Raluca Anghel, Temps Staffing BU Manager – Prohuman Romania
My name is Raluca Anghel, and in 2014 I have joined Prohuman APT, a Human Resources services company (temporary work, recruitment, payroll services and personnel administration, HR outsourcing), with a history of over 25 years, managing over 4000 employees. I’m currently holding the position of Temps Staffing BU Manager, but my journey within Prohuman APT started from the position of an HR specialist in personnel administration and payroll.
How did you start your career? Which were your first steps? How did you envision your career?
At the beginning of my career, I had the opportunity to experiment with several areas, such as marketing, and primary accounting, including flirting with the HR area and thus choosing the direction I wanted to go in. Having always liked people and communication, I’ve started my professional career in this field in 2002.
I was naturally passionate about labour law and interpreting the law, so it was easy for me to become a specialist in personnel administration and later in payroll, as I was lucky to have people willing to both give me this opportunity, as well as the support I needed to develop professionally. By combining all of the above and attending training courses in the field, things came naturally.
Definitely, the biggest development of my career has been in Prohuman APT, where the gained experience, seriousness, and commitment have been noticed and rewarded, which is one of the things I really appreciate in this company—the fact that people pay attention to you and they care about you.
I don’t think I could imagine my career any other way, it was basically an organic growth. It’s natural to be patient with yourself, to assimilate as much information and knowledge as you can, to learn, to not skip steps and to take the right steps when you feel ready. I think that’s how a true professional should proceed.
What were your key career moments?
A key moment in my career was the decision to accept the challenge of coordinating a team from the position of Payroll Manager and later as Temps Staffing BU Manager. It can be simple when you take responsibility for your work and tasks, but things can get complicated when responsibility for an entire team comes into play. Not all of us find it easy at the beginning of our journey as managers to delegate the right tasks to the right people, to know the potential of each team member, to find tools to motivate and retain colleagues, to identify each person’s skills, to develop and enhance them.
What are the three most valuable career lessons you have learnt?
Many things come to mind, but I’ll just tell you what I have learned in over 20 years of work: in life, it is important to be serious and assertive, to have the right people around you, to be altruistic and share your knowledge with others, to grow the people you manage because only in this way you will grow too. I find extremely comforting the idea of going on a holiday without stress, knowing that I have a team that will function flawlessly in my absence.
Why did you choose Business Services Industry? What were the top 3 reasons for choosing your company?
I wouldn’t say that I have consciously chosen this industry, I would rather say that this is the direction I was heading in. Over time, I realised that if I wanted a career in HR, I needed to work with specialists in this field, so what could be more logical than choosing an HR services company? This industry gives you the opportunity to get to know other industries or fields through the eyes of the clients.
Prohuman APT is a company about people and for people. Here every person counts, every opinion counts, every idea counts.
We like challenges, we are attentive to the needs of our colleagues, we like to do things together when we have joint or volume projects, but we also like to have fun, from the morning coffee and music we listen to at the office, to going out on various occasions. We celebrate each other’s birthdays as well as the anniversary of each year we have been with the company.
You’ll always find someone to guide you, to teach you when you’re having a hard time, no matter what level you’re at, because it’s part of our culture.
We adapt to market requirements and find quick solutions, whether we are talking about customer or employee needs. Although there is also the possibility of hybrid working hours, we have colleagues who prefer to come to the office every day.
In the Prohuman APT team, I appreciate the diversity, there is room for everyone – both for younger colleagues, at the beginning of their careers as well as for those who have reached retirement age, but still stay with us.
I would not be here today without the support and trust of my managers and my team. I have certainly had my moments of doubt over the years, but I have received the right advice and support. Here, people believe in you and your potential, they know how to push you and take you out of your comfort zone precisely so that to push yourself. On an emotional and empathic level, it doesn’t matter what position you have, it’s about the attitude, the understanding.
Tell us a little bit about your private life: your passions, family. What do you do to relax?
I can tell you that I am married and I have a 12-year-old son of whom I am very proud and with whom I enjoy spending my free time. He seems to enjoy it a little less than I do, as apparently, I am a nagging mother. For about 6 months we have had a new addition to the family—a very cute and mischievous cat.
I love to travel, and I would love to be able to do it more often, especially in warm regions, I love the sea. I relax sometimes by watching a good movie or series.
I also have a guilty pleasure, I love shoes, and I can’t easily refrain from buying as many pairs as possible.
If now you were starting your career, knowing the present and near future opportunities, what would you do?
If I were to start my career now, I would, first of all, take advantage of all this access to information, the courses that companies offer you, and the opportunities for growth and development in a shorter period of time.
Today’s generations have the opportunity to put themselves forward much more easily than the millennials could.
What are the top 3 skills that you would develop?
Right now, I would like to overcome my stage fright and be able to speak more easily in public.
What would you do and what would you avoid doing?—practical advice to young professionals
As advice for younger people, I would say that in life they should do what they like. It is important to learn from those with experience, but it is even more important to be self-taught, to inform themselves and form their own opinions, to experiment and find their own career path.
I have always avoided organisations that I did not identify with, figuring out as early as the interview stage if I could fit into the team. The chemistry you have with the people you are going to work with is crucial in making the decision to accept a job. It’s normal for most of us to be excited about the financial side, but in the long run, a higher salary will never make up for the stress and discomfort of the job.
In other words “Choose wisely”.
Alexandru Ilie, Consultant Recruiter – Prohuman Romania
Hello, people! My name is Alexandru Ilie, and about 2 years ago, I joined the Prohuman team in Iasi, in a consultant recruiter role. Although I’ve been lucky enough to work in my field since college, I can say that having a degree is just the beginning of what’s to come. Personally, I didn’t know exactly what HR was, I wasn’t entirely convinced that I would enjoy working with people, as I am an introvert, and I only basically had the theoretical part down, but I didn’t have the practical one. Fast forward a couple of years, and I am now working in a team of really cool people that I can confidently depend on at any time.
How did you start your career? Which were your first steps? How did you envision your career?
With some background in the automotive industry, I attended the Faculty of Philosophy and Social-Political Sciences in Iasi, specialising in Human Resources. In my second year, I was contacted by my current colleague Vlad, with whom I discussed that Prohuman was looking for a recruiter. Thus, I was to find out that the pandemic had a good side as well: as most of the courses and seminars were being held online, which allowed me to work at the same time.
Running away from monotony, I accepted this change, especially as I would have liked to study psychology in the past and I was initially expecting a different future for myself, but now it’s different and I don’t regret deciding to pursue HR, everything is challenging for me.
I can say that I like what I do, especially because I always try to surpass myself, the one from yesterday, the one from a year ago, and although I know myself as a meticulous person, who plans almost everything in a day, I have the opportunity to escape this “maze” and talk to new people from different fields; I feel that these discussions can lead to new perspectives on everything around us.
What were your key career moments?
The transition from blue-collar to white-collar was a key point for me because the process itself for each field is different. Closing roles can be more difficult at times, but because I like challenges, the satisfaction is greater when I successfully close a role and feel more at home in what I am doing at the moment.
What are the three most valuable career lessons you have learnt?
People are very different, everyone comes with their own story, everyone is worth listening to and being understood, and we can learn something from everyone. That’s what I try to do—understand who the person in front of me really is, beyond a CV or a role in a company.
Why did you choose Business Services Industry? What were the top 3 reasons for choosing your company?
As I said earlier, my plans have turned 180 degrees, I would have liked to go more into the field of psychology, but thanks to a somewhat unexpected event, I could say that they have changed. However, I have realised that a recruiter is also a consultant to the candidate is talking to.
I love the industry, I find myself in it, and I like to think that I am really leaving something behind, I feel that everything I do has a purpose, and this result makes me try to become better and better every day.
I can say that I chose Prohuman to the same extent that Prohuman chose me. What really attracted me to the company and still keeps me very engaged is the healthy organisational culture, a place where you feel surrounded by people who always want to help, who always want to explain, and from whom you constantly have something new to learn.
The second reason is the team, I got along well with my colleagues since I came for the interview, and so far things have just gone in the right direction.
Thirdly, I would say the diversity, i.e., the projects I get to work on. For me, the advantage of working in an HR company is that I get the opportunity to work with people in Sales, HR, BPO, and a lot of other fields, compared to the internal HR of a niche company, where you only recruit for certain, somewhat standardised roles.
Tell us a little bit about your private life: your passions, family. What do you do to relax?
I am a car lover, amateur photographer, and almost a cat lover since a few months ago, when Apollo has joined our lives, even now, when he is running around the house.
If now you were starting your career, knowing the present and near future opportunities, what would you do?
I don’t know if I would change anything if I were to restart my career. I’m aware that some people would do something completely different if they could turn back time, but, given my studies in the HR field, I think the only thing I would do differently would be to do more research on IT, specifically, IT recruitment. It appeals to me, it’s the future, and who knows, maybe there will even be an opportunity to enter this field.
What are the top 3 skills that you would develop?
Moving towards the more technical side of things, I’ve been trying to accumulate as much information as possible on IT. Since I was a child, I have been passionate about computers, I still remember how eagerly I was following my cousin when he was installing Windows or who knows what other programs, explaining what he was doing, how he was doing it, but I didn’t understand much.
Coming back to the human side, some people are born with the art of public speaking in their blood, while others are not so lucky, as is my case. Although HR in itself really makes you step out of your comfort zone, to talk to different types of people, to overcome this fear, it still exists, considering my somewhat more introverted than other people’s nature.
Last but not least, I ask myself a lot of questions about myself, I try as much as possible to figure out who and what I really am, how I can do things better, how I can learn from the mistakes I made, and sometimes, without realising it, I repeat them. I will definitely have more work to do here, especially since, after all, a man learns as long as he lives, right?
What would you do and what would you avoid doing?—practical advice to young professionals
I’m starting off on the wrong foot, I don’t consider myself good at giving advice… however, I would like young people, whether we’re talking about their career or not, to do what they feel like doing, and not be influenced by the opinions of others. I often heard, in college and beyond, colleagues telling me that they actually don’t want to pursue their major, but that they do so for the sake of their parents.
It’s normal to listen to opinions, but it’s even more normal to be able to filter what you’re told, and the decision should be entirely up to you. If you don’t like what you’re doing, at least take responsibility for your mistake and try to make things right, otherwise, you’ll end up being unhappy for a long time – many young people who finish a college that they attended at the suggestion of others, end up not finding themselves in the field in which they practice, and to this, ageing can be added to the list, along with the reluctance to everything that means change.
As an advice: follow your inner calling, learn constantly, and grow where you have talent!