SumUp's award winning future talent program

Whether you’re a street food vendor, a salon owner or a sales assistant, SumUp believes in the everyday hero. Anyone should have access to affordable, easy-to-use payment solutions, no matter the size of their business.

What started out as one card reader, has now turned into a range of readers, multiple remote payment solutions such as Invoices, Gift Cards and Payment Links. That's why every day over 3 million business owners rely on SumUp to get paid. With their quick and easy signup process they try to take the hassle out of getting paid. Just as we try to make the hassle of recruitment less.

Back in 2012, SumUp was founded by a small team in Berlin. With one goal in mind – to create a world where small business owners can be successful doing what they love. Accepting all card payments with no fixed costs, hidden fees, no bureaucracy and no surprises so customers can pay wherever and however.

Today, the global payments service is active in 31 countries. With the digital era affecting the banking sector, SumUp is in full bloom.

A totally new type of customer is demanding modern financial products and services as this digitalized age continues to change the very nature of consumer behaviour. In either case the key to keep up with the constantly evolving financial sector, SumUp needs to keep expanding their team with highly qualified and motivated employees.

Encouraging employees to guide and educate others can build strong morale and multiply effective leadership within a business. Did you know 70% of companies offer interns a full-time job? SumUp even takes it one step further. They put hard effort into upskilling their interns. With their Future Talent Academy, the primary aim is to balance between autonomy and personalised guidance.

Their program is well-suited to help graduates and students excel in their early careers and further develop their skills. But what about the emotional connection with SumUp, a cultural baptism? Making new employees and interns part of the company culture is one of the biggest challenges for HR managers.

Next to developing their skills & knowledge, you have to guide them to become real brand ambassadors. 2,551 possible ambassadors to be precise. SumUp’s company culture already screams growth opportunity, ownership and career development, they want to continue building an inclusive, international community. Especially for their interns.

Because they attract such a broad group of interns, it is challenging to distinguish them from the more skilled employees as yet make them feel a part of the team. Even though Sumup knows the importance of a positive company culture, the reality that they have faced is that their current strategy will never actualize if they don’t have the work culture that attracts motivated people who put everything into their work.

With this challenge, onboarding became even more vital for the HR department of Sumup. And with the current evolution towards more remote work, it is a lonely and confusing experience for anyone. A bad experience during the first days and weeks causes a negative impact on the company culture resulting in highly skilled employees working below their capacity.

Most companies work from the outside in. This means big advertising campaigns for the recruiting of new employees or the hiring of expensive recruiting agencies to do the work for them. But at Sunday we believe there is another way. Let’s talk about the Sunday solution. What if we could mobilize your team to attract new people? Company fashion is the very best way to transform your current happy employees, interns and candidates into real ambassadors.

Together with SumUp we determined how their company wanted to be perceived and who they wanted to attract. In this case we designed and created a unique hoodie for all the interns across 31 different countries. Because the interns wanted to be perceived as a fast, dynamic, young department, we chose to create an unique design for the hoodie. Since using tapes is one of our specialties, we added them as a finishing touch to the whole collection.

Happy as SumUp’s interns were with the hoodies, 600 beanies were soon on their way. Not only will these customizable items make SumUp top-of-mind with future hires by building brand awareness, it will create unique opportunities for real conversations with potential hires. That’s one of the main reasons SumUp opted for wearable items to bring at several career events for interns. Another added benefit of wearable fashion items: creating brand awareness. Interns will be wearing a SumUp hoodie or beanie on a family gathering or weekend outing.

At SumUp they knew very well what they wanted, but for the technology company it was difficult to find a party that could meet the company's requirements. Putting a logo onto clothing is not enough. That’s why our modus operandi requires a different approach. Our graphic designers have years of experience in the fashion industry. Their creative design combined with strategy was a real dealmaker for SumUp. As we try to offer a high-end level of clothing, we are more flexible and can additionally provide many more diverse options than the competitors are able to.

With other companies trying to impress the newbees with a pen, SumUp really stood out from the crowd. Resulting in even more interns interested to join SumUp’s Future Talent Academy. Their employee retention increased by more than 24% in less than 3 months. As it is clear that the goal of the company is attracting more talent. The wearable designs are truly an asset to turn your employees into real ambassadors. Currently, Sumup is improving their process to further increase retention so their HR manager can focus on finding new employees instead of trying to retain current employees.

Last but not least, the fact that Sunday produces their company clothing within Europe is a key point for SumUp. Hereby we can guarantee the highest standards in quality & sustainability. With these important points ticked off, more design projects for onboarding, expansion tribe and company wide events with SumUp await in the future.

To remember: The most successful way to recruit talent, no matter where or who they are, is by connecting culture through company clothing. Because nothing is more expensive than hiring someone and seeing them leave after 3 months due to a non-cultural fit or not feeling welcome in the company.