In my view, IXTENT is a modern, stable Czech company that promotes good relationships with its employees. I’ve been with the company going on seven years, and I must say that I’m still very happy.
What “road” brought you to IXTENT, and how long have you been working for the company?
After ending parental leave, I was looking for a job that could be combined with family life. Neither career nor money was a priority for me, but rather time flexibility, the option of working from home and a “human” approach. In this respect, IXTENT won the lottery :-). I’ve been with the company going on seven years, and I must say that I’m still very happy.
Has the company changed over the years? Where do you see progress? Has the atmosphere or style of work changed in any way?
Some changes have occurred, naturally, but nothing sudden or radical. The company is growing gradually, and with the expanding team it was necessary to extend and modernise the office space. Thanks to acquired expertise and experience, junior colleagues are becoming seniors. But this does not change the good relationships and atmosphere at the company, or efforts to apply a maximally professional approach to customers and the projects we work on.
I know you are “sitting in several chairs at once” :-). You are the HR manager, payroll accountant, ISO guarantor, you solve operative matters and many other agendas. How can one person encompass all this?
I take it as one of the greatest benefits of my job. It is very diverse, never routine. I think the key to success is to define one’s priorities correctly. There are times when I mostly devote myself to recruitment, other times my priority is ISO while operatively dealing with operation, suppliers, contracts, or whatever else is needed. Every day is different.
What do you enjoy most and least in your broad work “palette”?
I am happy about every successfully completed product. What do I not enjoy? Right now I can think of the occasional conflict with bureaucracy, but it simply cannot be entirely avoided.
How do you find home office using the IT instruments we use?
During the first wave of quarantine, we created a regular workplace for me at my house, so the only thing I now miss during home office is personal contact with my colleagues (and coffee in the kitchenette :-)).
Thanks to the systems regularly used at the company – DMS, CRM, accounting program, e-mails, etc., I have access to everything I need for my job (contracts, invoices, documentation).
What would you recommend to other companies? What can’t they live without?
Documents in a DMS, accounting documents in electronic format and the online approval of everything.
What is online HR recruitment like? What makes it more difficult?
Online recruitment isn’t really that different from normal recruitment. First contact with the candidate is always via telephone. Together with the candidate, we go through their CV, information we received from the agency, we check their English skills and plan an interview with one of our Team Heads. During quarantine, the interview is conducted online via Teams or Skype. But everything is the same as usual, including the technical test which the candidate carries out during the interview, and then goes through and evaluates with a colleague. However, we always insist on a face-to-face meeting before we offer the given candidate an employment contract. We care about the impression the candidate makes during a personal meeting, and we want them to fit into the existing team. For this reason, the recruitment process may take somewhat longer.
What is your funniest experience from recruitment?
I have spoken to so many candidates and heard so many stories and excuses, but I can’t think of anything funny right now.
What do you think the greatest asset of IXTENT is? Why should a candidate join us?
In my view, IXTENT is a modern, stable Czech company that promotes good relationships with its employees. It offers employees diverse work using the latest technologies, on projects for major Czech and foreign customers. The priority is to provide professional services. Great emphasis is placed on cooperation within the teams, the composition of which varies based on project needs. Naturally, the company supports education in the form of various training, conferences, certification and the ensuing professional and career growth of its employees.
How would you dissuade them from their common preference of multinational corporations? What are their disadvantages?
I don’t have any personal experience from working for a corporation, and I don’t actually meet candidates who would prefer working for a corporation during interviews. On the contrary, we get applications from people who already work for multinationals and are seeking jobs outside of the corporate sphere, for whatever reason – atmosphere and relationships at the company, excessive bureaucracy, lengthy decision-making processes, etc.
What do you personally like about IXTENT compared to your previous employer?
I only had one employer before IXTENT and I was one of four employees. My work was similarly diverse to what I do now, although in a different segment. So what I like most about IXTENT is the team, good relationships and atmosphere among colleagues.
How do you manage home office with two children who have to learn from home?
Much better that during the first wave :-). We’ve got the knack of it, each one has their own room, desk and laptop. Immediately after breakfast, we all get to work / online learning and homework, and we meet at lunch. Then we check and send the homework with the kids and the worst part of the day is over :-).
It was important to define and maintain a regular routine – there is much less crying and homework gets sent in on time now.
How do you recharge?
It depends on what has been depleted… Sometimes work is relaxation for me, other times it’s time spent with my family. Definitely travelling – seaside, mountains, sunshine. But I am equally capable of spending the whole day lazing around at home with a book or TV series.
The golden fish? What could it do for you?
Delete the year 2020 and the whole COVID madness with it :-). And then I would buy a flight and go on a nice vacation somewhere warm with my family :-).