The Good Foundation / Jamie's Ministry of Food
Requirements:
Food Director - Jamie's Ministry of Food
Methodologies:
Search, Specialised Advertising, Media, PR and Referrals
Organisational context:
The Good Foundation is an independent not-for-profit (NFP) organisation with a vision to lead the transformation of Australia's food habits through advocacy, program delivery,and collaboration, to maximise the health, well-being and productivity of communities. Based on the successes of Jamie’s Ministry of Food initiative in the UK and Jamie’s Food Revolution USA, The Good Guys and The Good Foundation partnered with Jamie Oliver to establish Jamie's Ministry of Food program in Australia. This was a program designed to reintroduce home cooking skills into the community and provide information and advice on food, food sourcing, recipes and hygiene, with the ultimate aim of helping combat the rise in obesity and diet-related disease in Australia. The Director: Food role, was to join the start-up team at The Good Foundation. They were to be at the heart of this campaign and were key to the launch and for contributing to the direction of one of the most ground-breaking food programmes in the country.
The pain points and challenges:
- The position of Director: Food was a bespoke role and had no equivalent in Australia.
- The role was so high profile due to its association with ‘Jamie Oliver’ and the national media coverage on the role vacancy was plentiful. This meant that the interest levels for this role were incredibly voluminous.
- The Good Foundation needed a recruitment firm who:
- Had a passion for what the Good Foundation was about and who could manage the volumes with complete professionalism for every single interested applicant
- They could trust to search, engage and present the most incredible shortlist, made up of people who are a brilliant cultural fit and who Jamie Oliver & The Good Foundation would be proud to have on-board as a key player and
- Could offer the NFP recruitment and search solution at a reduced cost
People Equity’s solution:
- Due to the remarkable brand attraction associated with Jamie Oliver’s name and the eagerness of the Good Foundation to ensure every attraction and sourcing strategy was fully maximised, a co-branded advertising strategy was launched, with print advertising in the Epicure section of major newspaper The Age, and the use of many digital tools and PR ‘awareness’ articles in a selection of the major ‘foodie’ organisations (where this candidate could have potentially been sourced from). This strategy was to kick off at the same time media interviews took place about the ‘Food Director’ role and the entry of The Good Foundation into the Australian market.
- People Equity formed a project team and call centre to manage the interest levels and applications, whilst Gabby Symons, Director, lead the search and interview strategy.
Results:
- People Equity presented an incredible shortlist and Australia’s first Food Director was appointed. In her first 6 weeks, she went to London to train alongside Jamie Oliver and his crew before rolling the programme out in Australia. Jamie's Ministry of Food Australia is now an award-winning cooking program that has won VicHealth's Award for Best Healthy Eating Program.