Happy Friday, everyone! We've recently seen some excellent feedback from people applying for jobs at Fidel, saying they loved this interview series. Apparently, it allows them to glimpse our culture as a company before they commit to an offer. And judging by the number of new colleagues I've been having, it must be one hell of a picture we're painting here.

Now, you know me, I'm nothing if not obliging. I thought I should pull the curtain and give people a glimpse not only into our culture but into the people directly responsible for bringing in Fidel's fantastic talent! I sat down this week with Angelina, one of our newest additions to the Talent team, and we chatted about all things hiring. Read on!

A: Hey Angelina, tell me a bit about yourself.

Hi! My name is Angelina Pisco, and I'm the Talent Acquisition Specialist here at Fidel. I was born and raised in Alentejo, Portugal. In 2014, I moved to Lisbon to do my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. I really like being around people and helping them achieve their goals. That was one of my motivations to do my masters in Organizational Psychology, where I learned how to further improve people's lives in the workplace and help a team succeed. In my free time, I like to go on long walks and find new places in town. Recently, my free time has been mostly spent doing online Yoga classes and reading books.

I am always curious, trying to learn new things and meeting new people, which luckily,  has been my day-to-day life at Fidel, where I'm super happy! It’s incredible to be part of a team with people from whom I can learn a lot about different topics, such as finance, engineering and human resources.

A: Why did you join Fidel?

Angelina: Fidel’s product and the challenge of joining a startup were extremely appealing to me, so I decided to apply. The opportunity to have an active role in the different stages of the hiring process, working in a team of people from all over the world and inside a culture that seemed super interesting, were some of the things that really made me want to join Fidel! Besides, I really enjoyed my own hiring process, everyone was super nice and transparent. It was a very humanising experience. After my first interview with Beatriz, I already knew that I really wanted to work with this team! She’s also my new manager!

A: How does a typical day look like for you?

Angelina: Usually, my day starts early in the morning - I'm a morning person. I start organising my tasks, clean my email and check for new applicants for the different open roles. Every day at 10:00 AM, I have the daily Stand-Up for the Talent team, where we talk about the previous day and align our priorities for that day. This meeting’s main goal is to ensure that we are working in an agile way and promote our efficiency as a team. I work with the different hiring teams for the rest of the morning, and I do some sourcing. Usually, my afternoons are focused on conducting interviews for the different positions we have available. On Fridays, we have a longer stand up - the Talent Team Weekly Catch-up - where we talk about the past week’s achievements, blockers and define the following week’s goals.

A: What are some of the most interesting challenges you’re solving?

Angelina: The Fidel Talent Team is 100% committed to improving our Hiring Processes’ quality, promoting a good experience for the candidates and all the internal stakeholders involved in the process. This challenge is associated with the interview experience, but it is much bigger than that since it is directly connected with a clear and effective definition and communication of the Hiring Profile for the different open roles. We've been working with everyone directly involved in the recruitment process to transform the process in efficiency and agility. We started by defining the Hiring Profile for each role clearly and tried to identify and eliminate possible blockers. We also tried to promote our recruitment tools to share notes and comments about the candidate’s performance. With that in place, it is much easier for everyone to read each other's comments and it also helps us make sure that the person chosen to fill the open position is aligned with the Hiring Profile.

Another interesting challenge that we have been working on is to become an employer of preference for candidates in the Portuguese market. With this in mind, we will be focusing on developing and communicating our employer brand on social media and through different practices during the year of 2021.

A: What is your favourite thing about working at Fidel?

Angelina: The best about working at Fidel is, without a doubt, the people. I know it is kind of a cliché answer, but it’s true! We are like a family - everyone is always willing to give an extra hand, with ideas, a different perspective, or help with anything that you might need. I onboarded remotely, and even though I haven’t had a chance to work with anyone in person, everyone has been so welcoming, since day one. They have offered full availability to help me better understand the business. Our game time sessions every Thursday and Happy (half) Hours every Friday were also key for me to integrate and interact with everyone!

Besides, I love the fact that we really work as a team for the different Hiring Processes. Each day, I have the chance to work with people from different backgrounds from whom I get to learn a lot. I feel we are truly working together to improve the hiring experience and processes, which is great!

A: How do you keep up with current trends and advances in the talent world?

Angelina: I use different channels to keep me updated with the Talent world, my favourite being Linkedin. I follow a broad group of people and companies on this social media platform to keep up with what other companies are doing and the market trends in terms of recruitment and employer branding. I am also a subscriber of Talent Blog, a newsletter from Linkedin, where I can have access to many articles about different subjects regarding Human Resources. Sometimes I also check HR Happy Hour and Work Life with Adam Grant podcasts for some ideas or different perspectives about some hot topics in the Talent field. Besides, whenever possible, I also attend conferences about these topics.

A: Any tips for people that want to join you at Fidel?

Angelina: My tip for people who want to join Fidel is to research our company in terms of product and culture through our social media, website, and blog. Make sure you know why you want to join us, what moves you professionally, and how you could add value to our team. We look for people who are motivated to be a part of our family and want to add value with their ideas and critical thinking—basically, someone who wants to keep learning and growing with us. Lastly, my advice is for them to have some questions prepared for the end of the interviews as it shows interest in getting to know more about us and the way we work. We love curious people!