The hardest profiles to find are those with very specific skills

Interview . Mohamed Tassafout, General Manager of Human Resources, APM Terminals.


1. What do you appreciate most about your job?
Allowing our Human Capital to grow within a learning and developing structure while being the lever for accelerating the company's performance and therefore that of Morocco.

2. Which personality has impressed you the most over the last two centuries, and why?
One of the most striking personalities over the last 200 years seems to me to be Thomas Edison who, through the invention of light bulbs and the phonograph, mainly participating in the discovery of electricity, allowed the world to be what it is today in its development and sometimes in its abuses.

3. What is the most common mistake you see in a job interview?
Surprisingly, we often find ourselves facing candidates who show disproportionate confidence in their personality. This translates into either a lack of confidence when their background and strengths should allow them to be more reassuring, or an excess that pollutes the assessment that can be made of them.
Thus, the most recurring mistake is not to show enough introspection in order to enhance one's real potential and serenely grow within the target organization.

4. What recruitment channels do you favor?
We favor internal recruitment where employees are invited to apply for a vacant position as external candidates will. This obviously creates internal mobility opportunities based on an active approach by employees wishing to evolve within the same function or towards a different function. When we move towards an external approach, the preferred channels are first the candidates who have taken the initiative to approach us or via e-recruitment. When it comes to specialized profiles, we can use a direct approach and use social networks such as LinkedIn.

5. What profiles are rare in the market?
According to our recent experience, it has been found that the most challenging profiles to find are those where the required specialty is very specific (HSSE, Process Excellence, etc.) or the required level of expertise is high (HR, procurement, technical/heavy industry, etc.).

6. What benefits do you offer to new recruits?
The benefits offered by APM Terminals are not limited to young recruits, however, we can consider that the latter will benefit more from the opportunity to learn a new profession in Morocco, from our Talent Management approach, from the training programs in place, from APM Terminals as an exporting platform for talents for APM Terminals International and the entire A.P. MOLLER MAERSK Group.


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His background

Academic

• Mohamed Tassafout holds a Bachelor's degree in private law, a Master's degree and a Master 2 in Business Law and SME Law from the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (URCA)
• He is also a graduate of the ISCAE's advanced management/Executive MBA program

Professional

• After several years of experience in France, Mohamed Tassafout joined Lafarge Morocco in 2001 to take on various responsibilities within the Human Resources Department.
• In 2007, he held the position of HR Director at NESTLE MOROCCO until September 2010
• Since September 2010, he has been the DGRH of APM Terminals in Tangier.

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Hobbies

• Passionate about associative work aimed at deploying best HR practices in Morocco and allowing MREs wishing to return to their roots to develop relationships.

His opinion on the labor code

Strengths

• It is difficult to identify the strengths of this code which has been applied for 7 years. However, the main added value is to provide a consolidated support of the social regulations that existed before, in the sense that it "theoretically" offers more simplicity in its use.

Weaknesses

• Like any Human Resources professional, failing to have the implementing texts such as the one relating to the right to strike, this code remains often restrictive and sometimes unrealistic in its implementation.

His advice

• Because of the increasingly shorter lifespan of technical skills, everyone, and not just young people, must develop their transversal skills such as Team Management and communication.
• Never overestimate basic training, but use it as a tool for continuous development. I never forget that a good practitioner is a good "theorist/designer" in the sense that he is interested in current events in his field.

His best practices

• EES is an annual system for evaluating the commitment and satisfaction of APMM Employees towards the Company and its strategic orientations, the Manager and finally the Employee's appreciation of their environment/work atmosphere, their development, etc. What sets this tool apart is the high participation rate and the importance given by Top Management to the results and action plans in a continuous improvement approach.
• WEB PA: Our Web Performance Appraisal is an annual Performance evaluation system based on the setting of SMART objectives derived from the KPIs of the Business Unit; objectives whose achievement is regularly monitored, at least during a scheduled Mid-Year Meeting. This system also provides a Development Management tool that is there to support the Employee in taking an active approach to their career and development while being supported by their Manager and the HR Team.

Published on September 5, 2011.

Posted online on September 12, 2011.

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