Openness. Fellowship. Compassion. These are the three words that sum up my first weeks in VTEX. It is no coincidence that in Portuguese, all these words start with the prefix “com,” which comes from Latin and means “next to.” At VTEX, my time at work is filled with freedom and autonomy, but it’s never lonely. All knowledge is shared. Everyone in the team has a friend, and the whole team is moved by the spirit of compassion.
When I started coming to the commerce domain, I realized that it was possible to find a humanized company that had the right culture to foster your well-being, but that also had structure and the necessary tools to provide good career opportunities.
Speaking of good opportunities, I was impressed by how seriously the word “challenge” is taken in VTEX. We are encouraged to be our own agents and to lead our projects using the strategy that we see fit. That means that beyond having the challenge of our projects, we also have the responsibility that comes from making decisions along the process. Is there a better gift for those who want to have significant growth quickly?
What was my journey to VTEX like?
Definitely, I never imagined myself working in a field that focused on people because I thought of myself as a shy person who was adamant about being in crowded places or speaking to strangers. I think that I grew out of that when I was fourteen, thanks to an innovative project at school that put me in different environments. I participated in championships and even got to present the international part of the project in Australia! That helped me develop my communication skills, which helped me in other areas as well.
While studying Engineering, I realized that what made me happy was the life that people brought to the projects. Numbers are very exact and, often, predictable. I looked for my first internship working with people, and I worked with Recruitment and Selection in retail. I loved the experience, but the part of me that loved technology was sad. I was already known in the company as the “tech intern” thanks to the projects I created, and a former coworker introduced me to VTEX.
She said it would be a dream for me to work in that company, and her words stuck with me. Months later, another former coworker started doing an internship at VTEX and contacted me and told me that I would love working there. The first time I heard about the pink unicorn, I didn’t think much of it, but someone telling me about it a second time couldn’t be a coincidence. Would it be possible to quench my thirst for technology and innovation?
As I researched the company, I felt ashamed I had never heard the name. It had everything I was looking for — a renowned multinational company, a visionary culture, a tech core, and a great place to build a future. I checked all the open positions, and I found one for Talent Acquisition!
In the first part of the process, I had to take a logical reasoning test, which, I confess, I didn’t really understand what its purpose was — I was never a fan of online tests as an elimination step. But that’s now in the past. I passed and moved on to the first round of interviews, a conversation about my recruiting experience. I didn’t even have time to feel nervous because that interview was very quick. I spoke about my resume for twenty minutes, but time went by quickly. I could have kept going!
After that, I was again excited because I was selected to take the technical challenge. I put together a case about the challenge of finding software engineers, and I included more ideas and solutions than what the company had requested. I wanted to show my adaptability and my vision for the role. I presented it to two recruiters, and they asked me many questions about diversity and hiring strategies. I felt challenged in that part, but I was confident in my research and in the material I had prepared.
My inbox had a new message: I was selected for an interview with the Chief People Officer. For this part, I was feeling nervous and had to pull myself together. I had closed many positions in my career, but I was always the interviewer. I had no idea what a CPO could ask me.
Google was my best friend in this phase. I did thousands of searches looking for what leaders expect from new hires in general. The interview went well, and it was a lot easier than I had imagined. I went in expecting to be pushed and to get a ton of difficult questions, but, yet again, I found myself just having a conversation with nice and receptive people.
Then, I was surprised by the next step, the final phase in the process, the Bar Raiser interview. I had never heard that phrase, and once again, the internet was my friend when preparing myself. I was very anxious about this interview because I didn’t want to be eliminated at the end of the road. It’s so painful to fail when you’re almost there, right? A week went by, and I received a call from the recruiter who was responsible for my position. Very kindly, she gave me detailed feedback from the interviewers in all the phases, positive and negative. She asked if I agreed and, after a useful conversation, she gave me the news I was waiting for, an offer from VTEX. I was so happy, I was jumping in the room with the phone in my hand!
The best thing about my first weeks at work was experiencing in real life what they had described during the selection process. The qualities and weaknesses they had pointed out were right. I felt relief knowing I had made the right decision that met all my expectations. During my short career as a recruiter, I did several benchmarks, and 99.99% of companies portrayed themselves as the best place to work in the world.
Obviously, that couldn’t be true for many of them. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be unhappy employees. But VTEX was different. The interviewers were honest when I asked them about the company’s weak points and what things needed improvement. For me, that honesty was a sign that, regardless of the limitations every place has, VTEX was nurturing its employees so much that they could speak about the problems without hurting their engagement.
It made me think of myself when I was a child and when I was doing robotics. I had a speech impediment, but I didn’t want that to stop me from growing or competing. On the contrary, I kept working to be able to communicate my ideas and become an extroverted person because I knew that that would clear the way for reaching my dreams. And that’s how we work in VTEX — putting all our energy into making personal, professional, and company dreams a reality, knowing that every individual is like a dish that is made up of good ingredients and some not-so-palatable ones.
Finally joining VTEX was like getting the food that nourishes my transformation and fuels my dreams.
What about you? Have you started on the path to your extraordinary and transformative future in 2021?
