“The more I was involved in the interview process with The Hive, the more I liked it, becoming more convinced that this company is worth embarking on.”
1. Vanja, you decided to move along your career, transferring from corporation to agency environment. Can you share with us why you chose to become a part of the Hive Ventures Services team in Serbia?
Making career decisions has never been easy. In certain points of our career development few employees wouldn’t ask themselves “Is this something that I really enjoy doing? Am I satisfied with my current status or should I make more effort to keep climbing a career leader? Is there any aspect of the job I can contribute to and how much time will it take me for that?” The answer to the last one was crucial in my career development and directed me towards my next work destination.
Working in a corporation as well as in an agency always has its pros and cons. As a part of fully fledged company (my ex employer), I have learnt a lot about group dynamic, hierarchy, steps and procedures in each move I made and above all it helped me to internalise discipline and become better organised. I made great relationships with people and met true professionals that will have my immense thanks for everything I have learnt so far.
However, the time came when I really started striving for higher autonomy, more responsibility and new challenges. Searching for that, I came across a start-up company I had never heard before at our National Market. Surprisingly, they became my new employer. Hive Ventures Services was still extending their new office here in Belgrade and setting the basics at the time I was undergoing a very thorough interview process and assessment. “The more I was involved in the interview process, the more I liked it, becoming more convinced that this company is worth embarking on”. Even though I started working remotely due to the pandemic of COVID-19, nothing changed, except the fact that I enjoy working with them more.
2. A start-up environment that we nurture in Serbia is the type of environment that has its pros and cons and not every person will choose it, because they are maybe afraid that it is not the most stable system. Based on your experience, can you explain what this environment brings to your experience? Do you see any challenges here?
You can learn business as well as technology simultaneously which is advantageous for a fruitful career. You start from the scratch and grow with the company. Contacts between employees are immediate and there is huge opportunity for building relationships with all employees regardless of their hierarchy. You can follow the development and consistency in company’s values. In a start-up, you are surrounded with a bunch of smart people and you learn new things every day. You make mistakes, of course nobody is perfect, but you learn faster. Your creativity will be highly appreciated, and it will motivate you to do more. A start-up is great opportunity for everyone who wants to get out of the comfort zone, who is hungry for knowledge, wants to take more responsibility and witness his/her own results.
3. People would like to find out more about what the “Global Talent Acquisition Specialist” does? What is your mission in The Hive and why do you think your role is important to us?
Cultural fit is a prerequisite when you search for candidates for your own company, internally. You could have the best, most skilled person in the world, but if they don’t get along with your other employees, that might cause more problems than we think. Therefore, as a Global Talent Acquisition Specialist you will need to do some research on the employee’s personality profiles, their work environment, company’s atmosphere whilst always bearing in mind the power of diversity and its benefits.
The focus of my role is to ensure that the group’s hiring needs are fulfilled by sourcing relevant talent for current needs, all roles in the group across all brands and all office locations (London, Washington DC, Singapore and Zurich), and to ensure future growth by pipe-lining. Good time management skills, good social skills and good communication have always been significant skills that could increase the likelihood of attracting qualified candidates. Our work does not end up with offering the role to the best person. In order to make them true professionals, we lead them to thorough an Onboarding process, work with HR and COO to ensure that everyone has a clear career path. We track success based on different backgrounds, profiles and sources to evolve our understanding of what good looks like. Above all, we continually seek feedback from our interviewees and improve our processes and attraction methods to ensure that we are increasing the diversity of our workplace.
4. Which things you were looking for when you were searching for your next employer? What is the key thing that distinguishes The Hive from other employers and why would you recommend us?
The part of the company that always captures my attention is related to company’s values. The values are essential part of the company and have a huge impact on our performance as well. They make us more equal, almost like a part of the same family, and when you perceive yourself as a part of a family you will do everything to maintain its stability, provide it with the best possible rewards and strive for its success. If you started to realise that you are grateful for being a part of your company as time goes by, that might be a good indicator of culture stability.
With regard to this, The Hive Group has its 4 defining values that are at the heart of everything we do: #PeopleFirst (hire the best and support them to thrive and be happy), #AlwaysDoTheRightThing (treating everyone with respect as a standard), #ThinkSmartThinkDifferently (encourage everyone to be inventive and take the long-term view), #WorkHardWorkTogether (We have to work together to make a family succeed).
I hope that my impressions that I shared will be valuable to our readers and I am looking forward seeing the new employees who shares our values and beliefs soon in our office!