Recruitment

Recruiting without borders

A destination for innovation, that’s Smartech in a sentence. With 12 concept stores worldwide, they offer immersive experiences where customers can try, play, and discover the latest innovations, helping hardware innovation companies to sell their products. In October 2021, Smartech needed to recruit four new roles – three to London and one to San Francisco. This presented an exciting international challenge for our team at Oddwork!

The mission

The hunt for more changemakers

Smartech was in an expansive phase and realized its growth plans exceeded its internal recruitment capacity. It was time to look for a partner in recruitment. Oddwork’s mission? Finding new talents in sales, finance, and marketing. But not just any talents – we’re talking about real changemakers. Because when it comes down to it, challenging the retail of tomorrow requires innovative minds.

“It’s been really cool working with an innovative company like Smartech. Their inventive way of working creates an attractive employer brand which results in a positive response from the candidates.“
— Ellinor Hellberg, Senior Talent Manager at Oddwork

Our process 

A targeted recruitment strategy 

With four new open positions to fill, our team at Oddwork quickly began the recruitment process. Our copywriters polished their keyboards and wrote job ads, which we then promoted through targeted social media ads and on LinkedIn.

The result

& the insights along the way

During our process, we noticed some differences in the candidate markets between Sweden and England. The most noticeable difference was the significant impact of advertising job ads on LinkedIn. We received both a greater number and more relevant applications than what we are used to seeing in the Swedish candidate market – this after the job ads had been live for just a few days. In other words, LinkedIn was the go-to place for finding interesting candidates in London! 

“Another difference I noticed was that sales roles in England were more sought after than in Sweden. The candidates were also more open to discussing the salary during our first meeting. To meet their expectations in the best way possible, we adapted our communication to the culture and the market.“
— Julia Harrysson, Talent Manager at Oddwork

Create closeness at a distance 

Three tips for succeeding in a personal interview (even remotely) 

Due to the pandemic, digital meetings have replaced many physical ones. But how do you maintain a personal approach when reaching out to candidates thousands of kilometres away? Our Senior Talent Manager Ellinor Hellberg shares her three best tips!

 

  1. Do your research. Check out the current market and adapt your communication to meet the candidates’ expectations in the best way.
  2. Build trust. It is, of course, always important to be well-informed about the role and the company you are recruiting for during the candidate interview, but perhaps extra important when you are calling from another country. Make sure the candidate gets the right information and build trust through your knowledge of the role and the company.
  3. Set frequent follow-ups. Maintaining close contact with both the customer and the candidate during the recruitment process is essential for transparent cooperation and partnership.