Jekaterina is in HR at Acty. She is a people person and sincerely responds to every CV sent personally. She points out three important values in connection with Acty, which are trust, freedom and belief in success.
Read in the interview how Jekaterina joined Acty, what her first impressions of the company were, and how her previous experience has been of great benefit to her in her current role.
How did you get into Acty?
I’d like to delve deeper into my background here. Namely, my longest work experience has been as a youth worker. If you compare a youth worker and HR, I see a lot of similarities there. In both cases, you have to deal with very different people and topics at the same time, and tasks and activities constantly vary during the day. Mentoring plays an important role in both HR and youth work. The person holding the position of HR is precisely the person who works with people, but without being their direct manager, so to speak. It’s interesting to be in a position where you’re connected to all the team members in a certain sense, but you don’t directly belong to any team and you’re not in the role of leading anyone’s team. By teams I mean that in the development company, we at Acty are divided into teams.
But reaching the field of HR and specifically the IT sector has been accidental.
I always saw myself working with people, but I had never dreamed or thought about HR work specifically. It once started at HEAK – Harju Entrepreneurship and Development Centre – where we started recruiting new colleagues. At that moment, there was no one in the team who had encountered it before, and since I like new challenges, I offered myself and started. At this point, I can only say a big thank you to the head of HEAK, Demis Voss, who supported my idea.
From there, I started to improve myself in a field-specific way, by going to personnel manager training. There, I learned how recruiting, conversations and supporting people are done from the point of view of a human resources person.
But how did I get to Acty? I was just looking for new challenges and I noticed an Acty HR job advertisement that was described in a relatable manner. What was described was very grand and ambitious, full of different challenges, it spoke to me. I thought I’d send my CV as what was described was exactly what I’d been thinking and wanting, although I thought I was unlikely to get a reply. But I received a response and came for an interview.
What were yout first feelings about Acty? Are they the same today?
Acty has undergone many transformations within the company, so it cannot be said that it is the same company today as when I came. In general, I see that there are challenges and I still want to overcome them, to deal with them successfully.
I remember that I even started keeping a diary of how Aldar, the head of the company approached onboarding and how much time he invested in the process. Fortunately, I can say that this is still the case in Acty today, that people are invested in the belief that they came to Acty to stay and create value within the team. This belief has been there since the beginning and that is why the most valuable resource invested in people is time.
What are you doing today at Acty and what is the biggest challenge?
My focus today is on finding the right people, i.e. recruiting them. It is an integral part of the work of today’s HR staff. It is rather an implicit skill. If you look at job advertisements today, they often seek staff members, and the role almost always says line recruitment.
I can say that Acty is growing and changing today. Roles and understandings change over time. Today we are already talking about new roles, other profiles. I would say that in today’s recruitment, our focus is still on people with potential. In the IT job market, there’s a preference for recruiting experienced seniors. But what value a senior can bring to the company may not be questioned as frequently.
Acty will definitely be a unique experience. I can say today that we can offer a senior, a junior or people in general the dream scenario that everyone strives for. A common request from candidates is: I want more decision making, I want more responsibility, I want freedom. With us, you can do all of this, and I think that makes Acty unique.
My personal challenge is not to burn out and to be aware of any signs that our team members may be experiencing burnout.
How to notice changes in people when you are not around the team members?
As an HR person, I am not part of any team, so it is difficult to notice. Remote work makes it challenging, but then you jump into, for example, other people’s meetings or calls, and from there I try to get the necessary information, perceive, read between the lines, ask for more information if necessary, and hold frequent one-to-one meetings.
What is happening in the labor market today?
I notice that people and the recruitment process itself have become more transparent and humane. It is more flexible and faster, which means that the candidate does not have to wait a month for a response. People dare to point out their weaknesses. Companies also talk more boldly about who they are waiting for and what the company’s internal challenges are. People with potential are being sought.
Where is HR and recruitment going?
One new thing is the referral program. If an employee of the company recommends someone and that person starts working, the employee gets a bonus. There is also a new trend in the world where someone outside the company can act as a recommender. It’s slowly rolling out. We at Acty don’t implement it yet, but we’re thinking about it.
Another major trend is to help an employee if he is no longer suitable or does not want to continue in the company – to find him a new place where he can realize his knowledge and skills. To do this, HR posts an advertisement or directly recommends another company to make the transition for the employee smooth – smooth outboarding.
Three keywords that are related to Acty for you.
Trust. Freedom. Faith in success.
Why apply to Acty or be part of your team?
Acty is an opportunity to shape your own reality. You create with us. You experiment.
