Welcome back to the second part of our deep dive into iGaming recruitment and HR with Oksana Izmailova, PIN-UP Global’s Chief Human Resources Officer.
In Part One, iGamingFuture’s Curtis Roach and Izmailova discussed how iGaming companies can optimise and scale their HR procedures, automate processes, and build a competitive staffing advantage.
Now, in Part Two, we explore how HR teams can create new opportunities for staff and how the industry can avoid staffing shortages and attract new talent.
With PIN-UP Global experiencing such rapid growth, employees always have career opportunities. How is your training and development system integrated into the holding company? And how do you help your employees prepare for future management positions?
“The growth and development of the holding company’s employees are one of the key tasks of the HR team. We provide about 90 percent of the required training using internal resources.
“At PIN-UP, we are developing a culture of continuous learning. We have launched and are developing our own learning management system, which we use to produce training courses.
“Among them is a special training programme for managers: management courses that teach HR processes and tools for selecting high-performance teams.
“We also have a mentoring scheme, where more experienced employees provide this guidance and training to their colleagues.
“In addition, we have introduced two types of internships.
“The first project is called ‘Swipe & Work’, where employees can familiarise themselves with the work of a division or team they may be interested in for further career development.
“The second type is a general internship, allowing any of our employees to take a day to experience a different department.
“If they like the job and there is a vacancy in the division, we offer them an internship period, which lasts several months. If everything goes well, they can permanently transition to the new job.”
The iGaming industry is known for its constant demand for talent. As industry representatives, what can we do to attract new employees and stimulate internal growth in the future?
“When searching for a job, individuals often prioritise their specific needs. These may include team dynamics, workplace atmosphere, management skills, opportunities for professional growth, competitive salaries, the ability to implement personal ideas, and overall company stability.
“As a holding company, we consider all of these factors. For instance, we conduct salary reviews every six months. Before seeking external candidates, we assess our current team members and explore opportunities for promotion to fill vacancies internally.
“To ensure our employees feel comfortable, we strive to cultivate a positive atmosphere. We maintain a zero-tolerance policy for toxicity and prejudice and organise various internal events, such as corporate gatherings, picnics, and recreational activities.
“We are also committed to understanding our employees and addressing their needs.”
Is there a staffing shortage in the iGaming industry?
“A business with money is always growing fast, and people are needed for that development. But professionals are always hard to find. In this context, having an attractive employer brand and automation tools to help is very important.
“In our industry, downsizing is rarely discussed because we constantly face staffing shortages. Internal hiring and employee development play a key role here.
“For example, customer support employees know our products very well, so we can direct them to open positions with the help of mentoring programs, internships and training.
“The challenge for any business is to build these processes: on the one hand, automation, and on the other, career progression, growth and the movement of employees within the company. Mature and experienced management is very important in the hiring process.”
Is the gaming industry often replenished with personnel from other industries?
“Of course, people from other fields join the sector. But our niche is quite specific. It takes people a long time to adapt – that’s natural.
“Take the banking sector, for example. We have been dealing with it all our lives in one way or another. Accordingly, we have information about how banking works. Things are different in iGaming. There are no books on organising this business or how processes should be structured.
“As a result, staff transitioning from other sectors can struggle to keep pace. The amount of information, especially industry-specific information, can be overwhelming. This is why the industry primarily relies on internal hiring, further contributing to a staffing shortage.
“We’re working on this. We have developed a specialised training course for managers that we hire from outside our industry.
“Overall, I would say that 2025 should be a period of implementing many plans, introducing cool projects and scaling up at PIN-UP Global.”
Editor’s Note:
A well-built HR department is responsible for far more than hiring and firing. As Izmailova detailed in Part One, it must be present and integrated into every layer of an organisation to be fully functional.
But that’s not where things end.
The iGaming industry suffers from a talent shortage.
To mitigate this, and support the industry’s sustainable growth, brands must not only position themselves as attractive employers and meet employee expectations but also create a great work environment where HR supports ongoing development, facilitates internal migration and encourages upskilling in preparation for future management roles.
However, Izmailova cautions that there’s a balance to be struck between internal and external HR practices, as an overreliance on internal hiring contributes to industry shortages.
This is why PIN-UP Global has developed specialised training courses–in addition to its internal mentoring and training programmes–designed to quickly onboard newcomers to the industry.
