adesso: Data-based candidate persona for optimized recruiting and employer branding

Initial situation: Growth requires targeted recruiting

adesso is one of the leading IT service providers in the German-speaking world. The company employs more than 10,400 people and continues to grow. This growth also requires the company to constantly attract new and qualified software developers and strengthen its employer brand. Until now, the approach to potential candidates has been based primarily on target group studies such as Stackoverflow or WeAreDevelopers, individual assessments, empirical values and industry trends. The central question was how the company could address suitable specialists in an even more targeted and effective way.

Challenge: Deepening understanding of the target group

In order to optimize the recruiting strategy, it was essential to understand the needs, preferences and behavior of software developers in detail: In addition to general interests, media usage and application behavior, it was important to gain insights into the character and requirements of the working environment. The aim was to use primary and secondary market research to create a valid database that integrates the developers' self-image as well as the perception of HR and specialist departments and benchmarks it against the market situation.

Solution: Development of a data-based candidate persona

In collaboration with the Persona Institute, the company initiated a market research project with the aim of creating a candidate persona for software developers.

Implementation steps:

1. Standardized surveyIn cooperation with the Persona Institute, adesso designed a detailed questionnaire that was intended to provide information about personal interests as well as general values, attitudes and challenges in the working environment. Almost 40 internal software developers took part in this survey.
2. In-depth interviewsIn addition to the quantitative survey, adesso was able to gain a detailed insight into the values, motivations and challenges of employees through in-depth interviews with selected developers.
3. Development and comparison of the data-based persona: Based on representative data from a survey of 554 software developers, the Personas Institute created a data-based candidate persona for software developers and compared and supplemented it with the findings from the adesso survey and the in-depth interviews, resulting in a 360-degree persona of the target group that allows recruiting and employer branding to immerse themselves equally in the target group's world.

Result: Targeted approach through well-founded persona

The combination of quantitative and qualitative methods resulted in a well-founded, data-based candidate persona that depicts the key characteristics, motivators, information behavior and application behavior of the target group. The comparison between self-image and external image provided valuable insights that can be used to optimize job advertisements, career websites and recruiting campaigns. For example, it became clear that developers attach great importance to details such as salary, benefits relating to "quality of life" and clear career prospects when applying, while traditional employer messages are often perceived as too vague.

"Thanks to the collaboration with the Persona Institute, adesso has a precise candidate persona that is based on real data and provides a realistic and up-to-date picture of the target group," says Dominik Röpcke-Sichelschmidt, Teamlead Employer Branding Relations.