Inclusion - a key in Boliden's international recruitment

Skellefteå is expanding and the need for workers is great. Supplying skills is a challenge for many employers and international recruitment can be a solution. Boliden has recruited several talented people from other countries to Skellefteå and the mining company has methods to reach out to the right target groups and help new employees settle in when they arrive.

Boliden does not keep statistics on the nationalities of its employees, but Nina Mikaelsson, HR manager at Boliden's mining staff, says that there are an estimated 20 to 30 international employees working at the Boliden office, a few miles west of central Skellefteå.

- They work mainly as geologists, but also on the engineering side with automation, mining technology and mine planning, and we have international employees in IT, says Nina.

In addition to advertising vacancies on social media, Boliden uses the Swedish Public Employment Service's international channels and the Careermine site, which is aimed at people with skills in demand in the mining industry.

- Our recruitment team conducts target group analyses together with the managers, looking at which channels work best for each target group. The managers have a good grasp of the difficult recruitment areas," says Nina.

Inviting final candidates

It's not unusual for Boliden to invite final candidates to Skellefteå before employment contracts are signed.

- We show them around the Boliden area and the sites where they will be working to give them a good idea of what it's like to live and work in our latitudes. We give them an internal checklist, where we inform them about how to get in touch with the authorities, what Boliden can do for them and what benefits the company offers," says Nina and continues:

- At the Boliden office, we also have a group that plans and works with different leisure activities for our employees, a way to make everyone feel included. Managers and close colleagues also encourage international employees to join an association.

Boliden is also part of the MindDig platform, which aims to attract people to northern Sweden and make them stay. The site advertises job vacancies and also provides a wealth of information about living and working in the north.

Benefits and challenges

Advertising jobs internationally increases the chances of reaching people with the right skills, and Nina sees several benefits of diversity in the workplace.

- Several research reports show that it leads to increased creativity and efficiency in the workplace. In mines elsewhere, they may work in different ways and then the employee can bring new experiences to us. People from other cultures can make us think differently about how we approach challenges," says Nina, who has a tip for companies looking to start recruiting internationally.

- A first step is to think about whether there are barriers or your own prejudices that have contributed to your failure to recruit internationally and then work on them. This could be language or other internal barriers within the organisation. I can also recommend companies to contact the Migration Board to get information about work permits, personal identity numbers and other elements that are useful to know.

The challenge that Boliden shares with other employers in Skellefteå is that potential co-movers must also find a job and find the right place in Skellefteå. The housing issue is another.

- Housing supply is a social challenge in Skellefteå right now as the place grows. We have a limited number of homes in Boliden that we can support new employees with until they settle in," says Nina.