KDA has hired over 300 new employees during the pandemic, and is still in need of 300 new hires the coming year!
During the pandemic, the company has recruited 321 new employees, where 149 has moved to or lives in the city of Kongsberg - and the company is still on the look-out to find skilled people to join their team. KDA is dependent on finding competent people who are willing to join a company with incredible growth, and they have a large unmet need for new hires in 2021.
“Estimated, we need to recruit more than 260 people this year,” says an enthusiastic Mette Kokkvoll Hagen. Hagen works as a Senior HR Advisor at KDA and is herself an “expat” living in Kongsberg. She says it is fun to think about the effect 149 new employees has on a city, especially since a majority of them permanently moved to Kongsberg with their families.
KDA uses a factor of 3 when calculating how many who are actually moving, Hagen explains. If 150 new hires moves to a city, it means that there are 450 new people relocating. 450 new people relocating to a city has a great positive impact on the local economy.
“The positive operating profit is only thanks to our skilled employees and partner,” says Ørjan Stengelsrud. Stengelsrud, a 5th generation KONGSBERG-employee, is the Executive Vice President Business Support in KDA. “We have never been bigger, and it’s in stark contrast to how the pandemic has affected the society in general.”
Corporate social responsibility
KDA has completed two large campaigns the last two years, resulting in the recruitment of 653 new hires in Norway. According to the HR Department, 94% of all employees in KDA works in Norway, and 80% of the 94 has their workplace in Kongsberg. Doing their part in contributing to the local economy, strengthening the city of Kongsberg and the greater community in general is of the utmost importance to KDA – and the corporate social responsibility is reflected in the total number of new hires this past year.
“We are writing industrial history,” says a proud Stengelsrud.
Edited for the purpose of K-magazine. Original article first published on www.kongsberg.no, 04.05.21.
