Market entry and trust-building for hireFAIR in IT recruiting

hireFAIR is an international HR start-up based in Tyrol that helps Austrian companies tackle the shortage of IT specialists. Founded by Lily Akpuaka-Bosse, hireFAIR places qualified IT professionals from Nigeria who support Austrian businesses through remote work. The focus is on sustainable, high-quality partnerships on an equal footing, accompanied by the founder’s close personal involvement in all relevant processes.

hireFAIR came to the agency at a very early stage of the company’s development, right at market entry. The central challenge was to build awareness and create trust at the same time. In particular, we had to dispel existing reservations among Austrian companies about IT specialists from Nigeria and convey the topic in a factual, competence-focused and business-oriented way.

The aim was to position hireFAIR clearly as a professional HR solution in IT recruiting: as a high-quality answer to the skills shortage.

For the market entry, a clear PR and messaging strategy was developed that relied on transparency, quality and personal responsibility. At the core of the communications work was positioning the founder as a credible expert with international IT experience, as well as explaining the business model and its concrete added value for Austrian companies in a factual way. We used targeted press releases for the market launch as well as interviews in relevant mainstream and trade media to build reach and put the topic in nuanced context. The focus was on competence, process reliability and partnership on an equal footing.

The PR work led to broad media presence in leading Austrian general and trade media, including Der Standard, Tiroler Tageszeitung, IT Welt and IT Guide.

Overall, the coverage generated a PR value of more than €100,000 and contributed significantly to establishing hireFAIR as a reputable provider in IT recruiting, creating trust in the model and supporting the successful market entry in communications terms.