This is a guest blog post written by Avanade alum, Els Hol-Ferman.

In a world where 78% of job seekers are relying on what our employees say about Avanade on social media, Top Employer Awards are in the top 3 of my priorities! As the head of talent acquisition for Avanade Europe, I spend my days focused on how we can find the very best talent in the industry and bring them to Avanade. No small task: the technology landscape is highly competitive and always changing. What drives the best talent isn’t single-threaded. People are looking for experiences, challenges, collaborative colleagues, exciting clients, the opportunity to give back to their community and causes they are passionate about. In short, a great culture where they make a difference, can grow and are rewarded for their efforts.

Recruiting is certainly a team sport. Outside of our team of recruiters, it’s our people who give colour and an authentic voice to what it’s like to work at Avanade. No marketing spin or glossy stock photos – what you hear from our people is reflective of the company we are building and opportunities we are providing for our people.

Each year we take our culture’s pulse and we get to hear exactly what our people are thinking about us and, happily, they voted that together, every day, we make Avanade a leading and innovative employer to work for. I am proud to share that Avanade has been recognized as a Top Employer in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and China, as well as Top Employer Europe in 2016.

The Top Employers Institute assessed us thoroughly and ensured we excelled on the following criteria:

• Talent Strategy
• Workforce Planning
• On-Boarding
• Compensation & Benefits
• Learning & Development
• Performance Management
• Leadership Development

We are honored to receive these awards, but view them as sign-posts that indicate we are on the right path. We are doing the right things for our people and in turn, they are delivering excellent results for our clients: creating change for all of us. It is worth a pause to collectively celebrate this with all of our people at Avanade, but I know we will all continue to elevate the experience that comes with working for a digital innovator today and make this a destination career choice for many in the technology field.

If you’d like to learn more about a career where you can create change for a living, visit us at www.avanade.com/careers.