As a recruiter, you’re on the front line of the so-called War for Talent. We spoke with Elise Deléhouzée about the challenges facing recruiters in the IT industry and how she and her colleagues at Sopra Steria Benelux are dealing with those challenges. But first, let’s meet Elise!
Last January you took on the role of HR Business Partner. But you started your career at Sopra Steria in 2021 as a recruiter. I guess we all have an idea of what a recruiter does. But our idea might not correspond to the reality. Can you enlighten us?
“For me, it’s an end-to-end process that you’re involved in from start to finish, from the moment you identify the need to fill a position to the actual hiring and even onboarding of the new employee. That includes preparing and posting the job description, screening potential candidates, meeting candidates for further screening and interviews, as well as coordinating the rest of the recruitment process. It also means involving the right people in that process, depending on the position you’re trying to fill. Last but not least, you also take care of all the administration involved in the recruitment process, from the contracts to the purely administrative aspects of the actual onboarding on the day the successful candidate starts.”
Are you still involved with recruiting now that you’ve moved on to the role of HR Business Partner?
“Yes, recruiting is still a big part of my job. But when I joined the company as a recruiter, I was recruiting 100% of the time. As an HR Business Partner, I have a broader, or more varied, function, if you like. The recruitment aspect of the job remains constant, though. So it’s still an end-to-end process. It’s just that now I’m also involved in supporting the business.”
What exactly does that entail?
“I, along with my colleagues, am responsible for making sure that everything is in good shape on the human resources front. For instance, if an employee wants to develop their role or switch to another job, or if they are suffering from stress or having trouble with a client, that’s our cue to step in. If there’s any issue concerning our employees, we try to resolve it as fast as we can.”
You mentioned your colleagues. Tell us about your team.
“I’m actually part of a Benelux team. My focus is mainly on Belgium and, to a lesser extent, Luxembourg. In Belgium, we separate everything to do with HR development, including recruitment, and everything to do with compensation and benefits. I’m part of the HR development team, which is made up of between 9 people in Belgium, and 3 in Luxembourg at the moment. These include recruiters, HR business partners like me, and we also have a colleague working on learning and development.”
What are the main challenges you face when recruiting for Sopra Steria?
“One of the biggest challenges we face, like every IT company, is the increasing demand from our clients. So we need a lot of resources. Unfortunately, the market for IT recruitment is very small – there aren’t enough resources to go round. This has resulted in the War for Talent, which is hardly surprising, I guess. The main challenge lies in attracting the best talent on the market at any given time. And then, once you’ve managed to attract that talent, the other key challenge is to retain it, which we refer to as retention management.”
Read the full interview with Elise Deléhouzée here, where you can learn more about how she and her colleagues deal with the challenges of IT recruitment.
Interested in a career at Sopra Steria? Have a look at the Careers section on our website. Or better yet, check out our current vacancies and apply immediately for the job that suits you!