First and foremost, a big thanks goes out to the working group – which included representatives from the entire university – for their important work on improving digital support for our recruitment processes.

In connection with the configuration and implementation of the new system, the working group has taken a so-called ‘agile’ project management approach. In brief, this means that instead of describing and planning the entire project plan at the beginning of a project, you divide it up into smaller parts which are then developed in intense sub-projects, or sprints.

In relation to the development of the recruitment system, for example, you might spend a two-week spring on defining how academic appointments are to proceed at AU. As I see it, the advantage of working this way is that it’s easier to take the kinds of changes that often occur in the external conditions for a project into account along the way.

According to the agile approach, you always do the most important tasks first, so an important aspect of the process is to continually prioritise the next steps to be taken. This method also allows the project group to continually learn, produce results and adjust the project and its priorities.

I think the agile approach to projects is a very exciting way to think about project management, and I would definitely recommend that both managers and employees consider whether it could be relevant for them. If you have any questions about the method, competency development or anything else, I am sure that our colleagues in AU HR would be happy to share their experiences with you.

The new e-recruitment system is also an example of how we are moving away from having customised IT systems that we develop and maintain ourselves, and which we host on our own servers, to choosing standardised IT systems from external suppliers and so-called cloud solutions which don’t require us to make room for them on our servers.

My ambition is definitely for us to use more systems of this kind in the future. This is often the wises choice, because it frees us of responsibility for a lot of maintenance and development – and by extension, of having to have a lot of specialised IT competencies in house.

I hope that all of you who work with recruitment will welcome the new system when it launches officially on 4 December.  I’m sure that it will help us make recruitment smarter – and that our recruitment efforts will become even more professional and well-organised.

As always, I’d like to encourage you to express any comments or questions you might have, either by posting below or by email. 

• Read more about the new system here