Laurea University of Applied Sciences – Employer Brand Makes the Difference

Laurea Leads the Way in the Higher Education Field

“Laurea is a strong expert community in the field of higher education. The community includes about 7,800 students, 600 staff members, and over 30,000 alumni, and community spirit is one of the value foundations of Laurea’s operations. Since Laurea, like many universities of applied sciences, operates mainly on public funding, it is particularly important for us to emphasize financial responsibility. We want to be pioneers and participate in building a better world.

Combining work and family life and understanding the challenges of different life situations is important to us at Laurea. We have long been pioneers in the higher education field, as remote work, for example, has been a normal and accepted way of working for us for years. Above all, we monitor the results our staff achieve and are flexible about where people work. We train our supervisors to be flexible in the face of our staff’s different life situations. We also have an exceptional age-leave benefit, which offers paid days off to older employees.

“A number of people who work at Laurea are graduates of the university, and several also complete a Master’s degree there. Many also end up writing their thesis on a topic somehow related to Laurea,” says Tiina.

Tough Competition for Experts Highlights the Importance of Employer Brand

The fact that talent is sought from among Laurea’s employees for other organizations speaks to the high-quality expertise of the organization.

“Naturally, we recruit a lot of teaching staff as well as experts for research and development projects. We expect pedagogical studies from teaching staff, but also at least three years of professional work experience. Lecturers are strong professionals and visionaries in their field. They will be working with students who will enter the workforce in 3–5 years, so lecturers must have a vision of what the working world will look like in the years to come.

Life in the higher education field has changed significantly in recent years. Work has become more diverse, and there is tough competition for research, development, and innovation experts. However, Laurea is succeeding well in this competition, as our staff consists of top-tier professionals. One reason for this success is an excellent employer brand. When we recruit, we always get good employees, and other employers are also interested in the expertise found at Laurea. The fact that talent is sought from among Laurea’s employees for other organizations speaks to the high-quality expertise of the organization,” Tiina explains.

“Laurea recruits a lot. About 100 positions open up annually, and some positions can receive up to 100 applications. On the other hand, there are also positions for which it is really difficult to find a sufficiently skilled person. In these situations, the role of the employer brand is strongly emphasized. When there is a shortage of good applicants, the organization must appear particularly attractive to them,” says Markus.

A Community of Experts Supports a Good Employer Brand

At the same time as we recruit the best talent, we are also interested in those top applicants who were not selected this time.

“Important things for us in recruitment are the smoothness of applicant communication during the recruitment process and the seamless progression of the process. We also constantly strive to improve our employer brand and build a Talent Community.

At the same time as we recruit the best talent, we are also interested in those top applicants who were not selected this time. They may very well be our future employees or partners. When unselected applicants have an excellent candidate experience, it spreads a positive message about Laurea, which in turn develops our employer brand. We can also invite potential unselected applicants to join our community of experts.

A challenge in higher education is certainly the sudden absences of lecturers. In cases of absence, there are two options: cancel the class or quickly find a substitute. At Laurea, we utilize our community of experts, among other things, for these sudden substitute needs,” Tiina summarizes.

TalentAdore’s Convincing Demo Led to a System Change

The system ensures that the recruiter handles applicant communication effectively, so it’s almost impossible to accidentally forget to send messages.

“We weren’t actually even looking for a replacement recruitment system; in principle, we were satisfied with the current solution. However, we received a demo of TalentAdore Hire ATS that really sparked our interest,” Markus says.

“TalentAdore’s demo particularly highlighted the ease of managing applicant communication, developing the employer brand, and the opportunity to use artificial intelligence to assist in recruitment. Who wouldn’t want to take advantage of such opportunities in their own recruitment?

We have been extremely satisfied with the system’s efficiency and the ability, for example, to integrate RecRight, which was already in use, as part of the system. TalentAdore also has numerous other integration possibilities. When all the necessary tools are in one place, it significantly facilitates and streamlines recruitment.

The system ensures that the recruiter handles applicant communication effectively, so it’s almost impossible to accidentally forget to send messages. One of my favorite features is the easy scheduling of interviews without having to try to reach the applicant by phone. While you can often get a preliminary impression of the applicant over the phone, with TalentAdore’s calendar, applicants no longer have to call the recruiter back in the evening if they couldn’t answer during the day. It saves time and effort for both parties,” Markus explains.

Applicants Give Positive Feedback on the System

To all who are still hesitant to adopt TalentAdore, I want to say, jump on board bravely!

“We have been using TalentAdore for a few months now, and applicants have been really satisfied. Our average candidate experience score is 4.3 / 5. We have received feedback from applicants that the messages sent through TalentAdore have brightened their day. This is, of course, a very important and delightful thing for us to hear. This is how easy developing an employer brand can be at its best! During the spring of 2021, for example, we received this feedback from an applicant:

“Thank you for the opportunity, and I’m sure you will find just the right person for your team! And a big thank you for the personal feedback; it gives me a great and happy start to continue my job search.”

Our staff has also been satisfied with the new system. Mainly, the system is used by our supervisors and the HR team. Although the implementation of a new system initially caused some apprehension, everything has gone well, and gradually everyone has gotten used to using it.

To all who are still hesitant to adopt TalentAdore, I want to say, jump on board bravely! Changing a system is always a challenge, but the implementation of TalentAdore was really painless. We even had a few recruitments in progress during the change, but the switch was still very successful. Everything from planning to execution was seamless, and any challenges that arose after implementation have also been easy to handle in cooperation with TalentAdore. On top of all that, there are good and clear instructions for using the system, which are very easy to follow.

With AI-assisted applicant communication, even unselected applicants can leave the process behind with a positive feeling. No organization should be able to afford to lose a single potential applicant due to a bad candidate experience.”

As Markus said, changing a recruitment system may not be in your plans yet, but a demo can still convince you. Request our demo, and we will convince you too! Also, go and see Laurea’s open jobs.