Bianca Kraus is a Client Optimization Specialist within our brand new department, Scaled Business Success (SBS) at Indeed. She’s from a small village in the middle of Germany by the beautiful name of Heustreu not far from Frankfurt airport where she embarked on her relocation flight to Ireland over six years ago. She strongly believes in the power of people and building a strong network around herself, as this has been her lifeline when grabbing hold of new opportunities throughout her life. When she’s not in work mode, she really loves music, concerts, long walks and even longer sessions playing Dungeons and Dragons!
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The start of my relocation journey
Rewinding to 2013, I took one of my first flights to Dublin to meet some friends who had moved here to work in the city. I remember how energised the friendly people and great music made me feel whilst I was here. When I returned home from this trip to finish university and to work in Germany, I couldn’t help but feel sad and in a bit of a rut.
My rut lasted until 2015 before I decided a change was needed. I reached out to my friend in Ireland to see if he could help me find work as he was located in Dublin city already. Mehdi was working for Indeed’s French market at the time and after multiple long phone conversations with me and once he learnt more about the Customer Service work I was doing for small businesses here in Germany, he knew referring me to Indeed could be an excellent opportunity.
At the time, I didn’t really understand what it meant to live and breathe a company’s mission, and little did I know Mehdi was living and breathing the mission of my future employer. He helps people get jobs, I know for sure because I am one of those people!
Joining Scaled Business Success at Indeed
Late 2019, I joined the DACH Scaled Business Success team. I remember how nervous I felt on the first day but I’ve got strong memories about my onboarding experience which still stay with me to this day.
On day one we were picked up in the large foyer and brought to a large conference room on the top floor. Each new hire had an assigned table with equipment and a ton of gifts like mugs, notebooks and an Apple Macbook, all ready to use, with a German keyboard!
I know for some these are small details, but it’s those small things that show Indeed cares about their new hires. I’ll always remember how much effort was put into making my onboarding experience not only positive, but something I’ll look back fondly at.
The best of product and people
Working on the Scaled Business Success team has been the best of two worlds for me. I get an opportunity to learn and gain deep knowledge about Indeed’s product from the inside and out all whilst helping people. Having contact with Indeed’s customers that utilise our products each and every day is something I really love and one of the most rewarding parts of my role is when a client says “you really helped me today.”
Alongside the rewarding parts, there are challenges too. For me, the volume of tickets with client issues that need resolving can feel overwhelming and is something I have struggled with in the past. Learning to prioritize my tasks and to organise myself are characteristics and strengths I’ve built and now truly believe are vital to being successful in a role like this and in life.
The structure of my day
Now we’re all working from home, the structure of my day and interactions with my teammates has changed. I’ve had to learn to establish a routine for myself. As tempting as working in my pajamas is, it’s not for me! I’ve learnt I need to get dressed for the day and enjoy a cup of coffee before I can greet my client’s confidentiality through zoom.
AM
In the mornings our team huddle together in our Slack channel to greet each other and to exchange information ahead of our day. My first few hours are usually spent working through new issues that have come in from our customers overnight.
Before lunch, our team meets in zoom for a quick huddle again so we can discuss current client issues that are a little harder to solve.
PM
After lunch, I usually catch up with clients that have contacted me via email and I reach out to the ones that still require attention. Some afternoons the team also attend training sessions and we spent time with the new hires on our team.
Establishing and building relationships across the team is really important to us and If somebody asked me about the atmosphere on the team I’d say it is open, helpful and communication is easy for us. There is always enough room for a joke or two too!
Adapting to working from home
Working from home has taken some adapting over the past year I’ll admit. The thing I’ve appreciated the most has been the support from Team Leaders and Managers who’ve shown a lot of empathy to our circumstances. My manager has provided me with numerous resources to help me overcome the harder aspects of working during a global pandemic and all in all, I have never felt left alone which is a privilege to say.
I’ll admit though, I am looking forward to seeing my team again, face to face and on a regular basis. The guilty pleasure I miss so much is indulging in the Friday breakfast Indeed served for us all in the office, so that is something I continue to look forward to.
If you’d like an opportunity to join Bianca and her teammates for breakfast someday soon, apply now to join one of the growing teams in Dublin on https://indeedhi.re/3m87mn0.
And to hear and learn more about Scaled Business Success from the VP, Declan Carville tune in to our Culture Matters podcast over on https://indeedhi.re/3fgHx08.
