≡ Cyprus HR Talking: Daria Shovkun from Ortnec

Cyprus HR Talking hosted today Daria Shovkun from Ortnec. Many interesting, useful and funny answers are just below. Enjoy it!

My career in IT market has started since 2010, in India. I have a great hr/recruitment experience working both in outsourcing/outstaffing business models in IT company in Ukraine. For the last 2 years I lead the recruiting/HR direction at Ortnec – product company, specialised in digital & affiliate marketing. We grow our own start-ups and scale them into the big projects.

How would you describe the job market in Cyprus (in the industry you work)?

The job market is growing dramatically, especially in the field of digital marketing. My opinion is that it’s a very good sign – both for the companies and candidates. Due to the lack of eхperienced specialists in the specific online advertising niche, I would say that it is the right time to venture into IT market, for locals, in particular.

What are the most requested specialists and the ones in short supply in your industry?

We have diverse job openings at our company – technical (Senior PHP/JS/ Fullstack developers, QA Automation, DevOps, etc), very specific affiliate/marketing/sales vacancies, Project/Product top level positions. We’re always looking for high skilled Fullstack developers and talented Affiliate Managers.

Any difficulties you meet during the recruiting process?

We relocate candidates from EU and CIS countries, and sometimes we face with some challenges to relocate people. Relocation to another country is a new part of life and people can feel some stress about it, so we try to do our best to make this exciting journey as easiest as possible.

Are the candidates based in Cyprus enough to fill your positions or you need to hunt abroad?

It depends on the specific skills and vacancy. Sometimes we can find the right fit in Cyprus, in some cases we hunt from abroad, mostly if we need high level technical experience.

How should CVs look like to get your attention?

It should be laconic and brief, with highlights of the results and achievements (better in %/ figures). For Technical position it’s better to include links to github/stackoverflow etc, so that we can see the code examples straightway. Also, the chronology of the past job history should start from the latest working experience in CV:)

What are the main qualities you want to see in your candidates?

For sure, we hunt for specific professional skills within relevant industry. But we pay huge attention to the right culture fit – we are looking for the following soft skills: self-sufficiency, problem solving and negotiation skills, initiativity and willingness to learn.

What kind of interview do you prefer: simple dialogue, professional tests, or stress interview?

I prefer simple dialogue. In my opinion, the best way to understand the person – is to ask the right questions and ingratiate the candidate with an open and sincere talk. I can use some kind of tests and/or various interview options affected by the requirements and specific recruiting needs.

In addition, we have test assignment for technical and some other positions.

What is the funniest story you had with a candidate?

Recruitment is about relationships, and funny things happen very often:)

One of the funniest story, was when I had a video skype interview with candidate. The candidate appeared in a shirt (even it was too official for tech company interview:))) After some time of the conversation the candidate got up, walked all the way to the other side of the room to get a glass of water and it was fun to see he was in his boxer briefs:))))

I pretended that I haven’t seen anything:)))))