Who are KMD

KMD is one of Denmark's largest IT and software companies with branches in Copenhagen, Odense, Aarhus and Aalborg. The largest part of KMD's business consists of its own software development, and the company develops and delivers IT solutions to municipalities, regions, the state and private companies. KMD´s Søren Billeskov, who is Head of Talent Management, describes it this way: “We privide services that enable the Danes to sleep safely at night by taking care of the processes that drive society in everyday life. It may not be something you notice much in everyday life, but if we were not there, you would very quickly notice it”.

Resources
To create the growth they want in KMD, they require a continuous influx of resources, but it is not easy to find resources. Søren says: “We started to find recruitment challenging. We have a large number of competitors, and we are all competing for the same developers and architects with eight to ten years of experience. We have to face the fact, that the supply is too small and the price is too high. So despite the fact, that we are considered an attractive workplace, it's become exceedingly difficult to recruit and we have had to come up with something different. Either we can outcompete eachother, or we can build the resources we are missing, ourselves.”

Obvious solution
KMD decided against an escalated competitive environment for resources, and chose instead to build their own Talent.

Søren says “This way, we started solving the problem, instead of continuing to contribute to a growing problem. We look at it like this; We are a large workplace, and we have a greater responsibility ”. KMD therefore chose to create its own internal graduate programme, and Readynez provided the recruitment, training and certification.

"It had to be fast, and we were under time pressure to provide resources. The Skills Gap issue was a central concern for the board of directors, so we did not want to spend alot of time putting together a program of courses, that we would manage ourselves. When we heard of Readynez, it was an obvious solution.

It is a plug and play solution that matches our needs 100%, so we were not a difficult sell for Readynez. It was obviously the right thing to do. It was almost a no-brainer. Readynez provided recruitment, training and certification, and that package made us it a perfect solution to the lack of resources. And, as an added bonus, it made only very small demands on us as an organization. ” Søren continues.

Get started quickly
Readynez built an online universe with, among other things, a website, blogs and a social media universe for KMD´s Academy, as a platform for the recruitment of the first 15 candidates, and the result was really good.

Søren says: “The recruitment process was very well structured and efficient. CVs started to come in right away and we started hiring very quickly. From the very beginning, there was great progress. Readynez were fast to provide results, and we immediately felt that this is a concept that works! ”

Niels Colding, who is Competence Manager at KMD, says: “Readynez develops the program in collaboration with us. It is professional and adjusted to our specific business requirements. The candidates we met were really good! They had a very special energy and drive. They are highly motivated and are used to learning, so they are up and running very quickly and ready to contribute.

Good for business
In terms of sending the graduates into production, it has been smooth and the young people have been well received. Søren says that at the very beginning there was some skepticism within the organization about whether or not the young people would be able to deliver, but they have been very well received, and they were quickly in high demand. Already after 6-10 months, the young Talent privide the same billable hours as the experienced people do.

Niels explains: “The young people are top-notch and bring something special in relation to the organization's development. They ask questions about things we usually do, and it makes us sharper. Occasionally we get a wakeup call and get challenged, and it provides better solutions for our customers. The young candidates are well aware of the fact, that they have been given a golden opportunity"
 
“We have received a lot of positive feedback from colleagues and customers who find the young candidates a breath of fresh air and that they come with a really good energy, and that is good for our customers and our business. The Talent Solution is here to stay - there is no doubt about that, ”Søren Billeskov concludes.