Laura Christie

Key Achievements:

• Growth: Successfully increased revenue from €53M to €92M, driving substantial financial growth.
• Profitability: Achieved a 50% increase in EBIT from 2022 to 2023, with consistent double-digit EBIT every during 2020-2023.
• Crisis leadership: Steered the company through the pandemic and economic challenges while maintaining exceptionally high employee engagement and client/candidate satisfaction.
• Expansion: Opened a new branch in the Tampere region, extending the company's market reach and operational capacity.
• Leadership: Led the country management team and facilitated effective collaboration with the wider group, contributing to the overall success of the Akind group.

Company Overview: Academic Work Finland is part of the Akind group, a family of brands dedicated to unlocking growth potential for people and businesses. Headquartered in Stockholm, Akind operates in six countries with over 10,000 employees and annual sales exceeding €450M.

In Finland, Academic Work employs over 130 internal co-workers and manages 1,300+ consultants on client assignments. Our double-digit growth and profitability are driven by a strong performance culture, underpinned by humane leadership.

Core Competencies:

• Strategic leadership & business growth
• Crisis management and resilience
• Expansion and market penetration
• High-performance team leadership.
• Client & stakeholder engagement

Key Achievements & Responsibilities:

• Growth: Successfully led the company to a 50% revenue increase in 2018, boosting annual turnover to 43M€ while attaining record-high client satisfaction.
• Leadership & team management: Managed a recruitment team of 60+ professionals, ensuring they had the strategic guidance, tools, and motivation necessary to deliver consistent growth and high performance.
• Strategic direction: Contributed to setting and executing the company's strategic vision as part of the country management team, driving long-term business success and market leadership.
• Operational excellence: Development and optimization of recruitment processes, resulting in enhanced operational efficiency and effectiveness across the organization.
• International collaboration: Fostered strong international relations with Academic Work teams in other countries, sharing best practices and contributing to the company’s global strategy and success.

Core competencies:

• Strategic leadership & vision
• Revenue growth
• High-performance team management
• Operational efficiency & process improvement
• Global strategy & international collaboration

Achievements:

• Ranked as the #1 Account Manager out of a team of 10 recruiters in October 2015, prior to relocating back to Finland.

Key Responsibilities:

• Managed end-to-end recruitment processes, handling the full 360 recruitment cycle.
• Oversaw and maintained relationships with 2 key accounts in the telecommunications sector, ensuring client satisfaction and successful talent acquisition.

• Worked in a 360 recruiting role with Australian corporations, specializing in IT industry roles such as senior level Change Management, Service Delivery and Project Management.

Achievements:

• Ranked as the #1 Account Manager out of 15, achieving a monthly turnover exceeding 200,000€.
• Account Manager of the Year (2013): Voted by company management for exceptional performance.
• Selected from a pool of 600 employees to join Academic Work’s International Leadership Training Program.

Key Responsibilities:

• Drove sales of staffing and recruitment services across diverse industries.
• Successfully built a client portfolio from scratch, generating an annual turnover of 2.4 M€ within 2,5 years.
• Managed Finland's two largest client accounts, achieving monthly turnovers of over 100,000€ and 60,000€ respectively.
• Collaborated with some of Finland’s leading companies, including Neste Oil, Pfizer, Orion, Relacom, Fujitsu and Kone.
• Focused on Key Account Management, employing a consultative approach and solution selling strategies.
• Negotiated client and framework agreements with executive-level decision makers.

Team Manager

Achievements:

• Team Manager of the Year (2013): Awarded by peers out of 12 nominees for outstanding leadership.
• Achieved the highest manager scores in personnel satisfaction surveys for both 2013 and 2014.
• Led the top-performing team, consistently exceeding targets by over 50% in sold orders and monthly revenue.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provided training and development for a team of five Account Managers, driving performance and growth.
• Managed career development planning to support team members in achieving their professional goals.
• Recruited and interviewed new Account Managers, ensuring the continuous growth and success of the team.
• Contributed to strategic decisions as part of the office and sales management team.

Achievements

• Average score of 4.5/5 in trainings
• Building up a chain of five offices to 15 offices with part of the country management team of three people

Key responsibilities

• Business improvement of a startup phase real estate chain
• Training of all new agents and franchise owners
• Developing new tools and marketing materials
• Monitoring office performances and supporting them to reach their goals

Achievements

• Building up the user base from 50 users to 150 users within a year

Key responsibilities

• Cloud based system and web services sales to real estate companies
• Key Account Management including RE/MAX Finland
• User training