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Written by: Justyna Cichocka, Employer Branding Specialist
6 years. Over 2100 days, including 1566 of the working ones. I’ll refrain myself from counting the hours; after all, I’m a Polonist. But that’s how long I’ve been working at Solwit. Today I’ll invite you on a sentimental journey that will briefly explain all the whys and wherefores.
I joined the organisation as a Recruitment and EB Specialist at the time when Solwit numbered in around 100 people. Back then, the HR team consisted of two members: Robert, my supervisor at the time, and myself. A few months later we welcomed a new colleague. That person was Magda Brauer, our current HR manager.
The culture turned out to be the door-opening word and the aspect that convinced me to join Solwit. I vividly remember that windy day when I got off at the airport to attend the recruitment meeting in the No. 1 Building at the Baltic Business Centre in Gdansk. I have fond recollections of the genuine kindness I encountered literally right at the doorstep, from my newly-met colleagues Mariola, Angelika, and Bożena, working at the Administration Department. I also got a chance to meet our test and development managers at the time – Piotr and Paweł, who joined us for lunch. On top of all that, I had the opportunity to chat with Leszek Pankiewicz and Wojtek Wasiukiewicz, CEOs of Solwit.
Although several years have passed since that meeting, I can honestly say that the first thing that sprung to my mind with regards to Solwit was: accountability.Back then, this was a quality that persuaded me to change, and the time that has passed has only made this perception more solid.
Accountability and respect towards other people, as well as simple human kindness are the values I seek in any organisation. And these are impossible to miss in Solwit.
This is not to say that it always was peachy. The first months were really hectic. Even though I already had experience in IT, Solwit is definitely more technologically-diverse than my previous company. The toughest challenge for any recruiter when changing jobs is the changes in the technologies they work with. Our applicants are very aware and attentive, so any mistakes we make don’t remain unnoticed. Hence why we have to keep ourselves up to date not only to feel more confident, but above all for the sake of the organization’s reputation. And as you could probably tell, this may not always be easy for non-technical persons.
We have had countless meetings with candidates over the years, and many of them have been working at Solwit ever since. I can still recall plenty of talks and meetings, however, one was particularly special. Though it happened as a result of my mistake, it actually turned out to be quite fruitful (Maciek, I’m sending you my best regards!). Lesson learned: do not schedule two meetings on the same day, at the same hour.
I’m Justyna. I’ve been working at Solwit since 2016 and I’m currently in charge of employer branding in the newly-created Marketing & Communications Department.
Six years ago, probably no one thought that we would have a separate unit dealing with the image of the organisation. And I never expected that I would become one-third of it. Due to obvious reasons, the last years have been a constant change that also happened to be permanently recorded in the Solwit genotype. ‘Any challenges?’ – you may ask. Plenty. I wouldn’t have enough page space to put even a few of them down. So what is ahead of us? I have no clue, but the one thing I know for sure is that it will be interesting!
