UPM-Kymmene - Personal assessment ensures successful recruitment
Text: Jarmo Seppälä Pictures: Hannu Miettinen
Successful recruitment requires consistent planning and thorough preparations, as well as close cooperation and commitment from all participants. After screening the applicants, a close personal assessment ensures the realisation of the company's personnel strategy in the long run. Assumptions and compromises are not enough when it comes to recruiting.
In 2003, UPM Kymmene decided to concentrate its paper division's R&D operations in Lappeenranta, where the R&D centre has a long tradition. In Finland, the Group used to have R&D centres in Lappeenranta, Valkeakoski, Kuusankoski and Pietarsaari.
When the decision for concentrating the operations was made, Lappeenranta’s unit was the largest of the Group with 85 employees. The number of personnel was to be increased to 135 by summer 2005. The UPM R&D Centre thus created is responsible for nearly all research operations of the Group on a global scale. The R&D organisation also includes smaller units in Germany and the USA.
No compromises in recruitment
Additional personnel have been transferred to Lappeenranta internally, but many have been recruited from the outside as well. The people responsible for the development and recruitment of the R&D Centre personnel now have their hands full as positions are advertised in national papers, trade magazines and the company's web site, applicants are interviewed and the most promising ones are invited to a personal assessment.
Applications are also received through the Internet and internally through the intranet; some applicants contact us even when there has been no public advertisement.
"All applicants chosen for a position have gone through a personal assessment, also those who apply internally. The same procedure is applied when an employee applies for a new position inside the organisation," says Administrative Manager Mika Sipi.
UPM Kymmene usually receives a lot of applications, and the applicants have a high level of education and work experience from the field. As the recruitment process moves on, the group is screened and the best and most suitable applicant is usually found.
Anne Vihelä, the head of laboratory operations, reminds us that sometimes the experience and personal qualities of the applicants do not correspond to the requirements of the job. In such cases, compromises are not made; the position is left open.
"The requirements set for the applicants' training and competences are sometimes so high that very few people qualify. At the moment, we are looking for a multi-skilled person who has knowledge of both organic and inorganic chemistry and also knows the technology and requirements of paper production," Anne Vihelä says.
Assessment based on set objectives
Mika Sipi and Anne Vihelä emphasise that a person selected for permanent employment needs to be willing to commit to a long-term employment relationship. This is brought out already when processing applications and selecting applicants for the interviews. The motives and willingness to settle into the town are important grounds for selection. On the other hand, the company encourages rotating personnel even abroad, which is different from the "living out of a suitcase" sort of continuous moving from one temporary job to another.
One open position may attract 60–70 applicants, four or five of which will be invited to an interview. In the two-hour interview with the employer's representatives, the competence, experience, qualities and motivation of the applicant are focused on. After the interview, the best applicants are sent to the psychological assessment at Psycon.
The personal assessment is an in-depth process. The starting point is the job definition prepared by the customer and Psycon, including the content of the work, the nature of the work and the areas of responsibility, in other words, what the selected applicant must be able to accomplish. At the same time, the central criteria required in the job are defined – the personal skills and qualities of the applicant.
"The actual assessment takes five to eight hours depending on how demanding the position is. In the assessment, we use a wide selection of various methods such as personal interview, teamwork simulations and tests measuring information processing skills," psychologist and personnel consultant Paula Suhonen lists.
Reporting and feedback include a written report to be delivered within a week of the assessment, and an oral report and consultation on the results. Also the applicant is consulted on the suitability of the job and on how the applicant can further develop his or her competences in certain areas based on the results.
Suitable applicant for a suitable job
Psychologist Tommi Telanto says that the assessment is so exhaustive that the applicant usually agrees on the results. When the feedback from the assessment is discussed thoroughly enough, the applicant often recognises the qualities that he or she has not been completely aware of, and sees the needs for improvement.
"Examining the suitability of a person's psychological qualities is an important prediction method utilising the psychologist's professional skills and various methods of occupational psychology. It is very important to define together with the customer the target of the examination, that is, the requirements for each job and how the applicant must be able to work in that exact position, for example, together with their future team."
There are big responsibilities involved, with confidentiality, expertise and high professional ethics. The applicant's future is at stake, as well as the employer's need to get a suitable and qualified employee; there are also responsibilities relating to the beginning of employment.
According to Mika Sipi, the assessment sharpens the image received in the initial interview. Like Vihelä, Sipi also reminds us that if the assessment yields no definite results, as sometimes happens, the position should not be filled. The basic rule is that a suitable applicant and a suitable job must meet.
Close cooperation brings good results
"The successful cooperation of UPM Kymmene and Psycon began already at the Kaukas mills. Major positive factors include the fact that Psycon is a local operator, as well as the permanence of its personnel. We also know each other on a personal level," Mika Sipi says.
Tommi Telanto also emphasises the importance of mutual familiarity for the success of assessments:
"It is very important that the customer knows us and that we know the customer's field of operations, the tasks, the requirements and how each task relates to the operation of a certain group or team."
The customer and Psycon go through the results of the assessments in a direct, positive cooperation and teamwork, in which the many competences of the team are used efficiently. The employer always makes the final recruiting decision based on the information available.
Psycon can interview and assess applicants also in other locations, if it is more convenient to the applicant. The Psycon consultant responsible for the assessments remains the same throughout the process.
Globalisation adds to the challenges of recruiting
The UPM Kymmene R&D centre includes five R&D teams and seven laboratory teams. The laboratory teams receive assignments from both Finnish and foreign units of the group. The objective is to involve foreign researchers in each team, keeping job rotation alive within the group.
The international nature of the unit is seen as a positive objective and a factor enriching the work in various units. On the other hand, this adds to the challenges of HR people and consultants.
"Internationalisation will certainly be one of the major challenges during the next ten years.
Our Group has a good recruitment image, and Lappeenranta with its University of Technology is an attractive town, but still, keeping up the interest requires constant work," says Mika Sipi.
According to Paula Suhonen and Tommi Telanto, adequate language skills and understanding different cultures are challenges to the psychologists carrying out the assessments. A good command of the English language is a basic requirement for their work. Competitive factors of international companies are increasingly connected to their corporate culture and the ability to apply the culture to support their multinational personnel. Psycon also assesses the Finnish employees returning from a period abroad and entering a new job here. Not a small challenge either.
It seems that the entire recruiting process is undergoing change. In addition to managers and experts, ordinary workers are also evaluated at recruitment more often than before. Apart from occupational skills, teamwork skills and social skills are increasingly important –in a multicultural environment.
Check list for using suitability assessment services
1. Needs evaluation
• Think over the possible distribution of roles
• Prepare a careful analysis on critical tasks and success factors when creating the criteria for the evaluation
• Also consider long-term development opportunities for the task
2. Preparation for the evaluation
• Select a skilled and reliable partner
• Spend enough time introducing the consultant to the nature of the task and the evaluation criteria
• Inform the candidates about the evaluation and the selection process clearly
3. Evaluation of suitability
• Make sure that the partner carries out the evaluation in a way that supports your image as an employer
4. Using the results
• Make the most of the oral consultation; do not settle for reading reports.
• Handle and store the reports and other materials with due respect for the privacy of the applicant
5. Follow-up
• Expect constant quality improvement from your partner; monitor the accuracy and usefulness of the evaluation
• Spend enough time for all this