The Deaconess Foundation of Helsinki is a non-profit foundation that works courageously for a life with dignity. The 156-year-old Deaconess Foundation, together with its social enterprise Rinnekodit Oy, provides impressive social and health services for people in need of special support. It employs more than 3 400 people nationwide.
In the spring of 2024, through Avila’s Executive Search, a motivated and experienced Director of Property Management was found for the Helsinki Deaconess Foundation to be responsible for the overall management of the real estate operations unit and the Foundation Group’s real estate.
Kim Jolkkonen has been appointed to the position and has started in the role of Director of Property Management and as a member of the Rinnekoti management team in August 2024. Jolkkonen brings more than 20 years of extensive experience in construction and real estate management to the Deaconess Foundation.
A clear strategy lays the foundations for successful cooperation
In the spring of 2024, Mari Rautiainen, HR Director of the Deaconess Institute Group, was looking for a direct search partner to support the organisation’s recruitment objectives in recruiting a new director of property management.
Rautiainen explains how a quick first meeting with Avila, a clear service description and a recruitment roadmap reinforced the positive image and supported the decision to choose Avila as a direct search partner. “We had not worked with Avila before, but the high-quality initial meeting made our decision to choose a direct search partner for this recruitment easy“, says Rautiainen.
The recruitment started in May 2024 and the process was facilitated in collaboration with the Deaconess Foundation stakeholders, Avila’s Executive Search consultant, project manager and assessment psychologist.
“We appreciated the clear plan provided at the beginning of the process. Based on this, the recruitment process proceeded quickly and smoothly step by step. In addition, the way Avila’s team of experts worked felt flexible and professional throughout the process, making the whole process particularly effective“, says Rautiainen.
Foundation's employer image and the versatility of the role as strong motivating factors
A clear set of criteria for the role, defined with the Deaconess Foundation at the beginning of the recruitment process, supported the identification of profiles that were in line with the strategy. The role of the Director of Property Management attracted a lot of interest, which was reflected in the number of candidates activated through the direct search and the number of applications received through the call for applications.
In general, the Deaconess Institute was well known among candidates and the employer image of the organisation was seen as very positive. In particular, the values of the Foundation, its accountability and the opportunities offered by the role to manage and develop large complexes of buildings were identified as strong motivating factors.
“The Helsinki Deaconess Foundation’s significant and responsible social activities were important to many candidates. The size of the property complex to be managed and the diverse areas of responsibility involved were also clear key factors that attracted so much interest to the role“, says Mikko Savusalo from Avila, who acted as project manager in the recruitment process.
Rautiainen particularly appreciated the number of active candidates and their high level of skills: “We even faced a selection problem, as really qualified candidates were activated for the recruitment. During the recruitment process we interviewed several of them and as the process progressed to the final stages, our final decision was supported by Avila’s psychological assessments.”
Executive Search assessment provides concrete support for decision making
The importance of identifying candidates’ strategic understanding, vision and leadership skills and abilities is particularly important in executive recruitment. The recruiting organisation is supported in this by both the pre-interviews conducted by the executive search consultant and by aptitude assessments tailored to the recruitment of managers.
In the case of the recruitment of the Director of property management, the personal assessments were carried out in the final stages of the recruitment process, which provided the Deaconess Institution with additional objective information on, for example, the candidates’ working and interpersonal skills and management style.
“We were very pleased that the recruitment process included personal assessments. Their added value was very clear here,” says Rautiainen, adding “The assessment reports clarified and supported our decision-making. We also received excellent feedback from the candidates involved in the process.“
Avila congratulates Kim Jolkkonen and thanks the Helsinki Deaconess Foundation and Mari Rautiainen for their cooperation, and wishes them success in the autumn!
Keywords
- Executive Seach
Published
Contact Us
Matias Saarni
040 359 0156
matias.saarni[at]avila.fi