International Perspective on the New Generation Recruitment Skills for SMEs and Workforce – SMErec Project
Marja-Liisa Ruotsalainen, Senior Project Manager, Karelia University of Applied Sciences
Arja-Irene Tiainen, Principal Lecturer, Karelia University of Applied Sciences
Background
The international network of the SMErec project has been founded on the principles of joint development and reciprocal learning. The content and measures of transnational cooperation relate to the companies that operate in the global context, as well as to their needs to recruit personnel who are able to work in an international environment. Thus, the SMErec project can bring added value both to regional and national stakeholders and also to the whole of Europe fulfilling the objectives of the ESR structural fund programme. Through international cooperation, it is also possible to collect information on the small and medium-sized enterprises and more specifically on the solutions that support recruitment. All in all, the SMErec project can contribute to the flexibility and mobility of the European labour market.
As stated above, the SMErec project operates both at the national and international levels. In the project, all partners work together and share expertise to create a win-win situation for SMEs on the one hand and potential job candidates on the other. The European Union offers possibilities for projects and consortiums to share good practices, learn from each other, and to deepen relationships without a common project plan or budget. The financier of SMErec, European Social Fund recommended to the partners in each of the countries to create networks and look for possibilities to share expertise in new and innovative ways.
By means of transnational co-operation, partners will not only benefit from each other’s expertise, but also have access to a greater variety of sectors and a larger sample of SMEs and job-seekers who will test the project outputs. Furthermore, the idea behind the project plan has been that the partners will have access to each other’s local professional and academic networks – especially to potential employers and employment agencies, the latter also being important stakeholders. The cooperation between the SMErec project and its international partners is defined in the Consortium Agreement ESF Collaboration, also known as Transnational Consortium Agreement. The Agreement was created before each of the partners applied for funding for their individual projects from their own national authorities.
Each participant in this transnational cooperation has their own budget for their activities from their own funding agency. In practice, this has meant that, for example, travel and accommodation costs have been paid by the travelling parties. However, the catering and other similar costs relating to transnational meetings have been paid by the hosting partner.
Finnish, German and Belgian partners identified the following shared interests to make recruiting processes more efficient:
– inclusive development of selection skills;
– diversity management;
– recruitment and selection models and tools;
– valorisation of results;
– practical support of SMEs in order to improve their selection skills.
International Partners
The SMErec project consortium includes three Finnish partners, which are Turku University of Applied Sciences, Karelia University of Applied Sciences and Business Joensuu Oy. In addition, there are international partners from Belgium and Germany, which are also universities of applied sciences. The Belgian partner is the University College Gent, also known as HoGent, from the city of Gent and the German partner university is Hochschule Harz, also called in English as Harz UAS. The partners share expertise and conduct mutual activities that will help each of them to produce the outputs of their individual projects.
As its project outcome, Karelia University of Applied Sciences develops an operational model for graduating students and for companies to be used in recruitment. The project has also accumulated knowledge and skills on the utilisation of Mixed Reality. For example, virtual technologies have been used to test a 360 camera in recruitment and virtual holograms in the presentation of the applicant’s competence. Within the project timespan, the SMEs become more competent in their HR management and recruitment processes, and improve their company image. Furthermore, the project has arranged workshops and offered training to target groups. After the project, there will be a service office for the target groups providing career counselling and matching to enhance the success of recruitment.
In their project, Turku University of Applied Sciences creates a web-based competence platform including a virtual CV database. Each student can upload his/her own one-minute video presentation, CV, and an updated competence chart to the system.
The aim of the Joensuu Regional Development Company Business Joensuu is to develop a digital tool for microenterprises. This tool will be used for both counselling and information distribution purposes. Business Joensuu also aims at identifying how the different fields of expertise differ regarding job seekers’ attitudes, skills, capabilities, and competencies already during the recruitment process.
The objective of the SMErec project is that the recruitment process would become more active and the job-seekers’ skills would become visible at an earlier stage. The more efficient recruitment process also accelerates the students’ transition from education to work. The project promotes the competitiveness of Finnish companies located in two different economic regions, Joensuu and Turku. To achieve this goal, indicators supporting companies’ HR strategies, as well as other recruitment tools are developed. The project provides small and medium-sized enterprises with science-based and practice-based innovative selection methods and recruitment tools. The ultimate objective of SMErec is to make recruitment successful.
The project of the Belgian partner is called “Towards an innovative, pragmatic and science-based selection methodology for SMEs”. Their project deliverables include an innovative mobile app, “Selection Buddy”, which will support SMEs to make professional selection decisions. Moreover, HoGent develops an accompanying service package for SMEs and organises training for trainers.
The German project is “ComApp SME – competence-oriented applicant selection for SMEs in the medical and nursing sector”. The aims of this project are 1) to improve employer attractiveness, i.e. employer branding of SMEs in the nursing sector and 2) to develop a practical and applicable method for SMEs for employee selection. As the outcome, a HR tool is developed which is tailored to the specific needs and focussed on the selection phase of HRM. The aim of the German project during this project has been to develop an efficient tool for cost-effectively recruiting suitable nurses for companies. Through transnational collaboration, the SMErec project together with Harz UAS develop HR tools tailored to the specific needs in their countries. They focus on different parts of the HR cycle are: recruitment, information and selection. The partners collaborate under the umbrella of the common theme “Improving Selection Skills for SMEs and Workforce”. The aim of the Belgian project was to create an application focusing on job-seekers’ competence rather than on gender, age, nationality etc.
Benefits of Transnational Collaboration in the SMErec Project
The special focus of transnational project cooperation has been on a subpopulation of SMEs where the need for a practical and informed selection methodology is greatest, namely micro (max. 10 employees) and small enterprises (max. 50 employees). Indirectly, larger groups of employees and job-seekers will be included. Through a more informed selection process, it will be easier for job candidates to showcase their talents and skills and they are more likely to find work that is tailored to them.
There are several transnational activities planned by the Transnational Consortium Agreement, TCA. Twice a year, the participants gather in a steering committee meeting. The Steering Committee makes decisions on and fulfills the following tasks:
(a) to monitor the effective and efficient implementation of the collaboration;
(b) to collect information at least every six (6) months on the progress of the collaboration, to examine the information, to assess the compliance of the collaboration with the purposes and, if necessary, to propose modifications in accordance with the Grant Agreements and the regulations of the respective managing authorities;
(c) to determine the policy for press releases, joint publications and other public disclosures of the foreground.
During the past three years the consortium has met twice a year: twice in Gent, Belgium, twice in Wernigerode, Germany and twice in Finland. In Finland, the first meeting took place in Joensuu, North Karelia in April 2018 and the second will be organised in Turku, in Southwest Finland in November 2019. The meetings usually follow a similar agenda: partners report on the progress of their subproject during the past six months and present their plans for the next steps.
The Experiences of SMErec Partners of the Transnational Cooperation
At the end of the project meeting in spring 2019, there was a discussion on the experiences of project partners on their international collaboration. It was considered useful that the partners have been able to work and meet transnationally. The project has enabled knowledge sharing regarding the recruitment tools. It has been discovered that the tolls are rather similar and compatible. In the meeting, it was further discussed if it will be possible to integrate the recruitment tools of different countries in the future. Moreover, the partners considered how information could be shared at the deeper level. A proposal for more in-depth and closer collaboration was made.
Similar experiences have been reported in other international projects. Earlier experiences on project co-operation between different universities have shown that in practice the institutional and operative cultures have more similarities than differences. Co-operation between several national and international partners can be fruitful and productive. During joint projects, all institutions can learn from each other and make full use of the strengths of their partners in higher education. The earlier projects have also proved that although it is possible to co-operate using ICT, it is also important to meet face-to-face to build trust.
The partners of the current consortium have initiated discussions on the future of their ongoing project collaboration. However, because the recruitment models and digital tools will be ready only at the end of the project and there has not been a chance to digital them or share the results during the project. The final decisions of the next project have not yet been made. Probably, a new project should be prepared with the same project partners. However, the new project should have a common budget, shared aims and a clear dissemination plan.
