The current COVID-19 situation and shift in our customers’ needs have encouraged ALTEN to review its recruitment strategy. In this article, Laetitia G – Head of Recruitment, Careers and Communications at ALTEN Ltd explains how COVID-19 changed ALTEN’s approach towards candidates and gives some tips to s쳮d in an interview.

What are your responsibilities within the recruitment team at Alten?

I am in charge of defining the recruitment strategy, objectives, organisation, processes and means to support our business strategy, as well as managing and developing a team of recruiters. With our Experienced and Senior Recruiters, we also look at developing further our collaboration with Universities that deliver engineering courses and constantly look at how we can improve our candidates’ experience.

How has COVID-19 changed your recruitment strategy over the last 6 months?

COVID-19 and the impact it had on our business pushed us to be even more agile and quickly adapt to a new situation. We pushed our boundaries and had to find new ways of reaching out to candidates and interviewing them. We went from a high volume approach to focusing on more niche skills and expertise. We also had to support the development of new capabilities and explore new sectors to support our business diversification strategy. In such challenging times, we more than ever need to bring value to our customers and keep doing so through our selective recruitment process based on technical skills, soft skills and values.

What are the top 3 qualities you look for in a candidate?

• Positive attitude/enthusiasm
• Teamwork approach
• Pro-activity & curiosity

What advice would you give to a candidate applying for a role at Alten?

• Be prepared for your interviews: as obvious as this may seem, we still interview many candidates who are unprepared. Prepare your answers to typical questions a recruiter will ask you, research the company, come with questions (to me, a candidate with no questions at all is a big red flag).
• Be yourself: only then will your full potential be revealed. If you are pretending to be someone you are not, the recruiter will know straight away.
• Be ready to demonstrate how you will bring value to the company.
• Be flexible and pro-active: one of our main strengths is our adaptability; hence, we need our employees to have a flexible approach. At Alten, with the support of their line managers, we also expect our employees to take an active part in their own development.