Recruiting talent for IT software & solutions service providers is not easy. Good Web Developers / Designers and Java Developers are scarce. BSL uses our own website, LinkedIn, Indeed, recruiters and social platforms to find new talent. But when you’re a European Software supplier, looking to recruit & hire across Europe, you need to (borrowing from Apple), “Think Different”. And that’s just what the Keylane Careers team has been doing…
Keylane
Keylane is a leading SaaS provider in the insurance & pension industry in the Benelux, DACH & Nordics. Their success has led to an impressive growth:
- 830+ employees.
- 10 offices in the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
- Turnover of €94 million (2018).
To maintain their growth they need new talent. Such as Java Developers and Web Designers for their Product Development teams. But they also need Business Consultants, Business Analysts, Actuaries, and Implementation Specialists.
To help them boost their visibility and brand awareness, and to recruit people with the skills they need, Keylane decided to introduce a new Keylane Careers website. And they asked BSL to help.
Keylane Careers website
From the start the goals were clear. It was to be International, profiling each of the countries in which Keylane operates. The Keylane brand used in the Corporate site was also a given. But the Keylane Careers website needed its own, unique identity.
Led by Minka van den Burg (Manager Talent Acquisition Benelux & DACH), Keylane chose to create a dynamic, modern Careers website. A website using storytelling, videos and creative content to illustrate the Keylane culture.
They delivered a short briefing, defining their vision, and the structure they wanted.
Keylane is not a company with masks and uniforms. They prefer that people are themselves. That’s why we’ve agreed to behave exactly the same way at work, as we do at home. Simply because it makes us happy and we believe a company is only as awesome as the people within it. That’s why we strive to bring onboard passionate people with amazing talent, and we work hard to support them in both professional and personal health and development.
Minka van den Burg (Manager Talent Acquisition Benelux & DACH).
A video production company and photographers started work almost immediately, creating personal people stories about Keylane colleagues from Germany, Denmark… and the Netherlands. Focusing on their personal life, hobbies, personalities and personal goals – not just work. Because at Keylane you can “Be Yourself”. And it’s a perfect way to attract like-minded, unique individuals with the skills Keylane needs.
The role of BSL
With our extensive experience of custom website development, as well as WordPress and Drupal, BSL was first asked to recommend a framework to create the site. We opted for Divi® by Elegant Themes.
Using Divi/Wordpress we created a basic framework for the site, adopting a Divi “child-theme” encapsulating the Keylane house-style. So pages added to the site automatically inherit the Keylane brand. Alongside the many off-the-shelf Divi components (texts, blurbs, lists, galleries, sliders…) we designed new widgets such as footers that can be dragged and dropped into the new pages. A “Lego-like” approach, making it easy for both BSL and Keylane designers to build beautiful, fully responsive pages. So the whole site looks good on mobiles, and on computers.
During the project we hosted the website on one of our servers. With support from BSL, Keylane learnt to use Divi, and added their own content to their site. We provided advice when needed, and handled most of the technical details, such as support for multi-lingual content, privacy controls and Google Tag Manager/Analytics. Most importantly, we created a custom Workable plugin for the website.
What is Workable?
For those unfamiliar with Workable: This is a leading hiring platform. They provide in-house recruiters and hiring teams with more ways to find more qualified candidates, and help them work together to identify and hire the best talent.
The BSL Workable plugin for Keylane Careers
Keylane uses Workable Cloud services to manage their recruitment process. Setting up vacancies, creating application forms, accepting and processing applications.
While the new Keylane Careers website was under development, we used a “standard” Workable widget to show Keylane openings in their old site, styling the results to match their house-style. We wanted to offer more, so we developed a new Workable plugin. Our custom Workable plugin means that candidates can apply job filters, choosing the location, department, or job type in which they are interested:
Want to work in Denmark? Just choose Denmark as the location. Java Developer? Add Java to the keywords, and then browse through the available opportunities. You can also view the full job description within the Keylane Careers site, as well as submit your application and CV.
We created the Workable plugin over a couple of weeks, and fine-tuned it together with Keylane. Our experience was key to this rapid delivery. After all, we’ve built Careers websites for other clients, and plugins for other platforms, including an AFAS plugin used by the WCC Group.
Fast and Agile teamwork
This has been a fast-moving, Agile project. From start to finish, under 8 weeks. Both parties (Keylane / BSL) focusing on the activities in which they excel. Minka, Erin, Emily and Jackie (all from Keylane) were responsible for the concept, preparing the content, and coordinating the many contributors. Our Web Developers provided advice, and handled the technical work. Together we were able to deliver a lightweight, modern, fast, responsive website that we hope will be a great step forward for Keylane Recruitment.
There are still opportunities for SEO improvements, and localized (German, Danish) pages might be added in the future. But our work is done, and the site went live on Friday, 3rd May. We will follow its impact on Keylane recruitment with interest.
If you need help from our Agile web development team with your next project, give us a call.
