Case study - SOLARIS
Achievement
We have found specialists for the company's new research and development department. We have recruited for various positions related to hydrogen and electric propulsion systems.
About SOLARIS
Solaris Bus & Coach sp. z o.o. is a manufacturer of buses and trolleybuses. The CAF Group is one of the international leaders in the design and implementation of complex mobility systems.
Client’s expectations and goals
Solaris was one of the first companies in Poland to start working on hydrogen drives for buses. The company has its own R&D centre and wanted to expand its team with employees specialised in hydrogen and electric drives.
They were looking for an Analytical Design Engineer (to simulate the propulsion systems), 2 Project Managers: one responsible for electric propulsion and one specialising in software engineering, who would be responsible for the remote data collection system, and a Product Engineer (a design engineer specialising in hydrogen propulsion systems).
Our approach
At the beginning of our collaboration, there were not many engineers on the market with experience in hydrogen propulsion technology, so our approach differed for each position. The CAF/Solaris factory is located in Greater Poland, a region we had researched well and mapped carefully for the labour market.
In the case of the ‘hydrogen’ project – is what we and the client have provisionally named it, the challenge was to locate the competence, which was knowledge of hydrogen and its application in propulsion. Despite an extensive database and network of contacts, it was necessary to look for other resources and channels to reach the right candidates – contacting universities, institutions or associations, study circles that deal with hydrogen. Through networking, establishing relationships with candidates, we were able to source new candidate profiles.
In other projects for Solaris/CAF, cooperation with the client was also crucial. His openness to suggestions, feedback reaching out to us recruiters and responding to candidates’ needs helped throughout the process. Moving to a hybrid or completely remote model for such niche projects allowed us to increase the pool of candidates interested in working with Solaris/CAF. The employees we found are still on the client’s team today.