The question from Intermax management appeared straightforward: We have a unique company, several vacancies, and we’re facing a shortage of candidates, with quality being our top priority. How can we fill these vacancies? Our response: 1) to begin at the beginning and revisit all the steps necessary for an effective talent acquisition program.
2) Improve recruitment marketing and select accurately. This will help differentiate the company and keep turnover among current colleagues low. Particularly in a competitive labor market, recruiting IT professionals requires a detailed, targeted approach.
Intermax is a leading IT services provider specializing in delivering secure, reliable cloud and IT infrastructure for socially relevant organizations.
Since 1994, Intermax has been supporting vital sectors such as hospitals, mental health institutions, and the public sector. They offer solutions ranging from online workstations and cloud services to the maintenance of critical infrastructures and data platforms. With a focus on quality and security, Intermax ensures its customers can rely on stable, robust IT environments that meet the highest standards. The recruitment of IT professionals plays a crucial role in maintaining and strengthening this position. Together with Bizway, Guida, Gridly, Guardian360, NFIR, and the i3 group, Intermax belongs to the Intermax Group.
An effective recruitment program for IT professionals starts with the target audience. Who do we want to get in touch with? How does this target group orient itself to the job market? What psychological profiles can we use to characterize the target group? Where can we meet the desired target group? What associations should an ideal employer evoke?
To find answers, we interviewed a significant number of Intermakkers who were just entering the workforce or had now established a good track record. These interviews provided valuable information for determining the labor market proposition. For the proposition and positioning, Intermax had engaged the agency Talmark. Together with Talmark, Starcheck conducted all the interviews.
The structured interviews revealed important information about the desired application journey, the distinctive characteristics of the target audience, and Intermax’s unique DNA, all of which are crucial for recruiting IT professionals.
Using insights from interviews and an online quantitative survey, the labor market communications agency Talmark developed the Intermax employer brand, including its language, color scheme, and visual identity. Additionally, they designed a career website specifically targeted at recruiting IT professionals.
Starcheck began developing personas by conducting interviews, performing additional desk research, and analyzing our anonymous assessment data from IT professionals. This process creates well-defined personas that effectively target the intended audience.
The interviews provided valuable insights into the ideal recruitment journey and key dos and don’ts from a potential employer’s perspective. With this understanding, we developed a talent attraction process that aligns with the organization’s strengths and improves the recruitment of IT professionals.
The interviews provided valuable insights into the ideal candidate journey, which is essential for recruiting IT professionals. Consequently, the marketing and selection processes were customized to meet these insights. In cooperation with Intermax, we selected an in-house Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) team to handle candidate sourcing, processing, and recruitment marketing activities. We integrated the selection into the entire journey, including a self-selecting Realistic Job Preview (RJP), an online assessment, and structured interviews.
IT professionals open to a new step want an approachable, professional, informative, and smooth process. Recruiting cannot do this alone; for this, interplay with hiring, HR, and general management is essential. Insight, education, training, and cooperation are the basis for a smooth candidate journey. Starcheck provided training, information, and presentations, and managed the program.
The collaboration between Starcheck and Intermax has significantly improved the recruitment of IT professionals, completing all aspects of the Talent Acquisition program.
The results come from carefully aligning recruitment marketing activities, the career website, recruitment processes, and interview skills.
The new approach strengthens the recruitment funnel, improves the candidate journey, and produces a quality influx of candidates.
This fact sheet provides an overview of the most commonly used (psychological) selection methods, both classical and modern. The figures are based on meta-analyses and dominant scientific literature.
| Method | Predictive validity (r) | Typical reliability |
|---|---|---|
| Cognitive ability (GMA test) | .51 | High (.85-.95) |
| Work test | .54 | High (inter-rater ≥.70) |
| Structured interview | .51 | Medium-high (.60-.75) |
| Unstructured interview | .18-.38 | Low-medium (.40-.55) |
| Integrity test | .41 | High (α ≥.80) |
| Conscientiousness (Big Five) | .31 | Medium-high (α ~.75-.85) |
| Job knowledge test | .48 | High (≥.80) |
| Years of service | .18 | Not applicable |
| Video/asynchronous interview (incl. AI) | .30-.40 | Good at structuring; algorithmically variable |
| Machine learning / algorithmic models | .20-.50 | Depends on dataset; generalizability limited |
| Serious games / game-based work samples | .35-.50 | High on objective metrics |
| Social media screening | .00-.20 | Low and variable |
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