Nokia, Employer of the Year

Algonquin College is among the top three post-secondary institutions across Canada that telecommunications tech giant Nokia draws its young talent from.

The mutually beneficial relationship is ‘extremely important’ to Nokia, assures Campus Relations and Program Manager, Linda Krebs. She is responsible for all aspects of early talent attraction, branding and retention for the Kanata high-tech anchor.

And it is that connection that led to the College naming Nokia as this year’s recipient of the Employer of the Year honour as part of its Alumni of Distinction Awards program.

“Time after time, Algonquin College turns out well-rounded students with needed hands-on practical experience,” Krebs said.

It is a win-win for the two institutions as many of Nokia’s employees are also professors at the college.

Krebs says she was humbled on first learning of the accolade from Mark Savenkoff, Vice-President, Strategy at Algonquin College.

“We were not expecting it. We have had great relationships with Algonquin College for many years. Just in the time I joined here (almost three years ago), there are just a lot more conversations that are happening, partnerships, long-term collaborative partnerships that I can foresee being really positive wins for both Algonquin College and Nokia as well. We’re very honoured to be recognized.”

Nokia is targeting 500 student hires this year from across the country, with Algonquin College grads expected to fill 15 percent of those positions.

Last year 57 students from the College’s computer program were hired.

Just because of the sheer number of people working at Nokia, Mike Anderson, a popular professor in the College’s computer program, promises you are going to find hundreds of Algonquin College grads at the Kanata headquarters.

One of things that have been beneficial to Nokia, Krebs adds, are ongoing discussions with the College’s professors and faculty deans about the curriculum.

“That has been helpful too in terms of what is needed from Nokia’s perspective in terms of the talent the education institution is providing to us,” said Krebs.

The College’s computer program has a more than 20-year working relationship with Nokia and through a formal agreement, Algonquin College incorporates Nokia’s technology, material and equipment into the curriculum on the Woodroffe campus to teach students.

“So, from a management perspective, they have someone who is literally ready to roll. That’s when they started hiring more and more and more of our students,” said Anderson, pointing to cases where he has sent a resume from one of his top students and that student has received a call from someone at NOKIA within hours hoping to set up an interview.

“It speaks to the recognition of the good fit between (not every job) but certain jobs there and what we do at Algonquin College. I think that quick turnaround tells you what that working relationship is worth.”

With the telecommunications industry operating at light speed, skillsets for employees are always changing.

With that rapid change, constant communication with post-secondary institutions like Algonquin College is vital and critical to making sure early talents are tailored to the needs of the tech industry and the rapidly changing skills that are coming out of that.

What makes Algonquin College students so valuable, says Krebs, is their practical training.

“There are certain business groups that really value that in terms of the College’s students – that being hands-on ready. There are certain programs that are very hands-on that we have had a lot of success with from Algonquin College and that is proven time and time again”

What also makes Nokia attractive for those entering the workforce is the culture that is fostered on the Kanata North Business Park campus.

“We try to make it a community,” Krebs stressed.

This is accomplished through social engagements, and professional learning and development workshops.

“So, someone who is coming in as a full-time employee as a new grad they join what we call a new professional community,” Krebs pointed out. “There is the social aspect, helping them meet like-minded individuals across North America, but they also get coaching and learning development workshops so that hopefully they will still enjoy and learn and develop and be engaged.”

Grads are also attracted by a diverse workforce at Nokia.

As much as Krebs’ priority is on the talent acquisition side, her role with Nokia is two-fold. She works on the diversity, equity and inclusion team for all of Canada and on top of recruitment, retention is also paramount.

“There are a few things we look at to make sure that we are being inclusive with our employees. How do we engage our employees, how do we create a culture where employees want to stay with our organization. Every day you are learning. When we look at diversity, again we’re trying to create a lot of initiatives with regard to equity, diversity and inclusion work that will help individuals feel included and that the work they are doing is impactful in our organization.”

One of the things Krebs did when she started at Nokia was reach out to partnering educational institutions across Canada, including Algonquin College, and ask what they were doing on the diversity front.

“I basically said what are your diversity stats. What are you doing as a post-secondary institution to make sure you are bringing diverse students into your faculty and student population because ultimately that would affect who we have from a talent management pipeline into our organization. It was really interesting to see actually. At the time I started there were some schools that didn’t look at that, didn’t consider that at all. They said to me you are the first employer to ever ask that. Since then, times have changed, and it is everywhere. But at that time, it was critical in terms of what we were doing in an organization. It was very interesting to see. I like the fact Algonquin College has a diverse population.”