Adform is a global digital advertising technology company with a major site in Lithuania. The people filling the client-facing roles work in a truly international environment with the biggest brand names in the world.
To get a glimpse of life in a global adtech company, we interviewed Karolina Baltuonytė, currently a Global Platform Solutions Consultant at Adform. She has travelled to the US & Asia to work with clients and now helps global brands with technical onboarding.
🔵 How would you describe Adform as a product for the people outside the adtech industry?
Adform’s business might sometimes be confusing for outsiders, but actually, most people interact with us daily! Every time you see an ad online, it might be served by us. Adform connects brands to the right audiences in the right environment, making digital advertising work in an automated and seamless way.
🔵 How did you find your way to joining Adform?
It’s an interesting story, actually! Back in 2016, some of my former colleagues were working at Adform, and I only heard the best things about this company and the work environment. I was 100% sure I also wanted to work there, even though I didn’t even know what Adform did.
Back then, I had just graduated and went around the world travelling. Whenever someone asked about my occupation, I said without any hesitation – once I’m back in Lithuania, I’ll work for Adform. When the time came to move back to Vilnius, I sent a single CV – to Adform. I was just so sure that I’d get the job. And luckily, I did!
🔵 You have worked in various positions within Adform, including relocating to the US office way back in 2017. How did you get this opportunity? How did that experience go for you?
It still feels unbelievable I got to work in our New York office, in the center of advertising! I’m very grateful for that opportunity to this day.
My Team Lead at that time encouraged me to apply for a temporary position in the US, even though I had only worked at Adform for 1,5 years and still felt like a beginner. If someone had told me then that I would soon lead a client meeting in the Empire State Building, I would have just laughed.
But as soon as I moved across the pond, I was soaked in the advertising world – Our American team took me to a client meeting on my very first day. In addition to being jet-lagged, I was a bit intimidated and confused as it was a completely new experience for me. Before that, I had supported clients exclusively via digital channels and emails. So the first days felt like a lucid dream at times, but it forced me to adjust to the new situation rapidly.
I was also living very close to Times Square, which stunned me completely. Such experiences really make you believe in the ”If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere” mentality.
Overall, it was an exceptional way to get out of my comfort zone, boost my confidence and gain more industry knowledge. The time in the US office built a solid base for my next career steps in Adform.
🔵 What were some of the US-specific challenges?
One of the biggest challenges initially was the time difference with the tech people from the Vilnius office. If I had any questions before, I could simply approach the correct person in the office. But by the time I got to the office in New York, the people in Vilnius were already wrapping up for the day. This turned out to be a great learning experience: to support clients independently and on time, I had to expand my knowledge about the various aspects of Adform’s products.
🔵 What did you learn about the US market from your time there?
NYC’s hustle and bustle gets you into a workaholic mode, which was very enjoyable for me! I saw the American way of doing business and pitching clients. Their style is more fast-paced than in Europe – if you don’t impress the client during the first minutes, it will be much harder going forward. It felt like a constant battle for everyone. If it’s not you, then it’s someone else. You simply cannot lose focus.
One more thing I learned – you can always blame the subway if you’re late to the client meeting. 😁
🔵 What’s your current role? How would you explain your job in layman’s terms?
My current job title is Global Platform Solutions Consultant, meaning I’m managing the accounts of well-known global brands. I focus on the technical side of things, for example, making sure that Adform’s products are smoothly onboarded and used across the markets the client requires – no matter if it’s the US, Spain, Japan or Australia, they all must operate in sync. Or if I had to explain this to a 4-year-old – I’m building a customized puzzle and making sure it doesn’t break.
My role is global, so working at Adform’s Vilnius office makes cross-team and cross-office communication really easy and fun! Having client support and development teams here is very convenient as you can easily have a “coffee chat” about your business case followed by a good pool game. The foreign colleagues also often visit the Vilnius office, which gives us a chance to catch up.
I’ve never worked around such inspiring and supporting people before. Even though the company is vast, you still feel like a part of the team and working towards a united goal.
🔵 What have you learned from working alongside the biggest advertisers in the world?
It was most interesting to see that we speak the same adtech language anywhere, but it’s wrapped in a different cultural environment. Out of personal experience – eating a fried pigeon in China or raw chicken in Japan makes you feel like a complete outsider. But once you get into the meeting room, we’re back on the same page, speaking adtech.
Jokes aside, onboarding large multinational advertisers usually means staying with one account for at least two years, as it takes a while to build that customized puzzle across all the markets. In the end, you are so involved that it almost feels as if you’re working at the company. It is a priceless experience as I get to see the digital marketing strategies in different industries – retail, automotive, telecommunications. Not to mention meeting the brightest, most inspiring people along the way!
🔵 And finally, you have now worked in Adform for nearly six years. What has kept you in the company for so long?
I previously thought that even three years at one company would be too long. But here we are… 😁
Adform keeps challenging me to this day, and I still see a lot of opportunities to grow. That’s the most important thing for me. Additionally, the team is hands-down one of the best things in Adform. It’s difficult to explain to people outside the company, but we have a special vibe that all our people share due to Adform Guiding Principles, the seven of them in total. It really is a great environment for kick-starting or accelerating your career!
Every now and then, a start-up goes into hypergrowth. Kilo Health is the perfect example of this by more than doubling both the revenue and size of the team in 2021, with similar goals for the coming year. Of course, hiring at such a rapid pace means a lot of thinking about how to scale the culture of the company.
This is why we were excited to interview Juste Vižinytė, Chief People Officer at Kilo Health. We asked her about the thinking behind “spoiling the employees” with perks and benefits, why they discarded all rules regarding the working location, and much more!
🔵 Before we get to the exciting growth story, could you please explain what Kilo Health does? What are your most popular products, who are your clients, and where are they located?
Kilo Health is one of the leading digital health and wellness companies in the world. We’re also among the fastest-growing health tech companies in Europe with 500+ employees. Our headquarters are in Lithuania, but we also have offices in Berlin and Kyiv.
We have plenty of well-performing products, from mental health apps to weight management programs. We’re also providing tools to prevent, manage, or treat various health conditions, focusing on developing chronic condition management products.
Some of the most popular products include:
Klinio – for diabetes management
Sensa – for mental health and wellness support
Cardi.Health – for cardiovascular health
Keto Cycle – for keto-powered nutrition
DoFasting – for following a healthy intermittent fasting routine
Our largest market is the US, but other English-speaking countries such as the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, also play a significant role. Other important markets for us include Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Middle Eastern, and Scandinavian countries. Anyone who wishes to have a better, healthier lifestyle might be our client.
🔵 Thinking about Kilo Health, the first thing that comes to mind is explosive growth. Could you give some insight into how quickly your business is accelerating?
Both the team and revenues are indeed growing at breakneck speed. We have hired 365 new people in 2021 so far. Next year, we plan to double our revenues, which already means generating a nine-digit revenue in 2022.
🔵 How is the size of the team holding up?
We’re facing hypergrowth. Every week, 4–10 new people join our team, so you can imagine the challenges we have. We put a lot of effort into the first onboarding day so that new hires may experience our culture and meet as many colleagues as possible. Still, the most important factor is how they feel during the first few months.
Additionally, we want to create a supportive, inviting, and challenging environment that keeps people working with us for a long time. That’s why we’re expanding not only the talent acquisition team but also hiring people responsible for motivation and personal development.
We don’t want to simply grow our teams, but to make sure that everyone who already works at Kilo Health is happy and sees meaning in their work and our mission. This is the only way to push Kilo Health to the next level.
🔵 Facing the hypergrowth of the team, have you opened any new offices lately, or have you opted more for a hybrid or remote work approach?
We have surveyed our people and learned that there is no one-size-fits-all option. As a result, everyone now works the way they want – anyone can find a place in the office, but if you prefer, you can work from anywhere in the world. We certainly do not apply strict rules.
One of our core values is ownership, freedom and creativity so each employee can make their own decisions on how and where to work – you do you, as long as the job gets done. Still, we try to make our offices as inviting as possible, so that more people want to come and work from there. We have offices in Vilnius and other Lithuanian cities, as well as spaces in Berlin and Kyiv.
🔵 With the team constantly expanding, high-performing employees should have good options for career growth. Could you share some stories of rising employees inside the company?
We try to help our employees grow by acquiring additional skills and promoting people from within the company. We create authentic leaders because Kilo Health’s culture is unique. Also, it is really valuable to train our existing employees for higher positions because they already know our culture.
An excellent example of this is one of our first teammates Kristina Zalnieraite who joined Kilo Health as a nutrition specialist back in 2018. Today, she is the Head of Nutrition and Wellness with 15 nutrition experts, dietitians and fitness consultants in her team.
Of course, we are always looking for external talents to join the ranks of our leadership team or as senior specialists. This ensures that we broaden our horizons as a company and soak in the best practices from different industries.
🔵 Even among startups, Kilo Health stands out for an extensive list of perks and benefits. Could you highlight some of them?
We just opened our new office, and we can call it Disneyland for our employees – we will have a massage parlour, gym, a bar, and just about anything you need to stay healthy, happy, and inspired. One of the recent must-haves is flexible private health insurance – as a company that works in the wellness industry, it was a no-brainer. We also provide 5 additional days off whenever you need it, workations, and all the learning opportunities you want, among other things.
We don’t think the fridge full of food, a taxi budget, or a game room is a perk. It’s just a part of creating an inviting environment and allowing some time to recharge and rest. We focus on making sure that employees’ ideas are heard, the work is challenging, the teams are inviting, and our people can ambitiously grow together with the company.
🔵 What’s the philosophy behind “spoiling your employees”?
If you love your teams, they will love their work. If you give your heart to your colleagues, they will share theirs.
🔵 If MeetFrank’s monthly leaderboards are any indication, Kilo Health is unquestionably one of the hottest Lithuanian startups to work for in 2021. How much interest in the company do you see among candidates?
We need to headhunt people like everyone else, but I think it is a bit easier for us at this point. We emphasize our culture and hire based on cultural fit and expertise.
We have already reached our yearly employee hiring goal for this year. We have a diverse group of colleagues – from Kyiv or Berlin to the Philippines or the UK. All of them provide Kilo Health with a diverse and global mindset.
🔵 Kilo Health has a particular company culture, amplified by prominent employer branding. In your opinion, what kind of qualities should the person have to fit into the team?
We look for people with a heightened sense of ownership but are also free, positive, straightforward, ambitious, flexible, fast, agile, and have a good sense of humour – those who wish to grow together and push the company to become better.
Check out Kilo.Health’s open positions on MeetFrank:
🔵 And finally, where do you see Kilo Health in the next few years?
Kilo Health was founded to design the most engaging and effective digital lifestyle interventions that lead to a healthier life by preventing, managing, or treating various health conditions. Our vision is to become the No. 1 digital health company in chronic condition management globally with the steady and constant growth we’ve maintained so far.
Printify is a Latvian print-on-demand service startup that helps merchants make more money in a simple and easy way. As co-founders of Printify (James Berdigans, Gatis Dukurs & Artis Kehris) have said, Printify was created to make merchandise available to everyone.
We had a chance to talk to their Head of Recruitment, Benjamin Moris, about their culture and what makes Printify unique for employees. I have to admit, when I heard Benjamin’s answers, I was thinking of applying for a position at Printify myself because what he said was very inspirational.
🔵 If you had to explain to a kindergartener what Printify does, how would you describe it?
The best explanation would be that, let’s say, you made a nice drawing, your mom finds it beautiful, she thinks a lot of people would like it as well, and maybe we can even make some business and money out of it. Why don’t we go to Printify and create an opportunity for others to buy some products with this cute drawing you just created and make more people in the world proud of seeing what you can make?
🔵 One of the main unique selling points that Printify has is the possibility of having a career while working entirely remotely. Why have you chosen that as your main selling point?
It’s a principle we truly embrace. We’ve grown this way, we have had that as a part of our DNA from the moment when we started growing and hiring people at a larger scale, and for us it’s not a temporary thing, but something we strongly believe in and want to continue. It will always stay as a part of our DNA.
If we go into more details, I’d say that allowing people to work remotely gives us three new flexibilities: flexibility for employees to permanently settle down wherever they want, temporary flexibility for employees to work from wherever they want and flexibility for Printify to hire talents in untouched talent pools, away from traditional big markets.
It’s an important point for us because we feel that everything has changed in the last two years due to the Covid-19 situation. I recently watched an interview with the founder and CEO of Airbnb, Brian Chesky. He explained that the world was previously centered around three places for people – work, home, and travel during the holidays. Today, all of those things are related, and they CAN be flexible.
The right talent might be based somewhere where no big companies are hiring – can we find those people? Maybe people want to be based in smaller places, in countries with fewer business opportunities. In the past, there were often very talented developers who could only work on a short-term contract or as freelancers because they wouldn’t be hired full-time in the big companies that they liked, although they had the talent for it. However, their situation (the need to feed the family, for example) would push them to relocate to a specific place.
Today we can offer them not having to choose between a career in a great company and the lifestyle they want. We can give them that flexibility. If we look at this as a selling point for us as a company, trying to hire the right talent pool and looking at people who can be based anywhere really gives us added value.
First of all, it means massive access to diversity that allows us to mix cultures. It’s essential for Printify not to hire people based on a culture fit, but based on the culture add, because you don’t need people who all look the same; you need to look at people who will bring something to your company culture. We open up that pool by going to different places, traveling countries and experiencing differences.
It also allows us to be closer to our customers because they’re everywhere in the world and that way we can better understand what they want. And not less important is that by being remote we can get access to talents across the world who are looking for this kind of flexibility.
🔵 Trust seems to be the key element when it comes to remote working culture. For instance, one of the biggest and most influential banks globally issued a statement in April ’21, requiring all employees to return to their offices by July ’21. In my opinion, it sends a message to their employees that the company is not trusting them. Speaking about Printify, what processes do you have in place to help your managers trust employees, even if all of them are working entirely remotely?
Trust is essential. For me, trust starts with the company culture. We have defined our values and at Printify we have four of them.
The first one is that the customer is our compass. As we discussed before, a diverse workforce will allow us to be closer to our customers. It’s pretty crucial for us.
The second one is that we strive for excellence. We expect effort and strong work ethics from the people we hire, empowering them to be the best they can. We all aspire to be better. Therefore we hire people who want to embody this value and don’t need to be told daily what to do or where to sit.
The third value is ‘We learn it all’. It’s about the growth mindset and the learning culture. We also hire people who want to become better and learn again, not because we tell them, but because they want to. That’s also aligning with the trust.
The last value is that we play to win together. Team spirit to achieve big things together is very important. Over the previous two years, we’ve learned how to win together remotely, as initially we didn’t have a choice. Now we know it’s possible. It’s possible because we trust each other and we can still be a team on-location or remotely. It’s something that we’ve seen and demonstrated along the way.
Looking for people who are striving for excellence, want to keep learning and want to work as a team means that we are looking for mature people who are willing to achieve things for themselves and can also be trusted to work fully remotely.
🔵 Is it possible that remote work fits only for a certain type of company, with a specific culture? How would you describe that culture?
It’s a great question. I don’t think anyone has an answer of whether it fits every company or not. I think we will discover that down the road.
The culture starts with trust. And in my opinion the growth mindset is also essential. Having people who sincerely want to be a part of the journey and grow together with their company, not just count on the company to do things for them. It’s linked with the fact that the company needs to empower people. The element of transparency is critical here. In the past, I’ve worked in the headquarters of big companies, but also in a smaller office 12,000 kilometers away from the headquarters. In every small office, there is always a strong belief that all the decisions are made at the headquarters, that a few people in the center decide everything, and that when you’re remote, you don’t get access to the right level of information or you don’t necessarily have a word in determining what you can do there.
We need to start with the mindset of a company where there is no headquarter. I mean, there is one, but even top leaders of the company can be based in different places. The most important thing is that you need to share information a lot more broadly. Because you need to share it between offices, with everyone and different people inside the company. You create a culture of transparency which is usually very embodied in the early stages of a company.
Having a high level of transparency makes a difference in how you can give a chance to everyone based anywhere in the world to feel as a part of the company and not like a second class employee just because they don’t have access to what is decided in the HQ.
I truly believe that the right balance is achieved when employees want to put the company’s interests above their own, and also companies are willing to put their employees’ interests above theirs in a virtuous circle.
🔵 Before Covid-19, the primary motivation for working on-site for many was that you were able to socialize with your co-workers and mingle during the lunch/coffee breaks. In your opinion, has the Covid-19 pandemic broken that behavior?
Socializing and mingling is still a big part of people’s work life, but I think people have realized it’s not the only one. I believe COVID-19 has opened the door to people’s mindsets to recognize that other ways are also possible. The time you can’t spend mingling with your colleagues can be compensated by the time you spend exercising or playing with your children instead of being stuck on a bus or in a traffic jam during your commute. There are of course different approaches, but creating space for employees to mingle, whether online for non-work-related things or through in-person gatherings a few times a year, will still remain an essential part of remote company culture. It is, however, vital to give people a choice and not tell them what they should like or do. Give them a chance to experience it all and let everyone decide what works best.
In my team, a few people recently decided to meet twice a week, an equivalent of a mingling coffee break, where everyone who joins can talk about anything but work. It happens online, instead of being around the coffee table, and it’s working – people get to know each other. We’ve already seen colleagues who are not sharing the same office know each other better because of that. We want everyone to be part of it, and people who’ve joined from different places say that this kind of space is excellent and essential for them. We need to create it, but we don’t need to assume it’s the only way. If such an approach didn’t exist, the culture would most likely not be thriving in the company.
🔵 How does Printify keep their remotely working professionals engaged and motivated simultaneously, so they still have a sense of belonging, besides online coffee breaks?
I think people find their own way. Generally, what’s important is that we show them it’s possible. For me, it starts from the beginning and from the top.
‘From the beginning’ means from the early days in the company. For example, we have at Printify an onboarding process where we create empowerment and a sense of responsibility that genuinely shows what is possible for the individuals in the company. We do it from day one. During our onboarding process, people learn the most important facts about the company and its culture for the first four or five days. They also get to experience the journey of a merchant working with Printify, because we are trying not only to explain, but also show how Printify actually works. We are a fast-growing company, but still a very young company, and the whole onboarding process was designed when we were all already working remotely. It’s remote by essence, by design.
‘From the top’ means it starts with managers; it needs to come strongly from leaders who show their employees that what matters is that the work gets done. When you see your CEO or other people presenting in a virtual call to the entire company, and you see them with a beach, forest or mountain background, which is not a fake background they’ve inserted on Zoom or Google Meet, it shows everyone that it’s fully okay to do so. It also shows that managers should embrace the concept and lead by example. I’m also a bit of an example of that – I’m a French citizen, I was hired from Singapore by a Latvian company, and I’m taking our call from Portugal today. I’ve been in the company for five months, and I have not met a single person face-to-face yet. And things are going well.
Since I’ve joined Printify, I’ve hired people in my team remotely. I’ve hired employees in Latvia, Ukraine, Romania, Bosnia and Georgia. And that’s just for the recruitment team. For other teams, we’ve also hired people in Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Lithuania, Estonia, Sweden, and I could give you a long list. We’ve recently even hired someone who started working remotely for us in Uruguay and just relocated them to Riga. Overall, today we have employees in more than 20 countries, and there are only four countries where we have more than five employees. When people join the company, they know that working remotely is the norm. They don’t feel lonely in their situation. They might sometimes feel lonely in their location, but never in their situation.
Printify’s management team (from left): Edgars Peics – Chief Technology Officer, Miks Lusitis – Head of Data, James Berdigans – CEO & Founder, Lauris Lietavietis – Chief Sales and Partnerships Officer, Valeria Kast – Head of Merchant Support, Artis Grizans – Chief Financial Officer
🔵 Is remote work here to stay when we have defeated the Covid-19, or do you expect many companies to adjust back to old ways of working?
Many companies will want to go back to the pre-COVID situation, and I think they will most likely fail at it. The mindsets have already shifted – less and less people feel that they should be told what to do, especially by their employers. Companies that position themselves correctly will definitely have the edge over the competition.
Our internal employee surveys show that most employees prefer to keep the flexibility of deciding where they work. When there were no COVID restrictions in our office in June and July, we still had a minority of employees visiting the office more than three times a week. Why would we change it? Just because suddenly there are no more restrictions? We won’t tell our people, “No, you need to come in!”.
I believe a lot of companies will display flexibility, but they will not embrace it. They will offer remote work for a few days a week, which will help some people, but will not completely change their lives.
🔵 Does Printify have any recruitment and human operation philosophy that you follow while recruiting?
Our recruitment philosophy is “Hire the best wherever they are. Find the person with the best mindset, best fit for the role and the company, location is just a detail.”
For the HR philosophy, it’s keeping it very transparent. We need to hire people, and every time we hire someone in a new place, it’s a rather complicated process. We need to find a local partner and get familiar with the local regulations, but we’re willing to do it because we feel it adds value. We need to be transparent about what we know and what we don’t know. We also have to take people through inconveniences sometimes, where we’re finding things out, and it’s essential that people trust us while we’re doing it. If something doesn’t work out, we’ll always tell them that. Honesty is fundamental.
The last, but certainly not least aspect from an HR perspective is to keep people happy. Make sure that your people like where they are and are happy working in the company; it’s essential. The last time I checked, we had a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor by employees. That’s pretty rare and unique. I’m not saying we’ll be able to make it last forever, but if we can make it last as long as possible and make sure we make people happy, that’s what is most important for us.
Rakettitiede is a Finland-based IT consultancy company. Their core expertise lies in web and mobile services, IoT, and embedded systems. And this year is their 10-year anniversary!
We had a chance to talk to their first employee Jartza Tulilahti, who has seen the company’s journey from the very beginning till today. In contrast, we also talked to Minna Wahlroos, who joined the company at the beginning of this year.
We talked about employees’ independence, their projects, as well as the company’s radical transparency and opportunities for the employees. Of course, we were curious to know what makes Rakettitiede such a company where people want to work for long years. What’s special? And we got the answers!
The Interview
🔵 Nice to meet you, Jartza and Minna! How are you?
Jartza: Resource number 1 is operative. All systems go. How may I serve you?
Minna: Good! Caffeinated!
🔵 Jartza, you were the first employee of Rakettitiede! What’s the story behind joining the company?
Jartza: My professional IT career started in the ’90s. After around 15 years of experience in the IT business, I started to feel that I’m just a money-making machine to other people in a business that always ends up in co-operation negotiations. Then, after spending up to 160 days a year in hotel rooms working as a traveling instructor via my own company, I felt like enough is enough.
Then I started a plumbing business. 10 years ago, when I understood that being a sole proprietor didn’t always guarantee steady income, I posted my thoughts to Facebook: “Maybe I should get a real job?” An old colleague of mine soon replied that they had started a consulting business and asked if I wanted to join them. I hesitated for an hour or two, but in the end, I was convinced that the company was on the right track and immediately felt I was in the right place. I still do.
🔵 Minna, what is it like to be a newcomer in Rakettitiede? What caught your attention to the company in the first place?
Minna: I became aware of Rakettitiede’s kind of a “hybrid model” between freelancing and fixed salary employment. And I had overheard good things about Rakettitiede’s culture and people. So it was by word of mouth you could say.
🔵 Jartza, you’ve been in Rakettitiede for 9 years now, which is longer than average to be in one job. What is it that makes you do this work every day?
Jartza: It’s the perfect combination of lean bureaucracy, interesting projects, healthcare benefits, highly professional people, and learning new things every day. Rakettitiede has grown steadily, but not too fast – our recruiting methods try to keep the company culture alive while also taking care of the people already in the company. People respect each other and you can also always learn something new from others as everyone has their own area of expertise.
Rakettitiede takes care of people by providing a very extensive healthcare plan, not to forget the mental part. There is always help available for an overloaded mind. The occupational safety committee not only takes care of the statutory things but tries to think of new ways to implement so-called “preventive maintenance”, acting before problems grow too big.
Our projects have provided enough challenges to keep the work interesting. And in the end, salary is, of course, something you can’t dismiss. It’s very competitive and motivating.
🔵 In Rakettitiede, employees are called Rocket Scientists. What does this mean for you personally?
Minna: Personally, it does remind me that I’m in a group of solid professionals and we work on complex problems that sometimes may feel like rocket science.
🔵 The previous interview with Rakettitiederevealed that the company has loads of different projects and could also find the right fit outside the embedded / mobile / web header competencies. Is it expressed in your practical work and how?
Minna: When being often a sole reinforcement, there’s a wider range of responsibilities involved, and sometimes helping clients to maximum extent involves additional skills to “just coding to the spec”. Often there are no clearly laid out specs, and maybe creating those is the primary work.
🔵 What has been the most memorable project for you in Rakettitiede?
Jartza: Most definitely it isTagsu – an electronic name badge I designed, implemented, sourced the components, mechanics and arranged the production of the device. The device itself is simple, but as a project, it was extremely educational for all the steps required to get something from the idea to the actual physical product. Without the help from Rakettitiede, this kind of learning project wouldn’t have been possible.
Minna: I have been working the whole year on a single project, and it’s great! I have a chance to contribute to something that brings comfort and safety to people’s everyday life, and not just money. Using bleeding-edge technologies, with a great team!
🔵 In Rakettitiede, how is it decided, who gets which client and project?
Minna: There’s very clear visibility on what external needs have reached our sales, so everyone interested can see immediately if something especially appealing comes around. Then you discuss further to be 100% sure if it’ll be appealing to both parties. Contracts are implemented so you can hop out if necessary, however, it isn’t common due to transparent and clear pre-gig discussions.
Jartza: Yes, it’s always the consultant who decides. If for some reason a consultant feels a need to change position, they can always talk to sales to find a new project. Some gigs are short, but others last for years. Some of the longest projects have already lasted over 5 years!
🔵 Rakettitiede is currently looking for experienced full stack, mobile, and embedded software developers. What would you recommend to new candidates?
Minna: I think Rakettitiede is a good company for experienced developers who want the comfort of having a company supporting you, as well as being a part of a like-minded community. I see it as a very worthwhile alternative to freelancing, especially with Finnish taxation.
Jartza: We’re indeed looking for new talented developers, so send us an application! Even if you won’t get selected now, we might be able to provide you with some insights on how to improve your talent and apply again later. There’s nothing to lose.
🔵 And my final question will be direct – how Rakettitiede has helped you in your working life?
Jartza: By providing me with the opportunity to work on interesting projects, providing all the necessary tools I have requested without hesitation, and being supportive in case of any issues. There is always help available if you just ask, be your problem work or personal life related.
Minna: Do you mean after finding me a wonderful gig? 😀 I’m quite independent, but they’ve definitely supported me when I had doubts about something. I love the radical transparency that runs in the company.
Hiring is currently a red-hot subject in almost any industry, but even more so in the IT sector, where there never seems to be enough talent. Finnish tech companies are therefore looking beyond the country borders to find a sufficient number of specialists.
That’s where Wefind IT comes into play with its hiring solutions geared towards attracting technical talent in the Eastern European region, especially Russia. We interviewed Mikhail Kotsik, Technical Director, and Ainura Kiviniemi, Head of Sales & Marketing, to find out how they can help with building remote product teams or relocating talent to Finland.
Interview
🔵 The shortage of talent has paved the way for many freelance, remote, relocation or nearshoring service providers. How does Wefind IT fit into this picture? What services do you offer?
Ainura: In short, Wefind IT offers comprehensive HR & recruitment services for Finnish companies looking for IT talent. We feel that we are an exact solution to the ongoing hiring problems in the IT industry, especially when a company is open to working with English-speaking remote engineering teams.
Our motto is “We bring international IT talents to you!” and that is precisely what we do. We have built a talent pool across Eastern Europe, working in software development, cloud consulting, and data engineering. Our services include hiring these specialists for part-time and full-time positions, subcontracting project work, IT consulting and direct recruitment.
🔵 From which countries does Wefind IT search for talent?
Mikhail: We have recruiting partners in Russia, which is a breeding ground for top professionals, but we do not necessarily limit ourselves geographically.
🔵 Do you focus more on providing talent for temporary (project-based) or permanent positions? How about relocating talent?
Ainura: We always tailor the recruitment solutions to the client’s needs as hiring challenges are never alike. Our focus is on providing full-time specialists for remote/project-based positions, but this might not always be the best fit. For example, to boost internal communication, some employers only hire talent that can participate in team meetings in person. As a full-service recruitment provider, we can help clients in those situations as well.
A significant factor is what candidates we manage to attract for a given position and whether they prefer to work remotely or can, in fact, travel or relocate to Finland. To summarize – both options are possible. We serve the client based on their needs and candidates we can find on the market.
🔵 How long does it usually take from contacting Wefind IT to finding suitable candidates?
Ainura: On average, the search for talent takes about 2-3 weeks, but the record time for finding a suitable candidate is only a couple of days. The timeline mostly depends on the required seniority – highly qualified specialists are more likely to need headhunting as they usually don’t look for new opportunities themselves.
When looking for a specialist, we utilize our significant proprietary talent database, consisting of experts we have already worked with before. Additionally, we publish the vacancy on the leading job boards in the region & on social media, with our in-house HR manager helping to sort the candidates.
🔵 Mikhail, let’s talk a bit about your talent pool’s technical qualifications. Does Wefind IT cover all the prevalent modern technologies? What are the most requested skills from your clients?
Mikhail: I think it’s important to distinguish between the most popular and most requested technologies. Modern technologies are not always among the most requested from clients.
Usually, the best developers spend a lot of time pursuing excellence in modern technologies. They also invest a lot of time to keep their knowledge up to date. So it is usually much easier to find a developer proficient in a fancy modern technology than an expert in a legacy enterprise solution.
In most cases, we successfully find the requested developer. But it’s important to keep in mind that some skills are more popular than others between talents. The most popular technologies at this moment probably don’t come as a surprise: Java, PHP, GoLang, React, ReactNative, VueJS, and AWS.
🔵 How do you screen talent’s technical skills beforehand? For example, do you have technical assignments?
Mikhail: We always follow the clients’ standards for technical assignments, as the developers become part of their team. So we cover all assignments and interview rounds the client requires to make sure the candidate is indeed a good fit for a position.
However, I want to stress that ideally, the hiring process shouldn’t take too long in the current market conditions because developers sometimes get 3-5 offers at once. The faster employers have an advantage.
🔵 What have been the most complex projects that Wefind IT has carried out?
Mikhail: I believe that with a correct process, everything is possible. So far, the most complex project has been creating a team from scratch for a huge banking project at the intersection of cryptocurrencies and the modern banking system.
🔵 What recruitment trends currently have the biggest impact on your operations?
Mikhail: The coronavirus and continuously growing need for IT specialists forces companies to rethink their work arrangements. They have to adapt to remote work, which certainly is a positive trend from our point of view. Also, the Finnish educational system clearly doesn’t satisfy the market demand for technical talent, and it’s unclear when the situation will improve.
Ainura: When talking to the clients, it sometimes feels like all senior IT talents are already working for the biggest IT companies in Finland and enjoying comforting salaries with great company benefits. As a smaller tech company, it might be difficult to compete in that environment. However, smaller players still need the same level of professionalism to develop their products or lead their tech department. This is where we can help by pitching the employer to our senior specialists.
🔵 Based on your experience, is it challenging for employers to start working with international talent? For example, companies might have to deal with translating all the documentation into English.
Mikhail: Seriously, the only problem is time zones. 😉 I think keeping technical documentation and comments in English is a widely adopted best practice by now. It is mauvais ton to have comments in the local language. Of course, it goes both ways, so we have also implemented a professional-level English test in our recruitment process to verify talents’ abilities.
🔵 If everything sounds good so far, where can you learn more about Wefind IT and how to get started?
Ainura: The easiest way to learn more about our services is to look at our website. Additionally, you can send us an inquiry via email or LinkedIn.
Starting the process is easy and risk-free. Initially, we map the hiring requirements with the client. After we have completed the talent search, we present the client a multitude of options. We use a success fee pricing model for worry-free hiring – this means the process is entirely free of charge until the client finds and hires a suitable candidate.
Httpool is a media company acting as an extended team for top media social platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. In recent years, the company has been growing at a speed that could make start-ups jealous.
We chatted with Robin Conley, Regional Marketing Manager and Oksana Adaskevica, Regional HR Manager Baltics, about their unique position in the advertising ecosystem and the many career opportunities working in a thriving global company presents.
Interview
🔵 How would you describe Httpool to people outside the firm?
Robin: Httpool fills the niche between advertisers and global platforms. The advertiser could be of any type: small or large business, start-up, agency. And platforms are Facebook, Spotify, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other major media platforms. Httpool is between those two sides.
On the one hand, we are partners to the major media platforms by representing their sales interests in regions where they don’t have an office. At the same time, we also consider ourselves partners for the advertisers because we help them get the most out of the platforms and grow their business.
🔵 So not just another media agency?
Robin: Definitely not. I can understand why it might be confusing because traditionally, agencies are middlemen. People see that Httpool is between advertiser and platform and assume we fill the agency’s role, but it’s a very different relationship.
For example, Facebook hasn’t opened an office in Tallinn, and it’s unlikely they ever will. That’s where Httpool steps in – Facebook calls us ASPs or Authorised Sales Partners. Our role is to give advertisers in the region the Facebook experience in terms of consulting them, educating them and making sure they get the most out of the platform with each campaign.
🔵 What’s the scale of Httpool right now in terms of territories, offices, and clients? How large are you in the Baltics region?
Robin: We have over 35 offices worldwide at the moment, but I think nobody really knows the accurate number anymore as it grows constantly. (Laughing.) However, if you look at our parent company Aleph Holding Group, which also contains IMS, Wise.Blue and Social Snack, then we are present in approximately 90 markets worldwide. So it’s quite a lot.
Oksana: And in Baltics, we currently have 100+ employees, but the number is growing every week. So far in 2021, we have hired 50+ people just in the Baltics, and we still expect to increase this number by the end of the year.
🔵 Robin, when did you join Httpool? What attracted you to jump on board?
Robin: I’ve been here for one year, but it feels like five due to the number of projects and the sheer amount of learning.
Before joining Httpool, I had worked in a media agency for several years, and the work I was doing was fairly steady. So I just felt a need to enter a new environment that was very dynamic, fast-growing, international and exciting. Httpool certainly fits that description. The company is growing and evolving all the time, so there’s a lot of opportunities to take advantage of. You are trusted to tackle new projects with great responsibility, which makes the learning curve really steep. And that’s great!
🔵 Did you have any doubts regarding the company or the team? How has it worked out so far?
Robin: No, I didn’t hesitate, partly because I was already in the headspace that I wanted to take on a new challenge. But also, I met Arnis Ozols, the Regional Managing Director, before joining the company. I really liked his style and attitude – he’s got a very entrepreneurial spirit, and he’s also supportive and trusting.
🔵 You have worked in media for a long time – How’s Httpool different from an agency in your experience?
Robin: It’s a lot different. Httpool is in a very neutral position in the advertising ecosystem as we partner with the platforms, agencies, and advertisers all at once, allowing us to search for win-win-win solutions.
We don’t have a separate fee for advertisers to use our services – If a client uses Facebook ads and signs up for Httpool’s consulting and expert opinion, they are still only paying for their ad spend. So we can be very open and transparent about what’s best for advertisers.
🔵 How much do you get to collaborate with Httpool’s different regions around the world?
Robin: I am working with different countries and regions every single day. The marketing team is considered a centralised unit in Httpool, so my colleagues are in Austria, Slovenia, Dubai, Russia and India. Many of our meetings are online, but when COVID passes, there will be travelling involved too. For example, I have weekly calls with our group’s CMO from New York, but next month I’m finally meeting her in person.
Some jobs are more local, of course. People who consult local agencies and advertisers are still mostly working on the local level. Internally, however, Httpool is very much a global environment.
🔵 What new challenges and opportunities does the company’s striking growth trajectory present to you personally?
Robin: By working in Httpool, you are always part of the building process. We are growing so quickly, still building our teams, expanding and restructuring all the time, which means you get to create many of the processes as you go. You’re not just riding the rocket ship but also building it as it’s flying up into space. It’s challenging at times, but mostly really exciting because it’s not very often you get to put your opinion into building a major company.
Another cool thing is the relative importance of the Baltics inside the company. On a world level, our region is quite small, so usually, the Baltics are not prioritised strategically by global companies. Or somebody from a head office somewhere forgets to budget your country’s media spend because it simply didn’t enter their mind. (Laughing.)
In Httpool, it’s the opposite – The Baltics are a significant part of the business, and we are setting up global teams right here in the Riga office. So you have the opportunity to spearhead global processes from here.
Oksana: Baltics is indeed one of the strongest and biggest regions in the whole Httpool, and we’ve had the privilege to establish a hub here in Riga for several global teams. And I agree with Robin that every employee has the opportunity to contribute to building the processes at Httpool. I think it’s a great opportunity and challenge for everyone to be part of building something from scratch.
🔵 How is the vibe inside the company with fresh team members joining and projects steadily getting bigger?
Oksana: There are very positive vibes in the team, and it’s really a lot of fun. We love what we do and do what we love. Everyone is very passionate – this is something that unites us.
Robin: I don’t know if that’s part of Oksana’s hiring process, but she’s managed to hire people that are not stiff corporate types but are very personable and easy to get on with.
But I think that in general, people who enter advertising and marketing really tend to want to work in this area. Additionally, working in Httpool is a deliberate decision as people want to collaborate with the big platforms. People don’t end up here just by chance. So you get very enthusiastic personalities, which leads to a lot of productivity and new ideas. For people that want to achieve something, it’s a very fulfilling environment.
🔵 Do you plan to slow down your hiring rate any time soon?
Oksana: No, no way! (Laughing)
🔵 What are your hiring goals for the next 12 months?
Oksana: We don’t have an exact number yet, but I expect to expand our Baltics workforce next year by at least 30% as we are expanding all our teams.
🔵 Who would you encourage to apply to work at Httpool?
Oksana: People who are bright, smart, passionate, keen to learn and develop, positive, full of energy, creative. People who are ready to work with top digital experts, learn from them and become top experts themselves.
Robin: People who have a deep interest in digital marketing, and also some experience and success in this area, would love to work in Httpool because you’ll be challenged. And you’ll be working on a global scale. And you’ll be at the forefront of innovation, working with some of the most influential platforms on the planet. If you’re interested in digital marketing and think global, you can certainly go global with Httpool.
