Telenor Xpress 4 - 2000

Creating attraction

In today's digital economy, attracting the right people is more than an advantage - it's a necessity. The recruiting team at Djuice, Telenor's entry into the web portal market, tell Xpress how they go about finding skilled, motivated knowledge workers.

"Like our portal, the people who work at Djuice are flexible, available, young and open-minded," says project manager for networking Valentina Marino from Italy, who started working for Djuice in November 2000. With 150 people already on the payroll, Djuice is continually expanding. Today, the company is seeking experienced telecom engineers.

"The distribution of 3G licenses has resulted in a shortage of skilled workers," says Bjørn Sæther, project director at Djuice.

WINNING COMBINATION
According to Sæther, Djuice has some of the most skilled workers in the business, and it is determined to keep them. To compete with other companies offering employees fat stock option programmes, Djuice will provide target employees a chance to take part in an emerging industry. "By combining the excitement of a dot.com start up with the security provided by Telenor, we offer potential employees the best of both worlds," he says.

He describes his co-workers as flexible, competent and motivated. "We have targeted individuals who understand both technology and the demands of today's users, people who can create and market user-friendly services," Sæther says.

RISKTAKERS, BALLPLAYERS
Susan Hagerty, vice president of Telenor's People and Future group, agrees: "We needed risk-takers, entrepreneurs - special people - and to attract them we had to be innovative in our communication," she says. According to Hagerty, Djuice avoided the traditional approach to a recruiting campaign.

The Djuice ad series was made with the help of ad agency Virtual Garden in Oslo. It included a child's selfportrait drawn by mFutures management group and a text asking for creative, innovative thinkers with a twist. The ad gave Djuice the PR boost that was needed. The media caught on, and the largest broadsheet in Oslo gave the company a full page to pitch their services. The first campaign attracted 1,000 people, of whom more than 250 were found qualified and 40 hired.

THE RIGHT PEOPLE
Ah, Sunflower! Visitors to the Djuice headquarters in Oslo will spot new faces fast. The sunflowers on their desks give them away.

Who: Valentina Marino - Sicily, Italy
What: Project manager for networking - promoting relations between Djuice and local partners round the world.
Why: I saw the ads and it seemed like an exciting challenge. Djuice represents the right technology and the right people. It's an open and innovative environment.

Who: Truels Brodtkorb - Oslo, Norway
What: International Marketing Man-ager, - handling global events and Djuice launches internationally.
Why: I saw the small ads, did some research and found what I was looking for: a company which combines cutting-edge technology with entertainment. The global aspirations are also very appealing to me.



Text by: Alexander Wardwell