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Marta Hammer Rasmussen has a diverse portfolio of work experience. She started her career at BDO as a Senior Associate in 2006 and worked as a Financial Analyst and Project Manager HR at Orkla ASA in 2008. In 2011, she joined Orkla Foods Norge as an HR consultant and later became an HR Manager. Returning to Orkla, she held various roles, including senior HR manager, VP of HR Corporate Functions, VP of Performance and Talent Management, and currently VP of Recruitment and Diversity Management. Marta holds a degree in Economics from the Norwegian School of Economics.
What are your daily roles and responsibilities at your organization?
I have been working with Orkla in the HR function for over ten years. I collaborated with HR generalists who worked strategically with every HR process, including talent management, performance management, and diversity and inclusion programs. Last year, we changed our operations and strategy for a sudden shift from an industrial company to a consumer goods company. Now, we are more of an investment company concentrated on standalone consumer-oriented businesses. This has changed my role from an active participant in the HR processes to HR support as the active owner of 12 portfolio companies. So, I support and secure the recruitment of the best CEOs for the portfolio companies and external board members. Along with these, I also work as HR responsible, and with all these responsibilities, my journey with the company has been interesting, shifting from one to another.
What are the prevailing challenges you think the HR sector is going through?
The HR sector has to be very keen and efficient in developing people management, including the diversity, equity, and inclusion space. It is important to prioritize diversity in the recruitment process, which has been a great aspect of the sector. But at the same time, it is very challenging to support recruiting managers or board leaders and abide by stringent rules. For instance, in Norway, the regulations require a certain proportion of gender on boards, and this becomes an eye-opener for recruiting managers while accessing substantial top talents. This drives us to focus more on the aspect of diversity, expanding the recruiting scope globally in terms of age, race, gender, etc. So, based on our perception, it becomes either a challenge or an opportunity. If we become liberal in this aspect, we can extend the candidate pool for employee retention.
“We are shaping the HR sector by incorporating emerging trends like Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs, encouraging employees to take a proactive approach for both organizational and personal development goals”
In the ever-evolving business space, the importance of recruiting potential is more demanding than focusing on experience. When it comes to the end of the recruitment process, we tend to fill the role by hiring someone instantly. We find it challenging to risk recruiting solely on potential, even though it is the path to long-term success. This is the struggle that the HR space faces to embrace the idea of completely recruiting someone based on their potential.
Can you highlight how you are addressing the challenges with any potential strategy?
We are putting our efforts into research to find the best concrete tools and guidelines to help us navigate challenging situations. When we shortlist candidates that don’t necessarily meet all the specifications and represent some kind of risk or uncertainty, we try to define which tools and techniques can make us more secure and willing over the established or experienced candidates. For instance, we have found that case studies and simulations are more helpful than adding more psychometric tests. Through these proactive methods, we can evaluate candidates in real time to check how they respond to challenges that enhance our decision-making process.
Is there any new technology or approach in the recruitment sector that you think can evolve the space?
We have an effective HR system with numerous functionalities that are helping us make HR operations seamless. We have support from performance, succession, and recruitment management. There is an unleashed potential in a proactive way of working, dealing with analytics, building reports and dashboards, and learning every trend of the organization rather than being reactive, where you speak only when a manager or an employee approaches you. This helps you stand out, showcase your skills, and contribute prominently to organizational development as an HR leader. This is the approach we take and I think every company in the recruitment sector should inherit this.
What would be the key piece of advice for your fellow peers or aspiring professionals in the HR space?
The first and foremost advice that I want to give is to understand your organization’s business model and strategy comprehensively to bring every relevant thing to the table. At the same time, it is important to know yourself and your motivation, and on that basis, you can develop in a way that gives you an edge to go deeper on the specific topics that interest you within the HR field. So, along with taking core responsibility for people management, it is also important to have competent edges to make you stand out in the herd.
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