Has it been almost a year into my new job already? 😮 Yeah! Time flies when you’re having fun (I mean real fun), you must be thinking who am I kidding to say that working is fun.
While yes, recruitment is not always sunshine and rainbows, it’s a whole next-level craziness of an emotional roller coaster. Ask any recruiters and they would agree with me. However, I felt that the past 7 months has been an incredibly fulfilling time for self-learning, self-exploration and also tremendous self-improvement.
COVID has changed the way we think and the way we work, I have been fortunate to be with companies with incredible culture that supported remote working during the pandemic and hybrid arrangements while we accommodate to the new normal. I thought I was already in the best place with so much flexibility at work, morning gym sesh and the occasional evening runs - Until I found remote work.
If you have not heard about Employment Hero before, it’s time you check out this company 🦄 I was super fortunate to be connected to a global TA role via one of my ex-candidates (I highly recommend you to keep real relationships with everyone you crossed path with). I’ve yet to thought about my post-gaming recruiting career, let alone moving into the SaaS HR Tech space. So I have been in HR my entire life - and admittedly, I am not your typical HR professional who’s all prim and proper (I DO have my prim and proper moments too, just a disclaimer 😂). Having spent the past 4 years recruiting for high-growth Singapore startups locally, I was intrigued by the role. It was a Go-to-Market or Non-tech TA role which fell right into my comfort zone, and with some other new elements such as working remotely, hiring remotely across the world, possibility of dabbling into tech hiring, non-Singapore markets and majority of the team sitting in Australia.
I wondered if I am cut out for the job. This is where things got interesting.
Onboarding and Getting Ramped Up
The google calendar of my first two weeks were packed…with loads of self-learning content (the team actually made the effort to record Zoom trainings to introduce the business), 1–1s to meet your team and some calls to sit in on. The onboarding program was hands down the most complete and thoughtful one that I’ve ever experienced. My lovely manager even slotted in some rest and me-time for me throughout the day 🥹 It was incredibly important that a recruiter can pick up as much business context as possible to hire quickly and efficiently, and this was done impeccably. It felt as though I was just in office going through induction and meeting my mates in person.
Being Trusted and Supported
I had my first official req coming in by my 3rd week. Of course, I was both nervous and excited. I was worried about the speed and quality of my hiring, yet also excited to work on my first remote role. After my kickoff meeting, I was proven wrong yet again, for very good reasons.
My own manager and team are very trusting and they ensured that I was given the space to ramp up while constantly reassured me that “asking for questions or for help is always welcomed”. Absolute love it when you are empowered in your role.
I had a really kind hiring manager for my first hire. She is an expert in her field and knowing that I am new in the industry, she was exceptionally helpful with supporting me to understand her department, the role, and work processes. I was blown away by such kindness. I experienced this warmness from the other hiring managers in my subsequent hirings which I concluded that being able to trust and support people around you actually made remote working so much more fun and easy. These eventually helped me built confidence for interviews while providing strong insights to my hiring teams.
Kudos, Kudos, and more Kudos
Another part I really enjoyed about remote working was the openness all over the company. I was able to get access into the Employment Hero app even before I started, that gave me a glimpse into the daily happenings. You guys may be familiar with Kudos, but the people at Employment Hero took Kudos to the next level 🙌 Everyday, your app will be buzzing with notifications from people giving Kudos throughout the day. They could come from team members recognising other team members or managers, or managers who simply want to shoutout to their team’s good work. Special mentions in line with the company’s values will grant you some Hero Dollars (which you can utilise it for gift redemption from the gift catalogue so huge that it resembles an internal e-commerce website). I absolutely love how everyone here are so generous with giving recognition simply because they appreciate one another.
You Are Your Own Boss (kinda)
I’ve always enjoyed the idea of popping by a nice cosy cafe for a cuppa while typing away on my MacBook, for sure remote working has allowed me to do this more often. Alongside a highly trusting team, I was able to enjoy loads of freedom while delivering exceptional hires for the business. The past 7 months also allowed me time for self-improvement. I was able to improve on time management and be more driven in achieving daily goals, and knowing when to stop when time calls for it. I no longer feel bad if I “don’t work a certain hours or don’t do a certain amount of calls” each day. Instead, I was able to shift my mindset to understand that showing up each day and give your 100% for that day is just as sufficient. All these are so much more achievable with a highly supportive team which I’ve never felt so close to even though we are miles apart.
Megamind or Megabrain?
What does breakthrough means to you? For me, it was my first foray into tech hiring 🤓 I was never that technical guy throughout my career, even though I may be a bit of a geek in real life. I was an avid Android user for 10 over years before moving into the iOS world recently and I thought “hey maybe tech recruitment could be interesting”. My first shot at tech recruitment came in my 3rd month for a Backend Developer hiring in the Vietnam market.
I was unsure how to feel about it.
Firstly, it was a technical role. Secondly, it was in a new market which I barely had knowledge in. I guess I just have to do it. I started Googling loads of Developer content and Youtubed them. Ah yes, for you beginners out there, there’s this iOS app called Sololearn which allows you daily bit-sized learning content of coding that was super helpful for me. The first 3 weeks of learning was tough as my freeflowing brain was definitely not cut out for this. This translated to my first few interviews as well as they are not as enjoyable as the go-to-market ones which I enjoy. Things eventually got easier after a few of them progressed through the stages and things started to make more sense for me and eventually concluded the hire.
There you have it, a few things I really loved about remote working. If you’ve stayed on till this paragraph, I appreciate you 😊 I write a lot and talk a lot at work, and am still working on how to write more effectively. I’ve made it a personal goal to post regular sharing here on remote work, hiring and interview tips, and the tech industry.
If there’s only one thing I truly enjoyed about remote working, it is the time and space I was able to have for my own learnings. Tech hiring is the career breakthrough for me in 2023. As an Adidas fanboy, indeed Impossible Is Nothing.