Happy to be here: My first month with Jobber
I’m about a month into my role as the Recruitment Manager with Jobber. I wanted to take some time to reflect on my experience so far. There’s a generosity of spirit throughout my time with the Jobber Team that’s sparked a lot of excitement in me.
In this post, I talk a little about some of the struggles I’ve recently faced in my career, what I look for in a company I join, and how these early days at Jobber are helping to give me a sense of place.
Why the change?
A bit of context. I moved back to Ontario in May 2016. After a decade of living in Calgary, it was time for me to make a move — a move to be closer to family, a move for more job opportunities in tech, and a move for the sake of change itself.
My first few months in Toronto were thrilling. It’s easy to be distracted by everything this city has to offer. But after the distractions started to fade away, I quickly realized how much I missed Calgary.
I spent my 20s in Calgary. It’s where I experienced so many firsts, professionally and personally. It’s also just a good place to call home. I miss Calgary’s non-ironic cowboy boot wearing. I miss the urban parks. I miss my Stampede pancake breakfasts. And I damn well miss those majestic mountains.
I start by mentioning my move to Ontario because this sense of missing and having to establish new roots profoundly impacted how I showed up to work. I had additional expectations of my employer. I needed a place that encouraged me to get settled in Ontario, to develop new friendships, and dare I say a sense of home. I’m someone who relies on work for community, so yes, my work duties being interesting isn’t really enough to keep me engaged. With this additional lens, I’m comfortable admitting that I struggled in finding my place in Toronto with several employers. It wasn’t home yet.
The initial conversations
I started talking to Jobber several months before I joined the team. The early conversations were minimally about Jobber itself. Instead, I spoke with their Head of People about what types of things excite me, what challenges I’m looking for, and what areas of weakness I’m trying to improve on. It was clear from the start that the organization prioritized learning about me.
Then when it made sense, we started talking more about Jobber and how there was a potential place in the organization for me. So then came the formal interviews and each step along the way I became more excited about working alongside the people I was meeting.
The recruitment process was personal, it was warm, and it was effective in getting in me enthusiastically through the door.
The newest Jobberino
If on-boarding sets the tone for your culture, here’s what I learned from my experience with Jobber: they’re happy to have me here.
Jobber’s on-boarding program is impressive. First, there’s the formal part, which we call Welcome Mat. It’s a 15 day program, where team members learn how a Jobber customer runs their business before Jobber and how they live the good life with Jobber in their back pocket. It’s a way for team members to become quite familiar with Jobber’s features, functionality, and gain an understanding of how each department contributes along the way. I’ve never been so immersed in a company’s product so early.
The other side to on-boarding is more about personalization. Personalization came in the form of coffee meetings, dinner dates, and plenty of other opportunities to meet with folks across Jobber. There was an effort to build familiarity. Whether I was in the elevator, the kitchen, or working from a couch, if a team member didn’t know who I was, they came over and introduced themselves to me. This felt so welcoming.
Establishing trust and building a future
I like cultures that give trust first. I believe doing so creates reciprocity. It’s hard to control the level of trust across an organization. Really all you can do is act in ways that promote trust and showcase these to team members in the many ways they interact with the organization.
This leads me to talking about food. At Jobber, we always keep our fridge and pantry fully loaded with food. This is so team members can enjoy breakfast and lunch on us. Now the offering of food isn’t new to tech companies. But one thing that stood out to me is that nothing is locked away. Everything that’s in our offices is out in the open and team members are welcome to grab what they want.
In the case of the above, what I was learning throughout my on-boarding is that Jobber starts with trust.
And here’s to what comes next
It’s still early days for me here at Jobber. I know that I’m someone who often gets excited at the start of things. But with time, I’m learning that consistency is key and that I need to hold myself accountable to this. I write this as a way to remind myself to find excitement in each day with Jobber and to not allow myself to become complacent in my role and with my team.
Hi, I’m Yiorgos! I’m a Toronto based recruitment manager.
My mission is to help attract, develop and retain great teams. I’m also passionate about bringing people together and finding opportunities that help make a difference at work.
I feel very lucky that every day, I get to listen to people’s stories and help set them up for success.
When I’m not busy interviewing, you can find me hanging out with my dog Ouzo, consuming endless amounts of podcasts and spending too much money on sourdough bread.
