Meet The Right People team – Finland

Right People Group has Danish roots but has grown to be a truly international company delivering IT consultants across Europe. Our Consultant Managers come from all corners of Europa and are here to assist you whether you are an IT freelancer or a company in need of expertise for your next project.

Find out who picks up the phone when you call us regarding a request for the Finnish market: meet Leo Laitinen for a little Q&A!

Who are you, and what led you to the position as a consultant manager at Right People Group?

I am Leo Laitinen, I am the Head of Finland and consultant manager here at Right People Group. For the time being in Berlin, I work at our international office.

What led me here is especially the fast advancement of the IT industry and the great opportunities that lie therein, as well as the international environment that our office has to offer.

“If the personality of the consultant is well aligned with the
client’s workforce and culture, it is a match made in heaven”

What differentiates Right People Group from other IT consultant agencies?

Because we work with independent IT consultants, we are not restricted to any particular technology or consultancy role. We offer a wide variety of consultants, from software developers to architects, from IT project managers to strategic advisors, and so on.

No matter how niche the IT need is, there will always be a specialist that we can find. This makes it easier for the customer – they do not need a specific partner for every branch of IT service but can have one source for all the IT-related human resource needs of the company.

It is easy to work with us. We manage the recruitment process at our own risk, without any obligations or initial payments. In my opinion, we are also quite flexible when it comes to finding good contractual terms that satisfy all parties.

CONTACT LEO

Tell me about a recent project you worked on that illustrates your daily job.

My daily work usually consists of a few parallel projects, but the typical workflow of every project starts with a phone call where I scope the project together with the client. After that, it is time to publish the project (the client remains anonymous) on our website and distribute it to the consultants who have signed up to our project email list. Most projects are also published on different job portals and forums depending on the specific role and technology, to efficiently reach the right people.

LinkedIn plays an important role in our search in Finland. I like to share our open projects with my network as well. But all the above are more passive ways to source than active and often not sufficient.

Actually, most of my time during any given project goes into an active search for the best consultant. For that, I use the LinkedIn Recruiter platform. After some searching, I like to call potential candidates directly and talk about the assignment. A lot of communication and organizing takes place after these phases with scheduling interviews, setting up contracts, etc. Any time I have left besides projects I use to contact Finnish businesses to expand my network and see if there is room for cooperation in one way or the other.

Can you share a challenge you faced and how you solved it?

I face different kinds of challenges every day. There seems to be a one fits all solution to these: communication.

“I face different kinds of challenges every day.
There seems to be a one fits all solution to these: communication”

In the hunt for the right consultant for a specific job, what are the most important qualities and traits you look for?                    

Projects do vary a lot by customer but I could say that things I always look for are: the length of the consultant’s customer relationships, what the actually achieved business benefits are in the projects he or she worked on – very important point – and of course, whether there are any good references; have the clients been satisfied with the delivered work in general?

Additionally, if the personality of the consultant is well aligned with the client’s workforce and culture, it is a match made in heaven.

How do you evaluate a project?

Before the project starts, I evaluate it with the knowledge and experience that I have from previous similar projects. I like to ask for feedback when a project has started and when it is coming to an end. I have this discussion with both the client and the consultant – both opinions are quite important to know whether the project was a success or not and to help me get even better at matching projects and consultants.

RECEIVE JOBS ON MAIL

When do you feel that you did a good job? Give an example if possible.

Personally, three things need to come together in order for me to say that I have done a good job. Those are speed, quality, and price.

Organizational IT needs can be very dynamic. More often than not, the need for an IT consultant is very urgent. This makes speed one of the most important qualifiers for doing my job well. If I can find the perfect consultant, with an amazing price – but it takes me a month, then it might already be too late.

On the other hand, of course, speed does not help you at all without the necessary quality. In our context, quality references to the level of experience the consultant have – but not just that – many consultants can be experienced without being true experts in their fields.

Usually, the real challenge is to find a consultant within the customer budget.  Sometimes negotiation is needed – either with the client or the consultant – to make sure that the project goals can be met with the given financial resources. My share cannot become an issue either, which is why I like to be completely open and transparent about the margins that we have.

It is always rewarding to get these three things together – it never fails to give an extra boost to my day.

What is your greatest career accomplishment?

To be able to give more than you take. To the company, to clients and others. The more I can do that, the happier I am.

What do you like about your job at RPG and what motivates you to come to work every day?

The great thing about working at Right People Group is that there is a very encouraging work atmosphere and that you meet people with diverse, interesting backgrounds while having supportive colleagues around you. What motivates me a lot is to hear from both the client and the consultant how they have been happy with the project and the accomplished work. It is probably the best that one can get in this job.

“My share cannot become an issue either, which is why I like to be completely open and transparent about the margins that we have”

Why did you choose to work in the IT industry?

The industry is growing and it does not seem to stop from growing anytime soon. I think that if I can become really good at one thing related to the IT industry, it can guarantee many opportunities in the future.

I also think that IT sourcing is becoming more and more vital. There is strong competition for skilled IT experts worldwide. At the same time, more and more IT professionals decide to become entrepreneurs and independent consultants. It is a very interesting time to work with consultants in this industry.

Looking for an IT contractor? Let us help you!

Delivering developer and IT consultants on a flexible on-demand basis is at the core of our business. We find profiles that are perfectly matched to our customers’ specific needs, and we do it fast. If you are also looking for expert IT resources for your project or team, then don’t hesitate to get in touch with us and let us show you how we can deliver exactly the IT profile that you are missing. Within a few days, we will present one or more hand-picked CV’s that we believe are a good match for your project. It is always 100 % free and without obligations to test our service – you only pay, if you decide to work with one of the candidates that we have presented.