Meet Zenjob – Interview with Talent Care Lead Nicholas
In Meet Zenjob we introduce people working with us – or Zennies, as we call them. In every episode they get the same questions, but the answers vary strongly through their different roles and personalities. Allowing you to get real and comprehensive insights of how it is, to work with us. This time we talked to Nicholas, one of our leaders in talent care.
Nicholas started at Zenjob in January this year as a Talent Care Lead. He works with the other Talent Care Leads to make sure that they handle Talent-specific requests and incidents. They are currently working together to scale up their processes in order to handle things more quickly, and grow with the company.
What is the most challenging and rewarding thing about your work?
One of the key factors for me choosing Zenjob was the company culture. It was important for me to work with like-minded people who not only want to work well together, but also work towards improving their world around them. I was positively surprised by how ubiquitous this mindset is. In the past I’ve worked in some pretty awesome organizations, but nothing could have prepared me for how ideally positive the culture at Zenjob is.
As we continue to grow, we are finding ourselves in a phase where we need to scale up our processes to match our growth. This has led to growing pains when our workload has unexpectedly jumped in leaps and bounds. But it has also been very rewarding to take these as lessons learned, and to find smarter ways of working.
Fortunately, I get to work with a team of amazing and positive individuals that work together diligently and with a smile. They all share relevant insights and ideas, and work amazingly well together towards common goals.
How would you describe your team?
The Talent Care team unofficially refer to themselves as the Talent Care Bears, which is a very fitting title for them. I’ve never worked in a team which was so extremely supportive and socially conscious of one another. They are all eager to help each other out and go the extra mile.
What has been your proudest achievement?
As an American, I may tend to speak in superlatives, and say that things are the best or the worst ever. In reality, I have difficulty choosing favorites, such as my proudest achievement or best experience. There are things in my private life which I am quietly proud of. In my professional career, I have found that helping others unlock their potential has been the most rewarding for me. I’ve worked with several individuals with a high level of potential who were eager and willing to put in the time and effort to grow. Facilitating that process with them and seeing them advance in their careers from an entry level position is something which fills my heart with pride and joy.
What advice would you give to someone interested in getting into Talent Care at Zenjob?
I would offer the following advice: Do your homework. Read up on the company culture. It’s all available. If it speaks to you, and you are willing to commit to working in a company where cooperation, kindness, diligence, transparency, and humility are pervasive personality traits which match you and your working style, then come join us. If you have a more dog-eat-dog-world mentality, then this might not be the best place for you.
How do you see the Future of Work?
As an expat American who moved to Berlin nearly 15 years ago, there were quite a few shocks when it came to bureaucracy and all the little rules and regulations. I’ve already seen the overall mindset of the German workforce in general evolve since arriving here. It took a while, but digital contracts are now possible for one. The pandemic taught us a lot about what is possible regarding work. As the wealth of technological options become increasingly available and more secure, I foresee ways of working also continuing to diversify. There may be more working from home, mixed employment status and working for multiple companies, all the while leveraging technology to make it possible.
If you are interested in learning more about leadership and insights at Zenjob, check out our Meet Zenjob interview with two of our tech group leaders Hélène and Ayca.