everis
A LinkedIn Talent Solutions Success Story

Developing a winning formula in a competitive landscape – How everis is drawing on LinkedIn to attract the right talent, at the right time

“People are our greatest asset,” explains Sjoerd de Vries, Recruitment and Sourcing Lead International Organisations at everis. “Without people, there is no growth. Without people, nothing would be possible.”
It’s a strong statement yet one that could not be more fitting for the consultancy business that places strategy, solutions and skills at the heart of everything it does. Especially when talent is at the core of its business and hiring the right talent at the right time is crucial to its success.
“everis understands the importance of recruitment,” Sjoerd continues.
“Everyone in the company knows that if we want to keep growing, we need to hire people. And not just anyone – good people that fit our company culture and values.”

Fundamental Tool

everis is an employee-owned, multi-national consulting company offering business and strategy advice, technological applications maintenance and outsourcing services; it works across a range of sectors, including retail, banking, energy and utilities, health, telecoms, media and consumer goods.
The global company – founded 20 years ago – requires a large range of skills and personalities in order to meet the demands of the business.
everis uses LinkedIn Talent Solutions. In fact, the two organisations have worked together for more than eight years; today, that partnership is active in 16 countries.

Alicia Sánchez, Employer Branding Specialist and Recruitment at everis Spain, says: “LinkedIn is one of the tools that we most get out of, we try to use the full range of options that it offers. In everis Spain, we hire about 3,000 people per year so LinkedIn is a fundamental when looking for that talent.”
LinkedIn enables everis to build and develop a healthy business in an incredibly competitive landscape. For example, everis uses LinkedIn’s Hiring Manager, a feature that lets recruiters share LinkedIn profiles with hiring managers and then enables feedback to be shared. This is something that the whole company gets behind. Alicia and her team make employees aware of the importance of attracting talent so that the entire company can grow together. Furthermore, employees are encouraged to post articles on everis’ LinkedIn page, sharing their experiences and progress for all to see.

Empowered employees

Alicia argues that company culture has a large part to play in its success. All employees feel empowered; there is no hierarchy and everyone talks to anyone, regardless of position. Opinion matters and everyone listens.

Alicia adds: “I get inspired when you see that what you do is useful and really means something. Right now we are working on a very innovative project within the selection area that is called ‘inbound recruiting’. It is about incorporating digital marketing in the selection processes. It has been a challenge for us because this recruitment selection process is unconventional.
We have to incorporate that online part, that digital part in all the processes that are developed in order to improve the candidate´s experience.”

This attitude and approach to finding the right talent is vital if companies wish to excel in today’s busy marketplace. And dedication is essential.
“When I joined everis Belgium, the company was very small,” Sjoerd says.
“We had around 20 people in the office and a real start-up spirit – people did what needed to be done to achieve our goals. Now, the company has grown, but the spirit remains and it has nothing to do with the size of the office. It’s the spirit of the people. We’re smart and dedicated.”

Attitude is everything

That sense of spirit is fundamental when it comes to recruitment. According to Sjoerd, a quality hire is not always the candidate with the most relevant experience. It is the candidate who fits the company’s values and beliefs of transparency, generosity, consistency, creative energy and responsible freedom. Someone, Sjoerd says, who is emphatic and enthusiastic, who goes to work and loves what they do and is appreciated by their peers.
So, how does everis find such quality?
“As a hiring team, you need to get a feeling about the cultural fit in the company. Technical knowledge you can test, but a cultural fit is very hard to measure. We are looking to get a feeling with a candidate. Is he or she open and transparent when giving answers? Do we feel their drive or energy?”
Sjoerd says that attitude is everything to everis. Hence, from a practical perspective, a cross-section of people from across the business are involved in the recruitment process. A breadth of experience from within the multi-national firm contributes to a candidate’s progression. It’s this attitude and deep level of understanding from everyone in the business that is responsible for the company’s growth.

Energy and efficiency

This fact is lauded by Lorenzo Fiore Romero, Manager Enterprise and Cloud Solutions at everis Spain.
In less than seven days, he was made aware – via LinkedIn – of a position within everis by an employee at the consultancy firm. Then, he had two interviews; the first with his boss and the second with human resources. One week later and the job was his.
“At everis, you are not just another résumé,” Lorenzo comments. “A lot of attention is paid to the person and everis does its best to help you understand your role and responsibilities. It moves the recruitment process forward so that candidates don’t get frustrated.
“During my interview, I had the chance to talk about the industry, the specific sector I am responsible for, and to showcase knowledge – it was a true conversation that made me feel comfortable and that I was in the right place.”

Leveraging the benefits

Lorenzo was recruited through LinkedIn. Sjoerd says that it’s almost a full-time job leveraging all the benefits that the platform provides. everis places adverts on LinkedIn, sources candidates, builds its network and raises its company profile using all that LinkedIn has to offer. Therefore, it’s easy to see how LinkedIn is a main source of candidates for the business.
Sjoerd concludes: “Recruitment techniques differ a lot per industry and even differ by role and market. My team and I are now recruiting IT consultants in a scarce market. This requires a very candidate-driven process. We make sure that we schedule all interviews in one day, after hours if needed. We need to be flexible and agile. Recruitment techniques have changed in the sense that you can find so many people via the Internet, but you need to know how and how to approach them. The approach needs to be personal. LinkedIn allows us to do that, which is important because I love to have a direct and visible impact on the growth of the company as well as helping candidates find the ideal job within our organisation.”