Attracting talent to Sandvik
Yvonne Strandberg, Global Manager Employer Branding, is responsible for developing Sandvik's strategy and global concept for becoming the employer of choice in selected markets. Since the global need for talent is greater than its supply, having a strong employer brand is critical in order for Sandvik to fulfill its business strategy and reach its goals.
What are your greatest challenges?
There is tremendous competition around recruiting talent – especially engineers. So in order to get the best people to Sandvik, we need to be the best. It is very important that we areperceived as an attractive employer and that we bring out our strong identity in a clear and consistent way, both globally and locally. However, it's not only about recruiting; it is just as important to keep the talent we already have and allow them to grow to their full potential and enjoy their work.
Why is Sandvik an employer of choice?
Sandvik has a wonderful team spirit and a very high level of competence, with every possibility to develop. If you know what you want and set your mind to it, you have a great opportunity for a personal career.
The fact that we are a global company with great possibilities to work in different locations further adds to the list of good reasons. According to Thomson Reuters, we are among the 100 most innovative companies in the world and our company and its technology are actually often perceived as quite exciting. However, it always comes down to our people – the bearers of innovation and culture
Actions so far?
We have created a structure for working with employer branding globally. One of the initiatives has been to define our global Employee Value Proposition to identify our offering to the competence market. Now it is important to adapt it to local circumstances and to be consistent globally.
We are, of course present at job fairs and often talk about what we call "the mutual deal" – what you as an employee can expect from us, and what we expect from you. We have also decided to launch a global traineeprogram in 2014.
In May 2013 we launched our new career pages at sandvik.com/career. The number of visitors on the web has increased dramatically during the year, as has the number of followers on Sandvik's new LinkedIn recruitment pages, where more than 35,000 have expressed interest in the Sandvik brand.