Join us on this new exciting episode, where we pull back the curtain on our innovative employer branding tactics. Discover how we've mastered the art of captivating top talent in the tech industry, from unforgettable golden tickets to brain-teasers and drone rewards. Get an insider's view of the strategies that keep Odoo's growth skyrocketing. Our guests, Mathilde and Florence, the minds behind Odoo's Employer Branding initiatives, share their insights, successes, and even a few surprises along the way. Dive in to explore how Odoo continues to stay a step ahead in the ever-evolving world of tech talent acquisition!
And if you're more of a visual person, we've got you covered! Check out the video version of this episode right here! ______________________________________________________
Don’t forget to support us by clicking the subscribe button, leaving a review, and sharing your favourite episode!
Try Odoo for free ! Want to join our team? Explore our positions here.
Concept and realization : Lanziotti Lucas Recording and mixing : Lèna Noiset, Judith Moriset Host: Olivier Colson, Lanziotti Lucas
Join us on this new exciting episode, where we pull back the curtain on our innovative employer branding tactics. Discover how we've mastered the art of captivating top talent in the tech industry, from unforgettable golden tickets to brain-teasers and drone rewards. Get an insider's view of the strategies that keep Odoo's growth skyrocketing. Our guests, Mathilde and Florence, the minds behind Odoo's Employer Branding initiatives, share their insights, successes, and even a few surprises along the way. Dive in to explore how Odoo continues to stay a step ahead in the ever-evolving world of tech talent acquisition!
And if you're more of a visual person, we've got you covered! Check out the video version of this episode right here! ______________________________________________________
Don’t forget to support us by clicking the subscribe button, leaving a review, and sharing your favourite episode!
Try Odoo for free ! Want to join our team? Explore our positions here.
Concept and realization : Lanziotti Lucas Recording and mixing : Lèna Noiset, Judith Moriset Host: Olivier Colson, Lanziotti Lucas
Olivier:
Welcome back to Planet Odoo. We are thrilled to introduce an exciting new series today, the Sofa sessions. You might already know this series of videos from our YouTube channel where our super host, Lucas Lanciotti, engages with the best of our Odoo profiles ranging from meeting office directors to shedding a light on unique internal projects. These episodes will be your touchpoint for fascinating conversations. So whether you're lounging on your couch, enjoying a walk or cruising in your car, join us in this podcast or on YouTube for this new Sofa session.
Lucas:
Can you quickly introduce yourself?
Mathilde:
Yeah, sure. So I'm Mathilde. I'm part of the recruitment team and I've been working at Odoo for three years and a half now.
Lucas:
Nice. And Florence.
Florence:
I am Florence. I joined Odoo two years ago and I joined amazing recruitment team
Lucas:
I would like just to set the stage for a second before we delve into we we live recruiting and hiring the best possible talent, it's complicated. Therefore, employer branding kind of plays a crucial role in communicating and making sure that those set of values and culture are properly understood out there.
Mathilde:
Yeah, indeed.
Lucas:
Let's start from that concept. Can you explain to me what is employer branding?
Florence:
Sure. And it actually it's it's a question I have a lot. Employer branding is marketing in human resources. It's about promoting Odoo culture, Odoo value work environment as an employer with the current employees, but also potential ones. Of course, it's essential to attract new talents, but it's even more important to retain our employees with a job development and perspective. And usually when employees are happy at work, then they actually promote or employ brand naturally.
Lucas:
Perfect. So we can we can kind of summarize into this whole set of actions both retain the best possible talent out there.
Mathilde:
Yeah, indeed. It's essential to have both like internally and also externally. And we realized it a few years ago because we were recruiting a lot already in 2020 when I joined Odoo. And yes, I think it was one of my first calls like.
Lucas:
Nice.
Mathilde:
And you are still here. So yeah, I am quite happy about it. And we realized that it was super hard to get good profiles and we had to promote Odoo and the values of it. And we realized that employer branding was one of the solution. And so that's why we hired like Florence and Solène to join, to join our team. And now they do a really great job about it. So yeah.
Lucas:
So, there is a dedicated team to employer branding.
Florence:
Yeah, we are too.
Lucas:
Where do you sit like between marketing and HR? How do you see yourself like you play on both teams?
Florence:
We actually work with the recruitment team, but of course we collaborate a lot
Lucas:
Okay.
Florence:
It's essential.
Lucas:
Nice. I'm curious to understand more, but could you run over maybe a couple of make us understand like what were the outcomes? Was it exactly what you were hoping for? Or there's this kind of, you know, unexpected outcomes? Just tell us like, what is an employer branding action?
Florence:
Maybe we can start by defining what's a good employer branding? Good employer branding has to be authentic. I think it has to be transparent and it has to be bold. No, it is. You really do. Authentic. Why? Because here at Odoo, for example, we really focus on competencies and skills. We don't wear ties nor suit. People are very important. It's actually the main point. And that's why we collaborate a lot and we do a lot for our employees. We actually created a retention project to organize a bunch of different initiatives for employees. To give a few examples, we did a run and bike between our two offices. We organize a table conversation. We recently organized a family day, so that's really something important.
Lucas:
I saw some pictures and maybe can you just explain to the audience like what is
Mathilde:
So it was an idea from an employee. He told us that his dream was to organize a run and bike between Louvain-la-neuve and Grand-Rosière. And so basically you have to create a team of 2 or 3 people and the goal is to run and bike. So one person is on the bike and the other one is running and you have to switch when you want, actually. And the goal was to create a special bond between teams. So you have to you had to choose someone from another team than yours and. And so it was a really nice experience. Very, sweetie, because it was 32 degrees.
Lucas:
I Think it was one of the hottest days.
Mathilde:
Yeah, actually, it was one of the hottest days last summer. But it was super nice to have like, this event with all the Odooers. And I can even, like, maybe share a secret with you. The second version of the run and bike is coming soon.
Lucas:
So this just gives me also another interesting point to to lead. Employers can also engage and start their own initiatives. So they feed the employer branding.
Mathilde:
Yeah, and that's actually the best part of it. Like, we want to be authentic and we want to create trends. And when it comes from the employees, we know that it will be something that they will like. So yeah, actually, if an Odoo employee see me today and he wants to share an idea, feel free to come.
Lucas:
Talk to Mathilde then. Yeah.
Florence:
They really have a sense of belonging. That's what's really, really nice. They take initiatives themselves if they want to create a tournament. Recently we had a hockey tournament organized by some more colleagues and they actually can get money if they do sports within the teams. And they do actually they do sport. They also have a bunch of other initiatives such as Odoo Band, so they play music together. Some employees already organized a blood donation, so they really are committed and we don't have to ask, did they come naturally. Recently I got an email from someone offering to use this drone when we had events, so it just precious these kind of initiatives.
Lucas:
I also have a drone and I love flying, so.
Mathilde:
Good to know.
Lucas:
I wrote it down. Write it down. Happy to fly on Odoo event. Just to clarify, when you say that employers can get money for sports we're not sponsoring, it's just that Odoo pays a part of the bill. Yeah. Just to clarify.
Florence:
Yeah, you're right. You're right.
Lucas:
Maybe professional athletes want to become Odoo employers just...
Florence:
Who knows?
Mathilde:
Who knows? Can find.
Lucas:
Uh, let's go back and go into the what is a good employer branding action. Can you tell me about a successful action that you did externally and, and one action that didn't really go as planned?
Mathilde:
Yeah. So maybe a successful one was when we decided to give a hiring bonus to So first, why we decided to give a hiring bonus. We realized that our hiring developers was super difficult and we thought about maybe going with recruitment agencies, but it was super expensive to work with recruitment agencies like like 10K for a developer. And so we thought, okay, why not give this money to our developers instead of giving it to recruitment agencies? And so that's what we did. And I can say that definitely there was a before and an after this action. People were talking about it a lot, not always in a good way because for competitors it was like a bit difficult to cope with that. But in the end, developers when they received like two offers, one from Odoo and one from another company, Odoo, and the 10K was always like very nice to have. So that's definitely, definitely an action that was super nice and super impactful.
Lucas:
Yeah, I remember when it came out, kind of quite a big game changer. And now listening the, the, the background story, like the reason why we were able to give those 10K it makes a lot of sense. Instead of just going into a recruitment agency, you create the hype around and the communication reaches a lot more people and you get to, you know, to select from a from a big pool. Yeah, it kind of makes sense. Good. Good job. Yeah.
Mathilde:
And maybe another one. Um...
Florence:
A successful one. The brainteasers, the brainteaser was a successful one too. A dared one too. It was a punch action. We sent some brainteasers to developers but at their workplace and we invited them to apply. So of course it made a lot of noise. But that's how we do things. You know, we try and we are not afraid of doing things. We take risks. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. But that's how you evolve and how you learn. So yeah, we challenge ourselves all the time.
Lucas:
Yeah, I think that's the secret to to continue growing not just Odoo as a said that it is a fast moving, especially tech, it's a fast moving sector, it's a fast moving business and you guys are at the front line, so you need to keep punching.
Mathilde:
Yeah, it's a part of the job to have new ideas every day.
Lucas:
We can just drill down a little bit more about the internal employer branding. How do you how do you, you know, talk to the to the people internally? How do you build Odoo brand ambassadors?
Mathilde:
It's very long term action. We have to make sure that people are happy in the long term. And when people are happy at their job, they will talk about it externally. And it's what we want actually, but we want to do it very naturally with action, with the run and bike, for example, the family day, and we want people to feel happy. So we have a gym at the office, for example. We have the kitchen like the restaurant at noon. And I think it's one of the strongest points in Louvain-la-neuve and Grand-Rosière too. And as a recruiter, I can see that maybe like 40% of the applications I receive are referrals. So it means that people are happy at Odoo. And yeah, it's very important for us to keep working on this recruitment source because if people are happy and convinced about it, referrals will be too. And that's a strong way to engage with new candidates.
Florence:
Yeah, and I think a strong point too is the transparency. I mean, if anyone has a question, a doubt, they can come to the HR, talk freely. And we are transparent since the beginning. Actually, if you go online, you can have a look at the salary configurator and you can have an idea of the salary package you can get with a car, extra holiday, stuff like that. So that transparency is very important. Even with the mobility, sometimes it's taboo. If you want to change team, we actually have we actually have the example in our team. In our team, we have Laura who has a sales and she became a campus coordinator. So you can move from one team to another. Same with other offices. You want to have an experience abroad. That's possible. And I think that, you know, lack of pressure, openness, open communication is really important.
Mathilde:
Yeah.
Lucas:
If I can quickly summarize, I think what you're saying is there is all this showcase that.
Mathilde:
Yeah.
Lucas:
To, to the outside, you know, there's a gym, the food is amazing. I can certify to that look at, you know, putting some weight, all those lectures. And I just remember a funny story that you were talking about referrals, right? I just want to clarify to the audience, like, what is the referral program?
Mathilde:
So actually, we have a program where if someone you knows apply at Odoo, you being hired. Um, so yeah, that's basically the referral program.
Lucas:
Going back to my drone, I bought it with the money of a referral program, so
Mathilde:
Yes! And that will make the full cycle.
Lucas:
Yeah. I referred, I received a reward.
Mathilde:
And then you employ your brands for that.
Lucas:
It goes.
Mathilde:
Around. We're going to talk about it afterwards because.
Lucas:
Oh, that's that's great. I really appreciate, you know, the two of you being here. I think it's always interesting to to understand the the the strategy behind, you know, the recruitment because, well, I really like the people and I really like, you know, the environment that you guys build. And it's not easy to build an environment with people that, you know, has the kind of same passion and the same mindset.
Mathilde:
Yeah, indeed. Um, but I think we also attract what we try to create. So it's a work of every day. It's not like we cannot sleep for a month and then wake up and then, oh, we have to recruit. It's a work that we have to do every day, but in the end it pays off. So yeah, I can say that we're kind of proud of it, actually.
Florence:
Yeah. And we like the challenge of it every day. Reinventing ourselves. What we did last year worked. It won't work today, but that's what's exciting with the job.
Lucas:
If we're going to forward look into this, let's let's talk about about the your plans for the for the upcoming year? Do you have anything in the pipe?
Mathilde:
So I would say that employer branding is a very fast paced environment. We have to create new ideas every day. So I think that's the main challenge, actually, getting ahead of the other companies and other ideas. Um, so yeah, the job market has changed in the past few years, so we noticed that now it's the candidates who has the choice and can really decide in which company you will apply to. So we want to be top of mind when people have to choose. A new employer. And so that's the challenge of today and of tomorrow.
Florence:
That's why when we organize stuff, we always talk to people coming to see what We always question ourselves continuously.
Lucas:
That means using all the possible tools. So you're definitely like pretty active on social media, LinkedIn, whatever, universities, that's part of what you do.
Mathilde:
Yes, we try to be like everywhere.
Lucas:
Everywhere.
Mathilde:
Yeah. It's not easy, but I'm everywhere.
Florence:
Maybe with a different message, of course, because the target is different, but
Lucas:
And one thing I would like to understand, the work that you do is focused in Even though Odoo is having this always higher. Or let's let's frame it differently. Odoo is looking globally evermore because we're opening a lot of offices and etc. Can you give me this, this kind of framework of how your work is focusing on Belgium, but you are trying to tap into that global expansion that Odoo is, is currently ongoing.
Mathilde:
So as you know, Odoo is a Belgian company. And so when we open new offices, what we do is that we onboard first the HR in Belgium. So recently we had Lucy, Olga and Indira, so three new HR from the Italian, Valencia and also German office. And so they all came to Belgium to get the training. And then we we gave them some advice on how to promote Odoo, the employee branding strategy. But we gave them our advice based on our experience in Belgium. And so now they have all the information they want, but they have to create their specific strategy based on their countries.
Florence:
Yeah, I think we one ever have one employee branding strategy, but it has to be different, but the base is important to set it together.
Lucas:
Yeah, I'm thinking each each country will have different incentives. The job market, the people, you know, have different. Well, exactly. Incentives towards.
Mathilde:
And expectations.
Lucas:
And expectations.
Florence:
Values too.
Lucas:
Some people value more flexibility. Some countries would expect a bit more higher rewards in terms of, I don't know, work from home. Etc. Etc. There is like this big, big variety of of of pools of talents and their preferences.
Mathilde:
Indeed, for example, we noticed that in Belgium it's super important to offer a But in Germany we were talking with Olga and she was like, No one offers a company car, so it wouldn't make sense to promote it and to be like, Hey guys, we promote like the company car. So it's one point, but it's very different from one country to the other.
Lucas:
So then there in Berlin and I think there everybody uses public transport.
Mathilde:
Like so it wouldn't make sense. But yeah, it's important to know it from the beginning.
Lucas:
Great. But I think it's still important to have one centralized message, which
Mathilde:
Yeah, exactly. During the training we we teach them about the Odoo values, the And I would say that being friendly is also part of the Odoo culture. Like everyone you meet is super friendly and you can have a nice conversation with everyone. And I think it's part of the success of Odoo.
Florence:
Yeah, the openness, the yeah, the communication, the openness, the Yeah. Flat hierarchy.
Lucas:
Thanks again for this lovely discussion. It was very insightful.
Mathilde:
Thank you.Lucas
Lucas:
If you have one last piece of advice for the people that are looking to to
Florence:
Be curious. Go on our job page and we have a little challenge for you.
Mathilde:
Yeah. So as we said before, we like creativity. So if you want to attract us, I really recommend to apply in a creative way. So I won't say more. What's creative, what's not, But.
Lucas:
Interesting. What does that mean?
Mathilde:
We really love like little videos, super creative resumes, so we want to be open And we expect very creative outcome.
Florence:
Break the code. We we just we are looking forward to to see what you have. You can send us.
Lucas:
Brilliant you got the message be creative and apply now there's a lot of job Mathilde Thanks again. Florence.. You guys are delightful. This was a very interesting and insightful conversation and I hope to see you guys soon on the run and bike.
Mathilde:
Yes!
Florence:
For sure.
Lucas:
Hope it's not the hottest day of the year again.
Mathilde:
We'll see.
Lucas:
There's five hot days in Belgium per year and.
Mathilde:
It has to be on the run and bike. Surprise, that's like that in Belgium.
Lucas:
For you guys out there. This is episode 8 and I'll catch you on the episode 9 where we're going to have a really interesting profile from an Odoo employee. Thank you very much. And I'll catch you guys on the next one.
Olivier:
Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Sofa sessions on Planet Odoo. Did you find it entertaining? Did it leave you craving for more? We'd love to know. Don't hesitate to share your thoughts and subscribe to the show. And hey, if you're in the mood for more visual content, head on over to our YouTube channel for the video version of this episode. Thank you for being a part of this amazing experience. Until next time, Cheers.
