One of the world’s largest data processing and credit assessment companies “TransUnion” has entrusted its IT service center in Kaunas with the provision of all technology solutions for other “TransUnion” divisions. During this year alone, the team at the Kaunas division has grown by more than a third.
“TransUnion”, operating in Kaunas since 2012, can be proud of giving all possible opportunities to employees’ growth and building careers. Many talents join “TransUnion” while still studying or immediately after graduation. The truth is, usually, employees do not get stuck in a starting position: during this year alone, out of 217 team members, 74 were promoted and 34 moved to other departments.
“We strongly believe that in this way we are contributing to talent development and increasing the attractiveness of Kaunas city for foreign investors who can expect to find the necessary competent specialists when they come to Kaunas,” says Marija Vaičiulytė – Balčė, Head of HR Department at “TransUnion Lithuania” office.
Plans for universal development
“TransUnion Lithuania” currently provides IT services to “TransUnion UK”, assists with the development and maintenance of basic products, providing platform-based infrastructure, data and system security, and business insights to results analysis. The pride of the company is database specialists who are among the strongest in Kaunas: they grew up with the company and can now share their experience with younger colleagues.
The decision to transfer more services and functions to Lithuania also proves the excellent ability of Kaunas residents to cope with their tasks and meet the expectations of an international company.
“Kaunas is an attractive place for IT companies in general because it has educational institutions such as Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) or Kaunas University of Applied Sciences (Kauno Kolegija), which provide excellent technology background to future professionals. Besides, IT companies are still discovering Kaunas, so the competition for talent here is present but not so fierce. And in terms of infrastructure, the city itself is well positioned to welcome foreign investors, both with its Free Economic Zone, new office buildings and a nearby airport,” says Jonas Lukošius, Head of “TransUnion Lithuania” office.
Meanwhile, the growing number of employees in Kaunas is already causing “TransUnion” to think about the expansion of the office: although at this time there is still enough space, it is obvious that they will have to expand next year. It is expected that the growth will include not only the workforce but also the number of customers and the range of services offered to other “TransUnion” divisions.
Talent is nurtured through partnerships and in-house academies
A significant number of “TransUnion” employees are graduate students, for whom “TransUnion” becomes their first job: young people work in a customer service department where the only requirement is English language skills and work experience is not necessary.
The other group of employees is specialists with IT/technical experience. Interestingly, a significant proportion of such specialists have developed their skills inside the company and have dedicated their lives to IT, although they once studied totally different subjects: social sciences or humanities.
“We are always looking for experienced IT professionals and invite them to join our team for interesting projects and ambitious goals. However, we have plenty of stories which prove that for a good IT specialist, education is sometimes not as important as a passion for a particular IT field, a motivation, a desire to grow and improve,” says Head of HR department.
On the other hand, Marija admits that competition for employees is undoubtedly present: highly experienced IT professionals are the hardest to find, therefore, one of the ways to solve this problem is to nurture talent in-house by investing in employee development and training.
The company has established its own academies TUTA (for testers) and DBA (for database administrators) that provide in-house training and skills development for the employees. Such a solution soon proved to be successful: as the results of the TUTA show, after finishing it, employees can immediately put their knowledge into practice and tackle their tasks independently.
The company pays great attention to developing talent and preparing the necessary employees also by establishing partnerships with higher education institutions: cooperation agreements have been signed with KTU, active cooperation with Kaunas University of Applied Sciences community has been started, several study courses are planned for “TransUnion” employees only; the IT community is brought together by organizing KIT (Kaunas IT) Club meetings.
Information by “Kaunas IN”.
