In today´s case-study we will reveal to you an interesting story about a business sector that is not that known for the public. Therefore it requires smart recruitment ideas, testing out different info and recruitment channels, and strong employer branding in order to stand out. We will guide you through the rapid growth of Studioworks, that has recruited more than 100 people to their team within a year.
Studioworks was established 2018 summer and started with active operations in January 2019, as a service provider to the online gaming industry and specializing in Live Dealer Studio operations 24/7.
Studioworks recruiter, Kadri Avloi takes us back to the time when she united with the team in March 2019 and how her journey in Studioworks began:
“In the beginning, we used Workland´s rental office that soon got too crowded for us. I still remember very clearly how we visited our new office on my first day with Studioworks. Everything was under construction, we wore helmets and vests, office walls were still missing and our CEO, Peter Tulemo, gave us an overview where everything was supposed to be placed in the future. We moved into new premises in May and Game Presenters started to rehearse immediately. By the 3rd of June, everything was ready to go live and we started our services for 24/7 with 2 tables right in front of the live cameras.”
Recruitment statistics in Studioworks
When it comes to recruitment, one can only imagine what a challenge it is to find people to such an unknown business sector. Not mentioning weird or unusual job titles as Game Presenters. Studioworks recruitment statistics can be visualized chronologically as of the following:
What were the 3 main challenges that you faced?
Challenge no 1
The unknown business sector and unusual job titles
In the beginning getting Game Presenters on board was by far the biggest challenge of all, as recruiting people to unusual positions in the industry nobody has heard about in Estonia, it was really difficult. Also as in early stages, there was no studio available, it was very difficult to explain what the position of Game Presenter is actually about.
Solution
In the beginning Studioworks placed lots of efforts to employer branding in order to introduce the business sector of Live Dealer Studio Operations as a whole and to explain more deeply on what services the company has specialized in the sector. In order to understand the work of Game Presenters, the HR department used illustrating videos from foreign markets in order to explain the essence of the positions. When the real-life studio was opened, it was already more easier to explain the job by inviting the candidates to the studio and to show the work in actual situations.
Even though the company has worked hard on communications, they still believe there´s a lot to do in Estonia in order to increase the awareness of the business sector overall and the positions it includes. There have been both negative and positive feedback from the candidates during their journey. In the early days, there were situations where candidates refused to come to the interview as the positions seemed unusual due to needing to work 24/7 in front of the live cameras. On the other hand, there have been also loads of positive emotions from candidates who believe that current positions are something really different and interesting for them.
Main learning points for the future!
When entering the market with a new service and as a new company, it´s crucial to focus strongly on Employer Branding and to increase the overall awareness of the company. To quickly build up communication channels (website, social media etc.) in order to get transparency and trustworthiness of the company.
You can find out more about recruitment in social media from here.
Challenge no 2
How to reach the right target group?
Game Presenter´s position is most suitable for people who start their career, want to get first job experience, or want a flexible job in order to combine the work with the studies. Based on that, Studioworks´ main target audience is the younger generation/students. But reaching out to them has been a great challenge for the company. Also as Studioworks needs Game Presenters speaking fluent English and other languages, it as been as a bonus challenge for the HR department to fulfill all positions.
Solution
Recruiting several years in Live Dealer Studio has brought lots of experiences and learnings in using different digital recruitment channels. By having learned candidate behavior of their target audience very precisely, Studioworks has already selected out the most effective channels to reach out to their target audience. For Studioworks the most effective digital recruitment channels are social media sponsored ads (Facebook, Instagram), company´s career page and special landing pages for campaigns.
In order to reach the audience with different language skills, the company has tried out all possible recruitment channels and visited different universities in Estonia. Kadri Avloi, company´s recruiter described vividly her journey to Tallinn University:„Once in the university I happened to notice some Asian looking people chatting in the hallway and as a recruiter, I was extremely thrilled and thought of winning a lottery. I ran to them in order to quickly introduce myself and I must admit that the beginning was really funny. They were totally surprised and probably thought in their head – what do I want from them? But despite the clumsy beginning, it all turned out well, we had a great chat and shared our contacts.”
As an innovative company Studioworks is always willing to try out new recruitment channels and to test out innovative ideas. The company has also worked out a special suggestion system for its employees who spread the word about the company and help to recruit from their own contacts in order to form the best working team.
Main learnings to remember
- To analyze deeply your target audience, who they are, what channels do they use for information, what´s important for them in their job etc. Based on these facts you can recruit effectively by saving time and your budget.
- As Studioworks´ business sector is quite specific, recruiting through traditional job portals hasn´t been very effective for them. For example like CV-Online, Cv.lv, CV Keskus, CVMarket.lv, Kandideeri.ee, LinkedIn, and Facebook Groups.
Challenge no 3
How to handle thousands of candidates under time pressure?
When recruiting over 100 employees within the short time scale, the company understood quite quickly that they would need some kind of recruitment software that would help them stay professional and make the recruitment process more convenient and faster. They needed a solution where candidates get a positive experience, they all get handled and given individual feedback no matter if they got hired or not. On top of the candidate experience it was also extremely important to popularize the operations as Live Dealer Studio overall.
The solution came with Recrur recruitment software that has helped the company to save recruiter´s time, to handle all candidates with care, to upload job ads easily, and to get recruitment statistics. In Recrur online environment it´s very convenient to get in contact with the candidates and the software helps to ensure that all candidates have received feedback. Recrur gives an overview of how many candidates are interested in specific positions and it also gives easy statistics for overall recruitment processes.
„Recrur has helped us to handle all the candidates the best way we can and to save our precious time that is extremely important when you build up the company with fast growth and recruitment needs”, admits Studioworks HR Manager, Britta Burket.
Important nuances to pay attention to
- When choosing recruitment software, it´s very important not to focus only on offered functionalities, but also to make sure it can be tailor-made to fit the company needs, that there is everyday customer support available and there would be specific HR statistics to analyze.
- Studioworks follows metrics such as number of candidates per position, the speed of finding the right candidate, positive experience of the candidate, recruitment campaign´s scope and statistics.
What has Studioworks reached by today?
Even though the company has reached a lot within 2 years, they still believe to have a lot to learn and to consistently develop their recruitment systems and processes. Also their target is to grow the team and the studio even further.
- They have built up a strong company with a team of 150 members.
- Live Dealer Studio operates with 8 tables and works 24/7.
- Game Presenter positions are already more known in their target audience.
- There are 3 different live casino games available – Baccarat, Sic Bo, and Roulette.
In conclusion, as can be learned from Studioworks, even in most complicated situations there is always a solution. If your business sector is unknown, job positions are unusual and you still need to recruit 100+ people within a short time scale, using smart recruitment methods, consistent communication, and employer branding, you can build up and introduce a totally new business segment. And by using suitable recruitment software you can make the recruitment process fast, effective, and convenient.
Special thanks to Britta Burket, Studioworks HR Manager, and Kadri Avloi, Studioworks recruiter, for sharing with us their recruitment learnings and guiding the reader through an interesting and challenging world of Live Dealer Studio operations recruitment.
We wish you all the best for the future!
Team of Recrur
