Food Production
HB Recruitment Director, Jason Kilbride, was asked by Your Food Job to carry out a 60-second interview to get to know him a little better.
How long have you worked in food recruitment?
I have worked in the sector for 6 ½ years.
What do you love most about working in food recruitment?
It’s such a diverse and intriguing sector to be a part of, making key introductions to food businesses and seeing how we help shape their future. It’s great to be able to understand the journey right through from product innovation to the consumer purchase. It’s a sector I have grown such a passion towards and as with everyone here we have such strong links within it.
What’s the best piece of advice you could give to a candidate?
Build relationships with a recruiter you trust, they will then really understand what you are looking for or if your ideal career move came up even if you are only passively looking. We are in tune with the market place and can offer great advice, it’s good to have someone in your corner that will even know about the opportunities that may not be out in the mainstream but could be your perfect role. But pick up the phone and call, don’t just send in a CV!
What’s the best piece of advice you could give to an employer?
Make sure you work with a recruiter who really wants understands your business and is selling the opportunity and your brand in the correct way. It’s a reflection on your culture and the way you operate, recruiting through a consultancy is a great way to promote your business, its culture and its prospects. At the end of the day they are an extension of you and your voice in the market place, make sure it’s the correct message sent out.
What is your favourite food?
Has to be Tapas, a little bit of everything!
Tell us one thing about you that your staff don’t know.
A few of them may have uncovered this one, but I have actually represented England at Futsal (Small sided football) and have 41 caps for my country playing all over the world. If I hadn’t already told them they will definitely know about it now!
Morrisons has revealed new beef farming ‘protocol’, which aims to reduce the time it takes to prepare cattle for slaughter by up to 10 months.
The plan, in which participation is voluntary for its beef cattle farmers, will see cattle reach the 340kg deadweight slaughter weight at 14 months as opposed to 22 months. The supermarket reported this would help the industry become “more sustainable and competitive”, while delivering a £397 (40%) cost reduction for producers, according to economic analysis by Scotland’s Rural College.
Morrisons intends to achieve this by selecting cattle on specific genetics, combined with a special feeding programme.
Andrew Loftus, Morrisons agriculture manager, said the plan was already proving popular: ”Our voluntary protocol has already received strong interest from farmers and is intended to help the beef industry become more sustainable and competitive.
“Currently the average beef animal undergoes 2.4 lifetime movements, typically from one farm to another, but with this new protocol we are able to reduce this to just over one on average. This is a big win for the farmer, retailer and the environment.”
Loftus also highlighted reducing the life span of the cattle would subsequently reduce emissions: “Beef production is often criticised as more environmentally damaging than other meats, but this new system means that overall environments costs can be reduced to levels similar to pork.”