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«Here’s No 1 reason for foreigners coming to work in Estonia: local men and women. People follow their beloved,» said Swedbank IT recruiting specialist Häli Õigus at a hiring conference, arranged by Excellence Training and Development Centre.
Swedbank IT recruiter on foreign workers: lured to Estonia by love
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8th February 2013, 13:29
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According to Ms Õigus, another magnet is the local universities, as people come to study. «IT-people also come to peep into our IT success story,» said Ms Õigus. «And, for instance, we’ve had candidates with health issues, coming because of clean air and vicinity of sea.»
Ms Õigus says Estonia is not that attractive for candidates from the US or Western-Europe. However, those from Latin-America, Asia and Turkey would be quite willing to come indeed. «For many, Estonia rather serves as a window into Europe, a stepping stone to move on,» she said.
Swedbank Group’s IT department employs 1,400 people, 800 of those in Sweden, the rest in Baltic States. Overall, up to a 100 information technology specialists were hired by the group last year, about ten from abroad. According to Ms Õigus, and old-fashioned hiring ad works best in international recruiting – in English, of course.
«There’s a quite good reaction to ads with no language requirement attached. Also, we cooperate with universities and use our own contact networks,» she said. «With foreigners one has to consider, of course, that they may not stay for long. However, that may also be the case with locals.»