Page 24 - Mellby Gård Yearbook 2018–2019

STUDENTCONSULTING
THE SECTOR’S MOST SATISFIED CUSTOMERS FOR THE FOURTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR
StudentConsulting has a critical role to play in the transformation of the Swedish labour market. With its digital tools, the company is at the forefront in recruitment and staffing nationwide, standing prepared as a private alternative as the Swedish Public Employment Service is restructured.
StudentConsulting is one of Scandinavia’s leading staffing and recruitment companies. It all began with mediating hourly and substitute positions for students in northern Sweden. Since then, the operations have developed and now provide nationwide service in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, as well as recruitment of young academics and trained professionals. Over the past year, StudentConsulting has helped 11,554 people find work.
Today’s annual sales of almost SEK 1 billion derive from staffing, recruitment, substitution and job matching. Since its inception more than 20 years ago, the company has grown enormously. The company now generates in ten days the equivalent of its fully-year sales 13 years ago.
On four occasions, this growth has been rewarded with Dagens Industri’s Gazel Award for Northern Sweden. This is presented to the fastest growing profitable company, resulting in StudentConsulting this year receiving the Master Gazelle Award, making it the company to have won the Swedish Gazelle Award the most times in the past 20 years.
For MD and founder Tobias Lindfors, the recipe for success lies in a methodical initiative in digital job matching.
“It is surprising how analogue and manual the recruitment industry remains. With our digital tools, we have been able to make our operations efficient, both for ourselves and for the job seekers. With our tools, job seekers can apply for jobs across the country, or in a neighbouring country, without having to physically travel around the country to attend job interviews”, says Tobias Lindfors.
The company’s recruitment and staffing system is called TalentChannelTM. It has evolved gradually over the years and flexibly and rapidly matches job applicants with employers, with video-CVs and individual tests being part of the matching process. In 2005, StudentConsulting was the first to use digital video CVs, in which job applicants are recorded on video. This is a way of digitizing the regular job interview and gives applicants the opportunity to present their personal characteristics, which can be crucial for a young person as yet unable to fill a traditional CV.
For customers, including companies and municipalities, “just in time” staffing is becoming increasingly important as a complement to their regular staff. With TalentChannelTM, customers can follow the job matching process in real time, through which StudentConsulting can provide staff at an hour’s or a couple of hours’ notice – in the morning, for example, when a customer needs substitute workers for the same day. The company currently has 119 framework agreements with large companies, organizations, authorities and municipalities. HR managers and other recruitment and staffing clients around the country are increasingly becoming aware of StudentConsulting’s digital system.
While the recruitment and staffing industry is struggling with low margins, with an industry average of about 3 percent, StudentConsulting is able to show an EBITDA margin of about 6 percent for 2018/2019. Profitability is increasing in pace with the company moving up the value chain with increasingly advanced recruitment assignments.
24 | MELLBY GÅRD – YEARBOOK 2018 / 2019