AvantGarde Search is a specialized recruitment company that finds the best talent for those positions that are not always that easy to fill. Leadership roles, specialists, and people with advanced technical insight. AvantGarde Search specializes in recruiting within a specific sector, namely the technology industry. Because, as they say, when you buy a product yourself, you talk to a specialist. We had a chat with Kenneth Altamiranda Hansen, COO and co-founder of AvantGarde Search. They have been using Huma for a while now and Teamtailor for their recruitment. We also took the opportunity to hear a little about what people are looking for when they change jobs.
Tell us a little bit about your culture! What is it like working in AvantGarde Search?
It's busy! We work very hard, and there’s pressure on performance and expectations that people deliver. You don’t get to be top of the class by taking it easy. But we do make sure there’s plenty of room to have fun too! We organize trips abroad, for example, and lots of social activities.
As a specialist in recruitment you know one or two things about what motivates people. How can companies ensure they keep their valuable employees?
Let me use a couple of examples from our own company. We’re very aware of how important it is to keep the skilled employees we have. One thing we’ve had great success with is sponsoring further education and professional updating for the employees. This has proved to be nothing but positive. People become more motivated, they become more involved and, not least, they become more professionally skilled! It benefits everyone, including us as a company. We get smarter when our employees get smarter! We also have social activities as I mentioned earlier.
Prioritizing these can sometimes be difficult, but it pays off tremendously every time. When people feel good at work, they work better; that's just the way it is. We also focus on our employees experiencing a high degree of involvement in decisions that are had. That’s important to us. Our company is not the kind of place where a few people make decisions on behalf of everybody else. I actually think many companies could benefit from letting more people into their decision-making processes. As far as we’re concerned, we see that it simply means we make better choices. Bringing in more perspectives and different opinions means that we make choices on a firmer basis. What’s more, it creates a greater sense of belonging in all of us, like we’re all sailing this ship together.
"I actually think many companies could benefit from letting more people into their decision-making processes. As far as we’re concerned, we see that it simply means we make better choices."
What are people looking for when changing jobs today?
People are looking to grow. They’re looking for opportunities to develop themselves and their own skills. Plus, autonomy has become increasingly important in recent years. People need to feel that their employer has confidence in them and trusts them to do their job in the way they think is best. Beyond that, more and more people are interested in stock option programmes and other additional benefits. I think this goes back to a desire for involvement, belonging and trust.
You have been using Huma for a while now. What made you want an HR system in the first place?
We wanted to achieve a better structure for our documents and processes. Previously, we used an ordinary PC filing system and teams. That worked for a while, but it quickly became unwieldy and was clearly not sustainable. Another thing is that Huma has helped us to a better structure for our onboarding processes. And that, of course, is very important to us.
When we talk about onboarding and recruitment, you use Teamtailor for your own recruitment. Can you tell us a little about how that has worked for you?
It’s been great! It has systematised the process and made managing the candidates much easier. The fact that Teamtailor is integrated with several other systems such as reference apps and customer integration, for example, makes the whole process easier and clearer. In addition, it’s a secure platform for personal data transfer in line with the GDPR regulations.
