Destia – With the Right People We Connect Cities and People

Destia is Finland’s largest and oldest company focusing on infrastructure. We have a history of over 200 years in infrastructure work. People know Destia also traditionally as the builder of major thoroughfares and road maintenance, but our services support the entire life cycle of infrastructure.

In Universum Finland’s survey, Destia’s ranking as the ideal employer for technology students rose from 70 to 32 in 2018. We in Destia are very proud of this!

Destia recruits the right people, and here the work connects cities and people. Our lovely employees work with their feet on the ground and a twinkle in their eyes. We work as a team with a common goal in mind. I never have a boring day at Destia. In the morning, when I get to work, I probably end up doing something different from what I’d originally planned.

We Develop and Evolve Together

A good boss makes people shine.

Professional and learning-oriented staff is our lifeline. Competitive professionalism is also our staff’s professional life insurance. If something is promised, it holds true. Besides work, our employees can work and study simultaneously. Construction is project-based, so we focus on increasing project expertise and management skills.

We invest in coaching leadership, which means being present, taking responsibility, encouraging, and leading by example. We recognize that a good supervisor keeps the team together, motivates, engages, and makes people shine. Conversely, a person unsuitable for supervisory duties expels people around them, and we do not want that. Exciting and demanding projects, a sense of appreciation, well-being, and experience of being part of the group make people continue to work with us.

In Dangerous Work

We invest a lot in occupational safety.

Work on the construction site is often a matter of life and death. That’s why occupational safety must not be a mere word of mouth. Also, well-being is a comprehensive matter that influences all aspects of life. With a set of employee benefits, such as sports, cultural and lunch benefits, access to a time-share, and services taking care of sick children, we are trying to support ‘real life’. Destia has locations spread all around Finland. Our employees can also find work in different locations if a person’s own life moves to the other side of Finland, even after their spouse. So, don’t change companies when you can change locations!

The Old Recruitment Software Did Not Support the Employer Image We Wanted

The recruitment software and the experience of applying for a job create an employer image. I don’t understand why companies run their recruitment via email or outdated systems, which can be a serious information security risk. Our old recruitment software was outdated in terms of usability and candidate experience and did not serve its purpose. In problematic situations, it could take several weeks to respond and resolve situations. It is critical because successful recruitment is one of our strategy’s success factors.

Candidate experience is an important theme for us. There is no magic charm for candidate experience, only the basics of recruiting. We need to tell candidates when we proceed with the interviews and expect the next contact. In all job listings, we have one person who will answer questions about the position or Destia as an employer. You can already ask questions so you know if it is worth sending the CV to us. With TalentAdore, we have been able to recruit the right people, influence the candidate experience’s improvement and, through that, our employer image.

The Onboarding of TalentAdore Was a Pleasant Surprise

I think we made the onboarding of the system an art because the system would get up and running in a day.

We planned for the onboarding and thought it would take months to set up the software. Thinking about it afterward, the long-planned deployment project was useless. The software is simple and guides the recruiter, so the onboarding was easy.

Recruiting supervisors have the primary responsibility for recruitment, and their feedback has been positive. I was a little afraid of the implementation and that the bottleneck in our recruitment would be that people wouldn’t know how to use the software or would not adopt it. However, that didn’t happen! Besides, I have reduced administrative time spent on the software.

I like the system’s speed and the fact that TalentAdore listens to development suggestions and often also implements them in the short term. Tracking the status of recruitments is super easy. I am also pleased that with TalentAdore, we could dismantle the system by changing the application form asking for all unnecessary information, such as the candidate’s age and home address. The best part is that the job listing itself can be made visually appealing.

Read also Why Onbording Matters.

Modern Recruitment Is Also About Networking and Marketing

Modern recruitment takes place in networks. The recruitment processes have to be shorter and shorter, as the time the candidate waits for the information and answers has shortened. Fortunately, many organizations have recognized the need to increase their recruitment skills and develop their employer image. I have been thinking recently about whether videos will replace textual job advertising and applications in the near future.

Many interesting tools for developing modern recruitment make recruitment easier. I would like to emphasize the utilization of artificial intelligence in recruitment. AI saves the recruiting manager’s time and helps to communicate better with the candidate. Recruitment should also be understood as marketing.

Recruitment announcements in various channels reach many people and are read by job seekers and people unfamiliar with the company. Instead of copying old templates, stop and think about what we want to tell the audience about this position and our company. This is how the professionalism of the recruiter comes into play! With TalentAdore, Destia recruits the right people!

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Destia is a Finnish infrastructure and construction services company. We deliver tomorrow’s infrastructure for our customers, society, and people. We are laying the foundation for sustainable urban innovation and intelligent infrastructure solutions that allow people, goods, services, and energy to move as a natural part of northern life. The unique infra-consciousness of over 1,600 Destians makes tomorrow’s infra true. Our services cover the entire life cycle from design to implementation and maintenance. The company’s net revenue for 2018 was approximately MEUR 550. www.destia.fi/rekry