A Day in the life – Claire Tocher, Bureau Veritas

Background

I am currently Resourcing Manager for Bureau Veritas, specifically for our North Sea Operations business, but also supporting a range of recruitment activity for the Marine and Offshore business globally. I am Aberdeen born and bred – I went to school at Robert Gordon’s College and left to pursue a Physiotherapy degree at RGU which I soon realised wasn’t quite the right fit. I changed my degree to study English Literature at Aberdeen University which was great, and took a temp job at an IT company after graduating which led to a position in their HR team. I always enjoyed the recruitment aspect of the role, so while it wasn’t ever on my radar when I was younger, it felt like the right career for me and 11 years later I would say that is still the case!

Company

Bureau Veritas is a world leader in Testing, Inspection and Certification, founded in 1828 by establishing Rules for the marine business. Today, we support clients in a variety of industries, encompassing building, infrastructure, automotive, food and agriculture, and of course, the energy sector. Demand for gas and increasing interest in renewables are breathing life into traditional offshore and marine energy markets, and we support our clients to achieve safe construction and operation while producing on a cost-effectiveness and sustainable basis. Employing 77,000 people globally in 140 countries, our global network is one of our key assets, as well as the expertise of our people. It is definitely an exciting business to be part of.

Itinerary of average day?

I’m sure everyone says there is no such thing and I am no different! Most days I would spend most of my morning reviewing any applications that have come in for positions we are currently recruiting, (which at the moment is quite a few!) and following up with candidates to arrange interviews and give them some more detail about the role they have applied for. Most days I will also be supporting one or more of our managers with face to face interviews, or giving them a review of how the recruitment in their team is progressing. The best days are the ones where I get to call a candidate to offer them a position – that bit of the job never gets old!

What does your job involve?

On the operational side, my priority is to manage any active roles that we are recruiting in the business, and to make sure that the business has the best possible candidates to choose from, so reviewing CVs and applications and speaking to candidates makes up a big part of my job. I also proactively seek out talented individuals using social media, job boards, networking etc. I am also really lucky to be able to get involved in some project work with our global Talent Acquisition network, and currently am working on some exciting developments in our global resourcing processes and tools to align with our new branding and Core Values.

What attracted you to the job?

I actually worked for BV for 6 years as the recruiter for the North Sea business, and had a great experience first time round – during the downturn BV were brilliant and gave me every opportunity they could to expand my experience in other areas, including HR, talent and learning and development. I realised recruitment was where my passion was and I left in 2019 to pursue that, and had a year working with some great people at Spirit Energy and Global E&C. However, when the opportunity came up to rejoin BV as Resourcing Manager, it was an easy decision to come back, particularly with how much exciting work had been done to drive the new Values and commitment to inclusion.

How does Bureau Veritas encourage diversity through their recruitment process?

As a huge multinational corporation, BV is naturally a diverse organisation, and diversity and inclusion is an integral part of our history, culture and identity. However, we recognise that there is still work to be done and that we as an organisation need to continue to hold ourselves to account to ensure that we maintain and develop this. For example, at Group level in 2018, 17% of our senior management positions were occupied by women; our target for 2020 is for this to be at least 25%.

Throughout our recruitment process we aim to ensure that we are attracting a diverse range of talent – we do this by utilising a range of job boards, engaging and partnering with recruitment agencies who share our values and promoting flexible working practices so that everyone has the right opportunity to be able to bring their talents to the business.

As well as striving for greater gender equality, we aim to create the right conditions for implementing all types of inclusion initiatives around the world via our “Gender + One” Global Inclusion Program. While gender balance is a key driver of progress, thanks to this '+ One' aspect, all the Group's entities are encouraged to develop and roll out inclusion initiatives that respond to local priorities and needs.

Why should people want to work for Bureau Veritas?

From my experience, while BV is a massive global organisation, our North Sea Operations business (Aberdeen, Great Yarmouth and Stavanger) has a real close knit team feel, as well as autonomy to deliver a great experience for our employees. Our international presence allows employees to travel internationally both long-term and short-term, and there is a huge emphasis on encouraging our employees to deliver the best in creative and technical excellence. The opportunities for development and training are almost endless, and particularly in the North Sea we offer real flexibility and autonomy to our employees, which makes it a great place to work.

What is your favourite quote for life advice?

Being a non-engineer and working almost exclusively in technically led businesses, this quote came to me early on and has been relevant ever since:

Arguing with an engineer is like wrestling with a pig in the mud. After a few minutes, you realise the pig likes it.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

There isn’t one specific highlight, what I would say though is that I have worked with some fantastic recruiters and HR people over the years that have had a lot of influence on my career and working alongside great people is always a highlight.

What plans does you company have for the future and how do you see your role evolving?

Globally in 2020, Bureau Veritas will be hiring over 12,000 people, with 2,000 of these in Europe alone, so it will certainly be a busy year! Our newly launched Values and Employer Branding (“Leave Your Mark”) will be central to delivering the right talent to the business, so I am sure my role will broaden to ensure that we are set up for success across the regions.