Thursday, 12th of March was my last day at the office for now. Since that day almost 1000 other solitans and myself have worked remotely. Despite the unprecedented financial situation the coronavirus has caused around the world, our customer and work situation has so far remained strong.
We have agreed to continue hiring for roles with the highest demand. Here you will find answers to questions that may have arisen in this new situation regarding our recruitment and onboarding.
Which positions is Solita continuing to hire and where?
We are currently hiring for 20 different positions in Finland, Sweden and Central Europe. The roles with the highest demand are Senior Software Developers, Software Architects, Data Engineers, Data Architects, Integration Specialists, Integration Architects, Cloud Services Specialists and Cloud Consultants.
The easiest way to apply for Solita is to send an open application and let the recruitment team find the suitable role to meet your competence and expectations. Or you can browse all our open positions.
Do I need to come to the office for an interview? Will I be able to meet my future team before the decision?
All Solitans are currently working remotely, so all of the job interviews, competence evaluations and personality assessments are done with virtual meetings. Depending on the role you are applying for, our People Lead assigned to your interview process will guide you through the recruitment process.
For most of our roles we start with the introduction, culture and values interview with our People Leads. If you continue to the next round, you will meet your potential future team or another solitan working in the same role.
In the second interview you will have the opportunity to ask questions from a future colleague. This will help you and the People Lead see your competence potential and identify possible development areas in a selected area.
For some roles, the competence evaluation is done using home assignments with time restrictions. And if your role requires leading others (usually in Lead, Project Manager or similar roles), you will participate in a personality and/or competence assessment provided by our partner.
If we mutually want to continue discussions after the interviews, you will receive a job offer from our People Lead. You can sign the contract using e-sign tools.
What if my project will be cancelled during my first months at Solita?
We recruit every new colleague carefully and in a responsible way – only when we have identified and predicted work that can’t be occupied with any current employee or we don’t want to strengthen the team with a partner contractor. We hire new employees to become part of our Solita community, and not for certain projects. Therefore, if a project situation changes (as they usually do in our business), you don’t need to worry at all. Our active resourcing managers work with you and your People Lead to find a project to meet your competence and wishes.
Our norm is to have a team ready for new starting projects. Before a new project starts you can study or share your knowledge with others or assign yourself to a small inhouse project.
We hire new colleagues, a couple hundred every year, so our recruitment and evaluation process has developed to be quite good at finding matches that work. We think changing a job is one of the biggest changes in one’s life, so we take hiring seriously. We believe being honest and transparent through the recruitment process will lead us to the best possible results.
How will the onboarding be done? How am I able to join the community?
After the job contract is signed and the starting date decided, our IT team and People & Culture team will start preparing for your first day. Our IT team will prepare your selected tools (computer, mobile phone and user credentials) before your arrival. Depending on your wishes, the starting package can be picked up from our office or will be delivered to your home address on your starting date. Our HR Coordinators will email you a welcome letter well in advance covering the most commonly asked practicalities and other useful information.
Your People Lead will take care of your very first days and weeks at Solita. You will go through our onboarding step by step, including our eOnboarding program consisting of joint sessions, discussions with your People Lead and self-study. As part of eOnboarding, we organise monthly virtual Starter Bootcamps where you will be able to meet other newbies at the same time when deepdiving to Solita’s business, customers, culture and ways of working. The idea of the Bootcamp is that you get a good view of all we do at Solita, and get acquainted also outside your own unit.
The whole onboarding is not just limited to the first days and weeks. Instead, it extends to the months following your start at Solita. The People Leads are there to support you the whole time: to make sure you get networked virtually with your colleague solitans, to help discover how life and projects at Solita work and book time to discuss on your development at Solita.
Solitans use Slack for daily community communications and we have over hundreds of active channels to explore (or to get lost in). Slack is used for both work and fun, and there’s also an active Solita News channel for having discussions about our company news, business and strategy. Our #remotework provides fun and tips on getting the most out of the virtual lifestyle and ways of working.
In addition to these company-wide actions and tools, our teams have a variety of options to cherish belonging and getting to know each other. Some teams have virtual coffee or lunch breaks, some play board games and music quizzes or organise afterwork meetings etc. Check out some of our remote work stories on our website or Social Media channels!
Changing jobs always requires courage, but during these times it requires even more of it. So if you have any concerns left, our People Leads, the whole Recruitment team and myself are here for you. Feel free to reach out!
