Continuing our series of interviews with memoQ team members, we are heading over now to the human resources team, with help of our Head of HR, Katalin Juhász!
Hello and thank you for taking the time to answer some of our questions. First, we would like to ask you to introduce yourself a little bit. Can you tell us where you are from and where you live right now?
I am originally a girl from a rural area, lived in Esztergom, and moved to Budapest to attend university. Although I love the city a lot, I couldn’t get used to living in the capital, so I moved to Szentendre where I am currently living with my family. My background is in Work and Organizational Psychology. I come from the consulting industry, having spent 15 years there.
How did you get to know memoQ, both the company and the product?
I didn’t know about memoQ until an old friend of mine (actually my first boss) drew my attention to the company. memoQ needed an HR professional. We started a discussion and I got to like the company a lot. It turned out to be mutual and I finally joined the company in January.
Tell us more about your current position: what does a typical day for you look like?
I’ve only been in this position a short time, so my days are still spent learning—a lot. My focus so far has been more getting to know the people and less about the product itself, but this is probably something you can forgive to an HR manager. As I see it, my role is to support memoQ’s great human culture in becoming even stronger. We need to ensure that the company can reach its goals for growth by attracting great people to the team. We also need to make sure that our smart and dedicated people working here have opportunities for further development and keep them engaged for the long term.
Tell us more about your team. How many members are there, what are their roles, and what do you like most about working with colleagues?
The HR team has grown significantly. In the last couple of months, there was only one person dealing with everything. She is still the foundation of the team and responsible for all the administrative tasks related to HR, as well as being heavily involved in the hiring process. We have another team member who has partially moved from her office manager role to HR coordinator and is responsible for organizing training activities and other HR projects. I am very grateful to both for helping with my onboarding and sharing their knowledge and experience. I like the fact that even in such a short time we have developed an open and honest working relationship.
What makes your team stand out? What is it that drives you all to succeed?
It is the constant desire to become better and better in what we are doing. We all work to create a highly professional HR team and develop processes that will help the company and its employees reach the stars. 😊
What did you like about memoQ as a company when you first joined, and what do you enjoy most about your work now?
No surprises here I think: People. I like how they form a big family with all the jokes and fun but also the professional work they do. Everyone is very helpful and approachable.
What do you think are the strongest points of memoQ (both as a product and a company) that make us stand out in the industry?
I am still familiarizing myself with the product and industry, but for sure memoQ’s distinguishing power must come from the people behind the product. Great, dedicated professionals and high intellectual capacity.
Let us turn to some questions specific to your position. Here goes: what do you enjoy most about your work?
My work is diverse, never the same. You need to bridge business goals and people, serving both in the best way possible. You are challenged to come up with new solutions; there is room for shaping the culture and creating new processes. And, at the expense of sounding repetitive, what I enjoy most is the constant communication with people.
How has the pandemic affected you and your team’s work? Have you seen any changes? Are there any differences in the types of requests you receive or types of new opportunities? How has it affected you personally?
I joined memoQ during the pandemic. It certainly affected the number of people that are in the office, but I like that the company lets everyone decide where they feel the safest to work. I had a challenging last year both from personal and professional perspectives, but I am positive about the future and trust that the situation will soon improve. I see that we need to care about each other much more by providing support for those friends, family members, or neighbors who need it, whether it’s a pair of ears to listen or a pair of hands to help with errands. I see examples all around me for a greater willingness to care and help out others.
We also try to support more our employees as we see that people find it more and more difficult to cope with the current situation that is resulted by the pandemic. Therefore besides being flexible with working hours, we will offer free psychological counseling to help those in need.
Last, but not least, we would really like to ask you, as HR Manager: what is your biggest inspiration in your career?
I am inspired by the team I work with, the people around me, and the opportunity to shape the future of memoQ.
