyst for being referred to further sites. Oh, and to kickstart the project we jumped on a plane & onboarded in person!
Bond has a strong history of attracting bi-lingual talent partners and as the demand plans grew and screening calls / interviews stacked up we deployed 2 Germans speaking Talent Partners to complete the team to date.
We conducted our 5-Stage Talent Theory which provided a strategic roadmap for supporting the transformation of the function. By identifying gaps, proposing tailored recommendations, and centralizing processes, we successfully streamlined operations and improved hiring outcomes.
The challenge:
Collins Aerospace has grown through mergers and acquisitions across aerospace engineering. That history left a legacy of fragmented silos, with activity duplicated and ways of working differing site to site.
The in-house HR team had been spanning those sites through a combination of an RPO and specialist recruitment agencies. Bond was brought in to build a talent acquisition capability that belonged to Collins, and to remove the reliance on third parties.
The Global VP of HR first tasked us with a 36% headcount increase across the UK Power and Controls site by 2024, alongside a backlog of 80 vacant legacy roles.
Shifting the angle of attack:
The change that mattered most was moving from reactive to proactive. We introduced headhunting and proactive sourcing, which lifted the strike rate of suitable candidates and took away the burden on hiring managers of sifting hundreds of CVs. We also started joining the dots between sites, building a collaborative approach and sharing best practice across networks inside and outside Collins.
- Across the partnership that approach has saved Collins £843K against agency models.
- 8,937 candidates reached out to, 1,694 screened, over 800 interviews arranged.
- Time to start cut from 91 days to 59.
How we did it:
- An end-to-end data-led approach, from market insights and briefings through to mapping talent pools
- Onsite presence, building relationships across sites, HR teams and networks
- Creative sourcing and market mapping, looking well beyond talent already in aerospace
- Proactive outreach, selling the business to people with the right transferable skills
- Salary and competitor benchmarking, created and socialised across the business
- Standardised HR process, giving clarity and transparency to everyone in it
- Consulting on wider business activity including DE&I forums and recruitment process
- ATS admin support to improve candidate experience
Where we added more:
- Design-thinking sessions run on site
- An early careers workshop for placement students, covering CV guidance, practice interviews and LinkedIn advice
- Sitting in on interviews and feeding back on how the process could improve
- Rewriting job descriptions as candidate-focused adverts tied to the EVP, rather than lists of requirements
The first 6 month sprint
- 71 hires
- 13.4 hires per month on average
- 14 day time to hire
- £153K saved vs agency fees
For the Global VP of HR, the proof was hearing no complaints from the engineering hiring manager team after the change in tactics. Collins then asked us to take on technical and business function hiring across three more business areas which leaded to 9 sites in total.
9 sites, 3 examples
Connected Aviation Solutions/ Aviation and Inertial Systems
Brought in to ramp up recruitment and cut agency dependency.
- 101 offers over 19 months, 57 external and 24 internal hires
- 2.6 offers per Talent Partner, per month
- Over 6,500 applications processed, 49 per position
ECMS Solihul
Brought in to deliver key roles and improve process.
- 26 hires
- 8 project pieces, from hiring manager support to STEM and early careers
- International hires from India, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan and Brazil
HS Marston
Brought in to provide a TA support function during a ramp-up.
- 96 offers over 12 months, 74 external and 11 internal hires
- 2 assessment centre days, 51% offer ratio
- Operations time to hire down 63%
Bond’s doing a fantastic job, demonstrating true professionalism leading and driving forward the recruitment strategy for HSM. The team is a true asset and has helped us achieve unexpected results in a short period. Their approach to relationship management is exceptional and from a customer perspective, going above and beyond to ensure delivery of work is at an exceptional standard. Bond has helped build the confidence of the most challenging hiring managers and has set a very high bar for the new TA model to work towards.
head of hr
I want to thank the whole Bond team for their valuable support over the past 18-months as we have worked to fill our vacancies. Their input has been excellent, we achieved what we set out to do and have built good relationships with my team. This is much appreciated.
Engineering Director
I am writing to wholeheartedly recommend Bond for their exceptional assistance during our recent recruitment process. Bond has significantly contributed to our hiring success. Going above and beyond – keeping me updated, very thorough and organised – I never feel anything is too much. Having a can-do attitude and a hands-on approach.
it site manager
I have extensive experience in both working with recruiters/recruitment agencies and interviewing candidates over the past 20 years. Bond is by some margin the most pro-active, interactive, and competent recruiter I have worked with during this time. Bond’s approach of out-reach to a wide base of candidates, based on the requirements collected from the employer has been beneficial and successful. Bond has been a highly valued embedded member of our business unit.
