Grant Alexander: Quality and CSR in full development

The human resources consulting group employs around sixty staff members, most of whom are consultants, while the others are research officers who assist them in recruitment or interim management assignments. Its main activity is the recruitment of executives and experts. Its second activity consists of ensuring interim management of executives. The third activity concerns leadership development, which includes assessment, coaching, team building, and career repositioning. Finally, the fourth activity concerns HR transformation support with the Role Crafting tool.

What advantages does your company have compared to competitors?
Having four activities is quite rare. This allows us to have a global approach with our clients. The idea is to carry out a real analysis of their needs and to propose tailored interventions with a consulting positioning. We help our clients develop, evaluate, identify, and grow the talents of their employees. Another important point: we are an independent French group with more than 35 years of existence.
We operate from executive recruitment to complex middle management. Based in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, and Nantes, our group is part of the international network Intersearch, present in more than 50 countries. This enables us to support our clients, some of whom are multinationals, on all their international challenges. Finally, we have always been committed to society and have always taken on associative and CSR responsibilities, notably within our professional union. Moreover, I have a background as an elected representative in professional organizations, mainly Syntec Recrutement in the 2000s, of which I was the founding President. I was also President of Syntec Conseil between 2011 and 2015.
Our identity and values can also differentiate us through our client approach: commitment, enthusiasm, and sharing.

What is the situation of the employment market for quality managers?
Overall, the job market for executives has been very favorable for the past three years. For Quality managers, it is generally good. This favorable situation is linked to the job market being strong and to Quality being considered even more important today.
One of the most important points is that non-quality is increasingly perceived by the client. Indeed, as soon as there is a problem, it circulates on social networks. This is particularly true for both B2C and B2B. The reputation of a company can collapse with one problem of non-quality. Customer quality drives companies and makes Quality managers sought after. These functions are therefore in demand.
The difference compared to the 2000s is the existence of initial higher education in Quality. Thus, young people start in quality functions, but so do seniors. A minority stay in Quality positions for their entire professional lives, as most Quality employees occupy this type of position after one, two, or even three experiences and may therefore have this function at the end of their career. But most may move to another position afterward. Quality is perceived as a function where maturity is rather seen as an asset, similar to human resources. Our clients are increasingly open on this point. Large groups pay close attention to this. While the market is most favorable for 30–45-year-olds, age does not matter much for the Quality function.

What types of Quality manager profiles are in demand on the market?
The training backgrounds are very diverse. Some have initial training in Quality. If some Quality managers do not, they compensate with continuing education (for example, executive master’s degrees…). They may also be engineers, business school graduates, or university graduates. But it depends on the field. In aerospace and aeronautics, the profile is essentially that of an engineer because these sectors are highly technical. Quality is so crucial in space, where everything is checked. But in services, it will be different. The manager’s experience depends on what is being sought. If one is looking for a Quality Director, they must have at least 15 years of experience. If one wants a Quality Manager, one will choose someone with a second experience and 5 to 10 years of seniority. One can also look for Quality engineers and junior Quality staff. But seniors also have their place because they bring a variety of experiences. Having performed another activity besides quality may be seen as a plus by the company. For example, in an industrial company, if the candidate has managed production, that is an advantage. Having held customer service or sales positions may also be considered an asset. It also depends on the company’s challenge and where it feels the need to strengthen. But working in quality requires acquiring skills. It is almost equal to the variety of experience.

What are the new expectations of companies regarding these profiles?
This is somewhat linked to the evolution of Quality. The new expectations concern soft skills related to new challenges in Quality. Service Quality is increasingly important compared to the notion of product. Thus, companies that manufacture products also want to emphasize Service Quality. Moreover, Quality is becoming more transversal. The movement around operational excellence demonstrates this, widening the scope. CSR, social and environmental criteria, and governance increasingly impact Quality because Quality managers are asked to take them into account. Furthermore, the human factor is perceived as increasingly important in the company. Therefore, this has more impact on Quality, since previously more emphasis was on processes. Now, within our Concordance cooperative, we speak of relational quality.
In addition, Quality encompasses many stakeholders such as associations. Relations with all these partners must be conducted with Quality criteria. Therefore, beyond their expertise in Quality, which remains very important, Quality managers are asked to have broad open-mindedness, listening skills, strong adaptability, and facilitation ability. They must be able to bring people on board, mobilize them, and act pedagogically. As constraints work less and less in companies, persuasion is needed. Situational intelligence is also required. They must also have new ideas and innovate because Quality plays a differentiating role in the company and is highlighted against competitors. This is somewhat true of all support functions. Today, pure expertise is no longer enough. Many transversal and behavioral skills must be added to technical expertise.

What are the recruitment challenges for Quality managers?
As there is a scarcity phenomenon in the market, there are not many candidates for each recruitment. So they must be sought out. Moreover, Quality is a stepping stone for some. Some people who have worked in Quality no longer want to continue. When they seek a job, they want to do something else or move internally to other functions. Indeed, it is easier to change functions within their own company. Others no longer want to work in Quality because it is a job where one can take hits. Sometimes the Quality Manager is seen as “the troublemaker.” These positions require selflessness and humility. They must know how to integrate into the company. These roles are therefore difficult for recruiters. Openness to change and the evolution of Quality is also very important. It will be difficult to hold such a position for people who have stayed in the same company for a very long time and have not renewed or challenged themselves.

What advice can you give candidates for Quality manager positions?
Beyond knowing how to talk about their expertise in Quality and successful experiences in this field, a candidate must prepare for their interview and show that they understand the company’s challenges. After researching the company and having some initial ideas, if they have prepared properly, they will be able to make intelligent observations. They must demonstrate that in their past experiences, they contributed to the company’s strategy. Today, there is debate about the presence of the Quality Director on the Executive Committee. Therefore, a good Quality Manager must show that they bring real added value to strategy.
On the other hand, they must show through their achievements that they have demonstrated behavioral skills such as network facilitation, training, and operational support. During the interview, they can, for example, explain how they solved a difficult problem and untangled strained relations between different departments by acting as a facilitator.

What precautions should companies take when integrating a new recruit?
This is the question of “onboarding.” The company must have a real integration process. As the market is tight, the risk of someone leaving during the trial period is not negligible. The company must therefore prepare the hiring and work upstream with the employee by communicating information to prepare for their arrival. Internal communication about the new hire’s arrival is also needed. The first week must be well prepared. This means creating an integration program that matches the company’s culture and, if necessary, appointing a mentor to help the new recruit understand the company culture and answer questions they may not want to ask their direct manager. When the new recruit arrives, they must be well received and feel very satisfied on the first day, the first week, and at the end of the first month. This also contributes to team cohesion.

You are part of the team of the new cooperative society of collective interest, SCIC Concordance. How do you support companies in these integrations?
This new project, launched at the end of last year, was carried out with experienced professionals. We have already supported companies in similar initiatives. Concordance’s intervention involves helping the company design an integration process that promotes relational quality. This means creating a working group with HR professionals, operational staff, and volunteers interested in the subject, and helping them develop a recruitment process that will allow them to welcome new employees into an optimized relational environment. These are truly collaborative approaches, very open meetings with a positive, rewarding, and optimistic approach, so that participants bring out the best of themselves and build something satisfactory for the company. Our role is therefore that of a facilitator and coordinator.
We have been working on Concordance for two years, as the origin of this project is a working group initiated by facilitator Gérard Vael. He proposed to France Qualité to work on relational quality, and a white paper was published by the association. The creation of this cooperative aims to trigger a movement and demonstrate that relational quality is as much about enjoyment as it is about company performance. Today, it is perceived as a given.
With over 40 years of experience in recruitment, I have worked extensively on employee integration. Concordance also involves other experienced professionals: a 45-year-old Quality Director, a former business leader of around 60, a young HR Director in her thirties, and a consultant in his forties specialized in organization.

Grant Alexander has just obtained the Lucie 26000 certification and appointed a Quality & CSR Manager. What does this certification bring to your group?
A highly experienced research officer, Léa Suarez-Baylac, had been working in our firm for 8 years, where she began her career at age 23. She started working on GDPR three years ago.
Then we wanted to continue with a Quality approach, and Léa Suarez-Baylac then became Quality & CSR Manager. At the same time, we wanted to promote all our commitments (associative, societal…). We then chose Lucie. This project was demanding. We engaged in a fairly participatory process and created a “Lucie” working group bringing together consultants and research officers. The role of the Quality & CSR Manager is to continue progressing on the thirty selected indicators. This certification is a differentiating factor. It covers governance, CSR, and quality.

Read the article in PDF – by Valérie Brenugat for the journal Qualité Références.