Interview with one of Nokia's top headhunters
At the International Summit of HR-branding 2012 , which was held in Moscow last week, we managed to persuade Rebecca Gloin , one of Nokia’s top talent headhunters, to give us a brief interview after the press conference. We asked Rebecca where Nokia is looking for talented employees, if they use social networks for this, if they need developers and engineers now and whether Nokia is gaining them in Russia.
- Rebecca, what is your job at Nokia?
Now I work in a new role for myself. For a long time I was the headhunter of talent at Nokia, but just a month ago I switched to the position of head of HR brand global management (Employer brand management), including in social media, and I work with the entire Nokia recruitment team.
- Tell us briefly how Nokia is looking for talents right now?
In recruiting talents, we use several channels. Social media is one of them. For example, LinkedIn , where we advertise a lot of our jobs, we have a channel for recruiting on Twitter and Pinterest . However, different Nokia business lines use different recruitment strategies. In the UK, we use not only social media, but also our own career sites ( http://www.nokia.com/global/about-nokia/careers , http://nokia.taleo.net/careersection/10120/jobsearch. ftl? lang = en - some of them ), job fairs, various career conferences and events, where many experts gather in one of the areas we are interested in. Our recruiters love to search for people at events because there is nothing better than personal contact with a candidate. We also use traditional employee search sites and in many countries use the services of recruitment agencies. And honestly I will tell you, I do not think that any of these channels will die out in the near future, we use them all.
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“Last week I heard a phrase from a well-known Russian IT journalist:“ Nokia is not the most attractive employer now. ” How would you rate Nokia’s current attractiveness as an employer?
Any global brand faces both positive and negative comments, this is normal. You can do something really amazing, but there will always be those who will scold you. When they tell me that Nokia is now a bad employer, then I answer: if she were such, then I would not be there. For me personally, work at Nokia is the best one I have had so far.
- How can Nokia be interesting as an employer for developers, engineers, designers?
We naturally understand that changes in the company, its products affect the desire of people to work in Nokia. For all the talents we want to hire, we try to convey a simple idea: yes, the company had hard times, yes, the company is still in a difficult situation, but you can become one of the creators of Nokia comeback to your positions. This is both a challenge and a new opportunity for you. Such a chance is only now, do not miss it. Those people you named are those who will return Nokia to the market leaders.
- Nokia is now paying a lot of attention to the development of photo-phone capabilities - PureView technology. How many bright heads of engineers and programmers did you need to find in order for this technology to work?
This technology was announced last year at the Mobile World Congress, it made a lot of noise and, in order to run it, we needed to hire a lot of fundamentally new people for the company (engineers, software developers) capable of creating PureView. Unfortunately, I can not say specific figures, because I do not have such information, but this is one of the principal directions in the company.
- In general, which areas in Nokia are the most capacious in terms of the greatest talents?
If you look at the company as a whole, across all countries, then there are a lot of talented engineers in fundamentally new directions for us lately, we are hiring in Beijing. We are also hiring many designers around the world now, because design at Nokia is one of the key areas. In addition, a lot of people are recruited in marketing and sales. If you make a rating, then in the first place in terms of talent recruitment will be engineers, in the second - designers, in the third - marketing.
- Which specialists are the hardest to hire?
Of course, engineers, because for them among recruiters the biggest competition. But we have two tasks in recruitment. The first is to find the most suitable person for the position, but this is half the battle. The second is that this person really believes in where the company is moving, in order to be motivated by the changes we are currently experiencing.
- Can we say that you are now engaged in crisis HR branding?
I would not say that, because during all the changes in the company, internal communications were at a very high level. The company not only constantly collected the opinion of the employees about the new course, but also the actions of the top management for the employees were absolutely transparent. Company employees understand management decisions and actions. Now it is important for us that Nokia’s actions be transparent and understandable not only to employees, but also to the outside world.
- Not so long ago, Nokia announced that it was cutting several thousand employees and closing the production of telephones in Finland. How did this affect your work? How did this affect the desire of people to work for you?
Any business decision affects the company, positively or negatively. We, as employees of the company, understood why offices are being reduced and the plant is closing. Stephen Elop most clearly and transparently conveyed to us the motives of his decision. He understands very well and tried to convey this to people that the news they read in the newspapers and the Internet will not be encouraging for a very long time, but this is a necessary measure and without it the company will not be able to move on.
- How did these decisions affect Nokia employees?
You know, frankly, in different ways. Someone made this decision and continued to work, someone quit, someone had to move in order to stay working in the company. One way or another, employees are our main value, therefore, we focus on honest communication with them on any, even on difficult issues.
We included those who left the company on their own in the Bridge Program program and help them understand their place in the current labor market, correctly assess themselves as a professional, conduct training for them in self-presentation, resume writing, and select vacancies for them. This program really helps people quickly restructure and find a new job.
- Surely, these events affected the people who would like to work for you?
You know, we do not tell candidates - go to work for us, because we are the best place to work in the world. We are telling the truth about Nokia, we tell in as much detail as possible everything that is happening to us, so that people themselves decide whether we are on the way or not. And you know, people want to be part of the change in the company.
- There is an opinion that companies with a strong HR-brand can pay less, because people still want to work with them. Do you have to pay more than the market average?
No, we do not pay more than the market, we pay a competitive salary, we have no strategy to pay more than the market. We devote a lot of effort to understanding what the average cost of one or another specialist in the market is in order to be sure that we are paying adequate money.
- How is the company currently holding the most valuable specialists?
We have a special team that develops and retains the most valuable employees, this is called talent management. But all this works only for people who themselves want to be part of the company. To such a desire was, and there is this team.
- What is the personnel activity of Nokia in Russia now? Are you looking for talents for yourself?
We hire people from all over the world, including in Russia. We do not have any special activities in Russia, but there is a common global site for everyone who wants to work at Nokia ( http://nokia.taleo.net/careersection/10120/jobsearch.ftl?lang=en ). I know that in Russia, Nokia is now actively hiring people in sales and retail than in development. But if you are a talented engineer, designer or developer from Russia and want to work at Nokia, then we want to know about you.
Interview prepared by Ivan Tyutyunji.
- Rebecca, what is your job at Nokia?
Now I work in a new role for myself. For a long time I was the headhunter of talent at Nokia, but just a month ago I switched to the position of head of HR brand global management (Employer brand management), including in social media, and I work with the entire Nokia recruitment team.
- Tell us briefly how Nokia is looking for talents right now?
In recruiting talents, we use several channels. Social media is one of them. For example, LinkedIn , where we advertise a lot of our jobs, we have a channel for recruiting on Twitter and Pinterest . However, different Nokia business lines use different recruitment strategies. In the UK, we use not only social media, but also our own career sites ( http://www.nokia.com/global/about-nokia/careers , http://nokia.taleo.net/careersection/10120/jobsearch. ftl? lang = en - some of them ), job fairs, various career conferences and events, where many experts gather in one of the areas we are interested in. Our recruiters love to search for people at events because there is nothing better than personal contact with a candidate. We also use traditional employee search sites and in many countries use the services of recruitment agencies. And honestly I will tell you, I do not think that any of these channels will die out in the near future, we use them all.
')
“Last week I heard a phrase from a well-known Russian IT journalist:“ Nokia is not the most attractive employer now. ” How would you rate Nokia’s current attractiveness as an employer?
Any global brand faces both positive and negative comments, this is normal. You can do something really amazing, but there will always be those who will scold you. When they tell me that Nokia is now a bad employer, then I answer: if she were such, then I would not be there. For me personally, work at Nokia is the best one I have had so far.
- How can Nokia be interesting as an employer for developers, engineers, designers?
We naturally understand that changes in the company, its products affect the desire of people to work in Nokia. For all the talents we want to hire, we try to convey a simple idea: yes, the company had hard times, yes, the company is still in a difficult situation, but you can become one of the creators of Nokia comeback to your positions. This is both a challenge and a new opportunity for you. Such a chance is only now, do not miss it. Those people you named are those who will return Nokia to the market leaders.
- Nokia is now paying a lot of attention to the development of photo-phone capabilities - PureView technology. How many bright heads of engineers and programmers did you need to find in order for this technology to work?
This technology was announced last year at the Mobile World Congress, it made a lot of noise and, in order to run it, we needed to hire a lot of fundamentally new people for the company (engineers, software developers) capable of creating PureView. Unfortunately, I can not say specific figures, because I do not have such information, but this is one of the principal directions in the company.
- In general, which areas in Nokia are the most capacious in terms of the greatest talents?
If you look at the company as a whole, across all countries, then there are a lot of talented engineers in fundamentally new directions for us lately, we are hiring in Beijing. We are also hiring many designers around the world now, because design at Nokia is one of the key areas. In addition, a lot of people are recruited in marketing and sales. If you make a rating, then in the first place in terms of talent recruitment will be engineers, in the second - designers, in the third - marketing.
- Which specialists are the hardest to hire?
Of course, engineers, because for them among recruiters the biggest competition. But we have two tasks in recruitment. The first is to find the most suitable person for the position, but this is half the battle. The second is that this person really believes in where the company is moving, in order to be motivated by the changes we are currently experiencing.
- Can we say that you are now engaged in crisis HR branding?
I would not say that, because during all the changes in the company, internal communications were at a very high level. The company not only constantly collected the opinion of the employees about the new course, but also the actions of the top management for the employees were absolutely transparent. Company employees understand management decisions and actions. Now it is important for us that Nokia’s actions be transparent and understandable not only to employees, but also to the outside world.
- Not so long ago, Nokia announced that it was cutting several thousand employees and closing the production of telephones in Finland. How did this affect your work? How did this affect the desire of people to work for you?
Any business decision affects the company, positively or negatively. We, as employees of the company, understood why offices are being reduced and the plant is closing. Stephen Elop most clearly and transparently conveyed to us the motives of his decision. He understands very well and tried to convey this to people that the news they read in the newspapers and the Internet will not be encouraging for a very long time, but this is a necessary measure and without it the company will not be able to move on.
- How did these decisions affect Nokia employees?
You know, frankly, in different ways. Someone made this decision and continued to work, someone quit, someone had to move in order to stay working in the company. One way or another, employees are our main value, therefore, we focus on honest communication with them on any, even on difficult issues.
We included those who left the company on their own in the Bridge Program program and help them understand their place in the current labor market, correctly assess themselves as a professional, conduct training for them in self-presentation, resume writing, and select vacancies for them. This program really helps people quickly restructure and find a new job.
- Surely, these events affected the people who would like to work for you?
You know, we do not tell candidates - go to work for us, because we are the best place to work in the world. We are telling the truth about Nokia, we tell in as much detail as possible everything that is happening to us, so that people themselves decide whether we are on the way or not. And you know, people want to be part of the change in the company.
- There is an opinion that companies with a strong HR-brand can pay less, because people still want to work with them. Do you have to pay more than the market average?
No, we do not pay more than the market, we pay a competitive salary, we have no strategy to pay more than the market. We devote a lot of effort to understanding what the average cost of one or another specialist in the market is in order to be sure that we are paying adequate money.
- How is the company currently holding the most valuable specialists?
We have a special team that develops and retains the most valuable employees, this is called talent management. But all this works only for people who themselves want to be part of the company. To such a desire was, and there is this team.
- What is the personnel activity of Nokia in Russia now? Are you looking for talents for yourself?
We hire people from all over the world, including in Russia. We do not have any special activities in Russia, but there is a common global site for everyone who wants to work at Nokia ( http://nokia.taleo.net/careersection/10120/jobsearch.ftl?lang=en ). I know that in Russia, Nokia is now actively hiring people in sales and retail than in development. But if you are a talented engineer, designer or developer from Russia and want to work at Nokia, then we want to know about you.
Interview prepared by Ivan Tyutyunji.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/151853/
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