Talent Boost as the first theme of the year

The annual meeting 2019 of Finland – India Business Association kicked off the thematic approach to serve and engage the member companies with the topics most relevant to them. The first theme addressed the shortage of software and ICT skills in Finland.  Business Finland in close collaboration with Helsinki Business Hub and their partners have conducted a talent boost program to help Finnish companies in filling in the ca. 11.000 ICT jobs needed in the coming years.

Recruiting employees with different cultural and educational background requires well-managed processes to ensure successful hiring and on-boarding. A conscious effort needed by both parties, the hiring company and the employee candidate. Our visiting speakers shared a couple of examples of the processes and new tools to ease:

• the first level short-listing of the potential candidates,
• the actual recruitment for employment and
• on-boarding including the rapid ramp-up of the company specific competences of the new employees.
• Nisha Yadav from Helsinki Business Hub introduced their joint project with Business Finland.  The Great Developer Summit in Bangalore in April 2019 was one of the key initiatives in India in the first half of the year 2019.  Partnered AI-based tool helps companies in shortlisting the needed skills and competences as well as the suitable personal profiles of the candidates. The tool is still in the piloting phase, but the data collection for more accurate results is ongoing
• Ilpo Järvenpää from ICT Direct shared their experience how to find and attract the best matching candidates for the recruiting companies and how to smoothen the way of getting the new employees onboard and relocated in Finland.Miska Noponen from Claned explained how a AI- and machine learning -based learning platform can help speed up the acquisition of company specific skills to elevate the motivation and productivity of the new employees. The tool can also be modified for a short-term testing of candidate’s capability to pick-up new skills.

  Ulla Koivukoski, the vice-chair of the Business Assosiation facilitated the dialogue within the panelists and participating companies.

  Technology eases and secures the entire recruitment process drastically. However, human interaction is still very much needed in the process to ensure that all the phases from the shortlisting to successful on-boarding and re-location including cultural training for both parties will be completed successfully. Receiving company might need education on the differences in the cultures of the new employees and the new employees on the new home country in addition to the professional skills.

  Last but not least, Jukka Nuortio, the chair of the association welcomed two new members to the board. Welcome Raghunath Koduvayur and Caj Eklund. Welcome on board!