Natalia Bogdan and her Jobhouse.pl team have regularly meetings and trainings.
We all have been there: the hassle of finding a (new) job can be very stressful. Aside from putting all of your effort into it, at times – let’s just be honest – you need help.
During my activity on LinkedIn, I came across the profile of Natalia Bogdan, CEO at Jobhouse located in Gdansk. Here is the Jobhouse’s story through her eyes.
What’s the philosophy behind the Jobhouse’s name?
I wanted to create global business and give my first company an international name that would be easily understood and related to recruitment business both in Poland and abroad.
A seemingly banal name but how do you come up with it? It all started back in 2011 when the name ‘Jobhouse’ was created on a piece of paper in an old small apartment in Wrzeszcz (a quarter of Gdańsk).
Natalia recalls “First, on a piece of paper I wrote down all words describing my image of a dream business that came to my mind. As I wanted to create a company where emloyees feel like home – words like home, house and family appeared.”. As she planned to set up a consulting business with all HR services under one roof, words like HR, work and job came to her mind. Struck by a thunder by broad daylight in its purest brilliance of simplicity, ‘JOB’ and ‘HOUSE’ connected and there you go: ‘Jobhouse’ got born. To her surprise the ‘jobhouse.pl‘ was surprisingly still free!
What does the Jobhouse make special?
We connect professionalism of big company with effectiveness of small one.
We know the Jobhouse is not the only player in the recruitment sector. Every recruitment agency has something to show. When thinking about how well the Jobhouse’s name was thought of, the basic philosophy in its essence was nothing less than brilliant too. The concept is that of a ’boutique company’. When you enter the Jobhouse, you already feel a special positive atmosphere that you won’t find in a standard agency. This reflects in strong relationships between the Jobhouse staff and their customers and their candidates.
Key to the success is the fast handling and the short decision process. ‘Keep the bureaucracy to the minimum!’ is not just a slogan but a reality at the Jobhouse. Every customer is important and so is every project. When dealing with the Jobhouse you can expect nothing less than quality. To achieve this, professional HR tools are used to measure their effectiveness. The Jobhouse staff are real business partners for their clients.
Jobhouse’s company culture is great: the staff members go the extra mile for the customers.
How important are the employment opportunities in Tricity?
Tricity creates some of the best working conditions in Poland both for Poles and foreigners.
In the last few years, the number of investments has grown, the level of unemployment has been very low, more and more job opportunities have opened up and wages have been increasing. The unemployment rate in Tricity is only 2,3% (December 2018) which is much lower than the average in Poland (5,8%). Another benefit is the salary rise in the Pomeranian Region which is amongst the fastest growing in the whole country: the avarage salary in the Pomerania region/province places Tricity (Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot) on the 3rd position in Poland after the Masovia and Silesia region.
What kind of jobs are trending in Pomerania?
The Pomeranian job market has the most to offer to people willing to work in finance, accounting, HR, personnel management, IT, transport and logistics services, construction, tourism and production, as well as in the maritime industry.
There are many international companies in this region of Poland, including SSCs and BPOs, so people speaking foreign languages (preferably at native level) are really wanted. The Jobhouse offer jobs both for local employees and expats – so far they found employment for citizens from Ukraine, Russia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, UK, France, Italy and US.
What are the Jobhouse’s experiences with cultural differences?
Foreigners, especially from Western Europe, expect regular contact with recruiters.
Providing fast and reliable feedback is really important for them. They are used to professional customer service which is not always a standard in Polish recruitment companies. Candidates from the UK are also used to transparent information about salary offered by employer – even in job advertisement which is not that common in Poland. Candidates from India, Arabic countries or Africa seem to care a lot about employment possibilities in Europe – they e-mail the Jobhouse staff or call them a few times per day which is not that common among candidates from the UE.
Most of the people who started at the Jobhouse are still in the company and pass the values of the company to their teams.
How about the working culture and atmosphere at the Jobhouse?
We started from scratch, so at first we couldn’t effort experienced employees.
Natalia remembers the early days “We focused on people with potential who I taught everything – both regarding recruitment and my attitude towards work and customers.”. Most of the people who started at the Jobhouse are still in the company and pass the values of the company to their teams.
What is most important during the recruitment process in joining the Jobhouse team, is involvement and positive energy. Anything else you can learn.
What are the Jobhouse’s values?
When a new person joins the Jobhouse it is really important for Natalia to follow the values:
Cooperation, Commitment, Focusing on the goal, Honesty, Responsibility, Professionalism
You see this in the way they communicate to their customers: they practice an open communication, kindness and understanding of each other’s and their customers’ needs.
These things make the Jobhouse staff unique and this kind of feedback is also recevied from customers. Natalia states to have received more than once the feedback that the Jobhouse is different than other companies: responsive, helpful and kind. The fact that most of their customers and candidates come from recommendations is the best proof that it works.
How is the Jobhouse perceived?
Natalia has built the Jobhouse with a strong foundation. She knows the ropes and the outcome… Actually it happens every time they talk to big players.
At first when they look for a recruitment agency they usually choose an international corporation that has a contract signed with their headquarters. After some time they find out it doesn’t work and they look for a smaller, but effective company.
Here usually the Jobhouse is the first choice. And they deliver. They reach numbers that seem to be impossible. For example for one international company based in Gdańsk the Jobhouse found almost 100 English speaking consultants in just 3 months while the internal HR and other big agencies managed to find only a few during the same time.
Natalia Bogdan, CEO Jobhouse.pl, on TV talking about jobs in Tricity Poland.
What are the future plans of the Jobhouse?
We are not just “an agency”. We aspire to be experts and business partners for our customers.
She confidently states: “We will constantly develop our services – from recruitments and temporary employees to also payroll, outsourcing, HR consultancy, talent evaluation, salary reports and many more.”. In addition the Jobhouse will support their growth with the development of technologies – automation, use of artificial intelligence and big data analysis. They also want to expand internationally – so far they cooperated with customers from over 12 countries and they still want to develop globally.
Also they plan to continue their presence in the media. In 2018 the Jobhouse was quoted as HR experts almost 2000 times. In the coming years Natalia intends to share the Jobhouse story even more often.
With a specific well-thought approach, the Jobhouse is making it. No wonder: the name in essence has a solid foundation based on core values that makes the Jobhouse a winner! Well done indeed!
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