Say hello to the Human Resources team!
I certainly hope you have read the previous “Meet the team” articles, because now we have come to the team without who none of those teams would be possible! Why? Because there would be no one to hire anyone! Read ahead to find out how important coffee is to the HR squad and how do their days look like!
The superhero squad!
Currently Atea Global Services Human Resources team consists of 6 amazing employees that take care of all the different divisions within the company. The responsibilities vary from recruitment till daily support and employee engagement as well as creating The Place 2 Be environment and positive culture. HR team puts all the efforts to make sure everyone is happy in our company, has a lot of growth and experience opportunities as well as professional development. Majority of the team have grown from different junior positions in the company to where they are today and together they wish to be a powerful HR superhero squad!
Hmmmm so…what are your superpowers?!
(This photo is not photoshopped at all. Everyone could make it to the photoshoot and no one was missing!)
Elva Reine – The Beast of Caffeine
Elvas work day usually consists of at least 3 coffee cups, with the first one being consumed in the early morning around 6:30. She checks her schedule for the day, gets to work and then prepares a to-do list for the current day whilst going through all the e-mails. She then takes care of the urgent priorities, makes sure to progress on different projects for Shared Services Centre of Atea Global Services and is always there to support our employees.
Her responsibilities range from training administration for our employee growth, up to day-to-day support on different topics, issues and solutions. Aditionally to SSC, she also takes responsibility for Atea International Customer Center from HR perspective. When the responsibility calls, she is also ready to back-up her colleague for recruitment process to find the next best candidate.
Above all Elva represents the Shared Services Centre when outside the office walls, participating in different events, might it be University Career Days or seminars and conferences to gain knowledge and additional experience. For the most days her work ends around 17:00 with thoughts about her next morning coffee… (how much is too much?)
Alina Gerasimcuka– The Perfectionist
Even though Alina has been working at AGS only for 3 months, she already feels like she has been a part of the HR team for a very long time. As she explains – everyone is always here to help, to support and of course to share positive vibes.
Working in HR team is a big challenge for Alina and with her wonderful team it makes it more interesting and satisfying. As she is currently the HR Recruitment assistant, everyday there is something new. Of course the first month wasn’t easy, especially the interviews, but now that some time has passed she can say with confidence, that she enjoys it and it makes her so happy when the candidates start to work here and to see the excitement in their eyes. Alina has also been enjoying the positive feedback and smiles on the faces of the new employees she gets to hear and see in the one month meetings.
Aline feels like a mom in this position. She knows it may seem funny and some of you might probably ask – why? Well, as the one who introduces them to our company (and she does it with all her heart), she gets to tell them why she works here – that we all are a BIG family, The Place To Be! Alina always wants to protect all the newcomers, to be with them and to share these positive emotions and if they are sad you bet that she can give her best support. She just hopes that they are as happy to be here as she is.
Her day usually starts at 6:30am with a cup of coffee (watch out Elva), thinking about the upcoming interviews and meetings. At 7:45am Alina starts her working day. Some days can be very busy for her – phone calls, interviews (sometimes 3 in a row), meetings and also helping the HR team with their goals for this year and doing some projects. However, when they finally have a gap between all their meetings the HR squad tries to squeeze in a quick chit chat which more or less always ends up with laughter and tears of fun.
Alina is just really happy to be a part of AGS and the HR team because as she says – this truly is TP2B for her.
(This photo is also not photoshopped. We don’t care what you say)
Juris Pudans – The Bearer of Knowledge
Before going into details about the usual work day, Juris would like to start by quickly describing the amazing road he has had together with AGS thus far.
Juris started his employment in AGS as part of SSC Division – Accounts Payable Specialist for Denmark Team 5 years ago. (Juris needed to re-check the first employment date as he couldn’t believe that it has been so many years, but feels like few months since he entered through AGS office doors for the first time as a young lad). With ‘’few’’ re-allocations in between he officially joined the HR Team in the beginning of this year taking responsibilities of Training & Workforce Development Specialist.
Now back to his work day:
Morning: Juris usually starts his morning by indulging in few of his unhealthier habits like coffee drinking (seems like we have more competition for Elva). If you ever have caught him before his morning coffee you know why it is so important that he gets one in his system before touching the keyboard. As an avid music lover, Juris can’t imagine any day that could start without a positive and soothing song in background (still waiting for that Spotify sponsorship).
Work day starts:
(most monotonous tasks come first to slowly get into high gear)
Incoming email readthrough and working day plan creation.
Exam/Course application processing communication with course providers and employees
Qualification Database updates and maintenance
Processing of employee exit/position change and underlying anonymization tasks in all the data storages under his jurisdiction
Mid-Day:
(this is the time Juris feels most productive)
Usually around this time he has already went through all the incoming emails and started pushing on the major tasks relating to:
EU Funding projects
Education budget
Team qualification baselines
Course/Qualification projects that are initiated or supported by him.
End of the working day:
(this time is reserved for follow-ups and reminder sending)
There are always things that require additional involvement to help things move forward especially when a task or project includes numerous involved parties.
Georgijs Ivanovs – The Silent Arbiter
As the pragmatic person we have come to know Georgijs for, he gets right into his daily schedule:
9:00 a.m. and 10.00 a.m. – As a recruiter, his day focuses around his potential candidates. Usually he checks his inbox for any qualified resumes he might have received since the last posting yesterday. ‘’Hmm … My applicants consist of an eighth-grade art teacher, a nursing assistant, and a butcher.’’ – notices Georgijs. And so, he begins a passive search. ‘’I try not to rely too much on job boards, so I hit up the holy grail of recruiting — LinkedIn.’’ he explains. He usually starts with his network, looking for referrals, and then expands out into the cold calling abyss.
10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. – Georgijs breaks for a meeting with his team. They discuss open job orders and challenges, determines recruiting strategies, and discuses industry news and trends. The meeting is no longer than 20 minutes, and he then prioritizes the rest of his day. After that he usually gets to deciding on which roles he will be focusing today.
12:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. – 90 minutes of heads-down focus into his search for software developers.
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. – Georgijs hears back from the candidates he reached out to on LinkedIn. If they are interested in meeting to discuss the role, he books a meeting with them to conduct an interview and determine if they are a good fit for the job. If everything is successful – he proceeds to forward their resume to the hiring manager.
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. – Usually this time means going through internally referred candidates. And arranging interviews for the position they have applied to.
3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. – Georgijs hears back from a hiring manager he submitted a candidate to last week. He wants to set up an interview. This means coordinating the time and place and sending the meeting invites to both parties. This time is also used to check if anyone else has answered about their candidates. Preparing the job offers, doublechecking if he has any questions pending.
4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. – Georgijs meets with hiring managers to discuss new information about their open positions. He then digs for more specifics of what kind of projects this person will be working on, polishes up the job description and posts it.
5 p.m. – 6 p.m. – He wraps up loose ends from the day and plans for tomorrow by writing out a to-do list to keep focus in the morning.
(Same as with the previous photos – this photo is also not photoshopped)
Jekaterina Mitjko – The Firework
You may already know Jekaterina as a joyful person with a loud laugh and a healthy sense of humor. Jekaterina has been a part of AGS for about 1 year and 4 months. While she started out in AGS as the Office Manager in January 2018 she joined the HR Team as an Junior HR Specialist and recently got promoted to HR Consultant/Recruiter.
Jekaterina has studied the “Organization and management of the institutions work” and got the qualification “Personnel specialist” . Over the years she has tried her forces in various fields such as EU project management, leading of Municipal Administration department and other state institutions.
One of the biggest Jekaterina`s dream is to become an experienced HR, who can inspire, motivate and reveal mega talents in people and she strongly believes that AGS is the place where everyone can professionally develop and prove themselves.
A typical working day for Jekaterina begins with a gratitude in her heart for a new day, a cup of coffee, e-mail checking and the drawing up of to do list.
Jekaterina is responsible for recruiting process for Service Desk Business Unit, 1 on 1 meetings with new employees, education and trainings inside HR team, exit interviews, event planning such as RTU career days ect. Jekaterina is also a member of AGS Event Committee.
One of the greatest hobbies of Jekaterina is Zumba fitness dance ! As she admits, this sport is definitely meant for “crazy” people.
Jekaterina`s life quote is “always listen to your inner feelings – they never lie ! ‘’
Dace Tavare – The Energizer
Dace started her journey in AGS 6 years ago as an intern in HR department meaning that her daily responsibilities included different administrative support.
During this time she was studying Clinical Psychology in LU and had her final year to receive bachelor degree. Internship in AGS was part of a course in Organizational Psychology and this experience helped Dace realize that her future professional path will be related to this area rather than Clinical psychology. However she decided to continue her studies and receive a masters degree in Clinical psychology already knowing that her professional path will be in the HR field. The main motivation for her studies and also choosing HR field is that she finds people truly fascinating and believes they all have best intentions in their heart and have enormous potential for growth under the right circumstances and with the right support. Dace simply likes people!
After her internship Dace received an offer to become an employee of AGS and be a part of the HR team. This meant that her responsibilities included everything starting from recruitment for all AGS and ending with different employer branding activities.
After a while her responsibilities expanded and she received an opportunity to become a HR Business Partner for Shared Service Center.
Recently yet another amazing possibility came her way – to take responsibility for all AGS in relation to HR.
Dace explains that a typical day in her work is not typical at all… meaning that every day is different and there are always so many unexpected things happening. Through all the urgent and important things popping up Dace does her best to make sure that Strategy projects are moving forward smoothly and the AGS Strategy goals are reached, as well as HR team goals are met too. The projects cover a very wide range starting from Corporate culture, employer branding, employee engagement, recruitment, onboarding and professional development.
Dace is very happy to be where she is with the people around her. She can’t stress enough that her team is simply amazing and they are truly the best professionals ever. She experiences so much dedication and passion on a daily basis within her team and in AGS in general. With many more possibilities to come she believes that we will conquer the world … all together as one big AGS team.
Here they are, our HR team – the backbone of the company!
Each of them with their unique superpowers and all together unstoppable!