Hello there, dear blog reader 👋 I’m Angelina and I’m a Talent Acquisition Specialist here at Fidel. In fact, it’s my 6-month anniversary!

If you’re asking; ‘Angelina, how did you end up working at a start-up like Fidel?’ or ‘Wow, Angelina’s been at Fidel for six months already?! I wonder if she has any nuggets of wisdom to share on her experience?’ - I’m pleased to tell you, you’ve come to the right blog.

First, a little backstory. It was whilst doing my Masters in Organizational Psychology in Lisbon, I had my very first contact with a talent acquisition specialist at an IT recruitment consultancy.

This initial interaction was very important for me because I gained exposure to all the different stages of the recruitment process, but also learned a little more about some of the engineering roles and their requirements - roles that I actively recruit at Fidel, today. That real-world experience was invaluable!

It was during this time that I realized how much I enjoyed recruiting as a profession. More specifically, the satisfaction you get when you find - amongst all the potential candidates - those that you truly believe are a great fit for the position. From there, you can champion those candidates and root for them during the later stages of the hiring process. 🤩

This experience made me think a lot more about the many factors that influence someone to leave a position and take on a new challenge, which eventually led me to my second passion - employer branding!

I actually decided to write my academic thesis on employer branding and discovered a lot of interesting things along the way. For example, there is evidence that suggests employees are often much more attracted by emotional aspects of their current company (like a sense of belonging and recognition) over material rewards. In fact, those positive cultural factors are directly correlated with less turnover within the company, too.

But enough academic findings for now! 😅

I decided that I wanted to explore employer branding in practice, which I did while I was working at a large, portuguese retail company, my last stop before joining Fidel. However, I really wanted to have the best of both worlds. I wanted to plan and implement an employer branding strategy, creating the idea of a company as “a great place to work for.” Then at the same time, I wanted to participate actively in the hiring process of those same people that were attracted by a brand I’d help promote, until they finally ended up joining.

The desire to integrate these two aspects of my career was a big factor that lead me to Fidel.

In addition, I was drawn to the multicultural make-up of the business. I wanted to work in a diverse, fast-moving startup environment, where everyone is motivated to work together and where small things you do can have big impacts - and what an amazing journey it has been so far! 🚀

Since I joined six months ago, everyday has felt like a new adventure, where I can invest my time in the things I really enjoy, and collaborate with such a diverse group of people!

Of course, Fidel has grown a lot over the past year and that has brought with it many learning opportunities and challenges. The whole Talent Team has been focusing on formulating strategies and ideas that help us to keep hiring great people who embody our values, at a much faster pace.

I think that ethos may have been my favourite part of working at Fidel over the past six months. My advice for people who are considering joining is to do a little research about our culture and product first - and to demonstrate that interest. It’s also key to make the effort to be a part of a tight-knit team like ours. We really value people who have a critical mindset, are team oriented - who doesn’t?! - but a great sense of humor is important too!

The culture at Fidel encourages everyone to bring their own ideas and solutions to the table and discuss them as a team - even those that might seem silly at first. There are no wrong answers! It comes down to an agreement to approach challenges in the same way - they are what helps us to move and grow - and that is exactly what I intend to keep doing!