Arvato Romania, the contact-center services provider, extended its presence on the Romanian market this year, with the opening of a new support center in Cluj-Napoca. Initially, the company was looking to hire 200 people in the new office by the end of the year. However, more than 100 employees are already working in the offices, located in Liberty Technology Park Cluj. Due to this success, the company plans to end the year with a more numerous team, not only in Cluj, but also in the other two offices, located in Brașov and Sibiu.
Arvato Romania began in 2010 with 29 employees and 12 are still working for the company. Szep Jozsef-Arpad is one of the senior employees who work in the company's headquarters in Brașov and he is a trainer for projects related to gaming. From trips to the Philippines to facing the new challenge of training the first team members in Cluj-Napoca, he talks about what it means to work at Arvato.
How did you manage to work at Arvato and how was your first experience here?
My life partner recommended me for the job, as she started working at Arvato approximately one year before me. I heard all the good things about the company, being highly known in Brașov, and a lot of friends and acquaintances told me that is a workplace that you rarely get to experience in Romania. From the first moment they impressed me through their professionalism and seriousness.
What were the steps that you took as an Arvato employee?
I started as a customer service representative - an entry-level job, but I learned so much from it. Then, I was promoted in the floorwalkers' team, where I would help my colleagues that had questions related to their task, and in 2014 I started working as a trainer. We have a general training plan and for each position there are specialized trainings. For example, for the customer service representative, our clients have different needs and requests and we train our employees to meet these requests. Nevertheless, we also offer communication and sales trainings which are highly important in the company-client relationship.
As a trainer, what can you tell us about the development of a new employee?
It is true that the majority of the jobs available are entry-level, which means that previous experience at a contact-center is not needed. However, the technical and soft skills trainings are structured in such a way that at the end, employees become mid-level or even advanced. And if the people are dedicated and they like what they do, in about six or nine months they can become Advanced Tech Advisors. It is an environemnt in which you can hardly get bored.
What is the most motivating part of your job?
I find it the most rewarding that I can help my new colleagues adapt quickly and easily to their job. A big part of them have never worked in a contact-center; they only need to be fluent in a foreign language, and we'll take care of them. Employees enter the training period and after they have acquired the needed skills, they start working on one of the Arvato projects.
What was the most "out of the box" experience?
It has to be my trip to the Philippines, for sure! Right after I started working as a trainer, I spent three months in the Philippines, where I worked together with my colleagues to open the Arvato site in Clark. It was a special experience that tested my training abilities, as I got to interact with people from a different culture and with different expectations.
What are the benefits of working at Arvato?
Even before starting working here I heard that Arvato is a multinational company where employees really matter, and after I came here I realized how true that is. We have a series of non-wage benefits: private medical insurance, gym memberships, office massage and Bookster - the first library for companies in Romania which selects bestsellers and delivers them every week at the office. Other activities that we enjoy are the Arvato movie nights and themed parties.
Would you recommend young people to apply for a job at Arvato?
I would, definitely, because it is "awesometacular". It is a place where you don't have time to get bored: e-mails, phone calls, finding solutions and relaxing breaks with massage or foosball games. Day to day you interact with new clients, you get to improve your language skills and to overcome your limitations. More than that, it is fascinating how much you get to travel: my colleagues have been from Estonia and Portugal to Senegal and China. And I don't believe this happens at every company.
Those who are interested in pursuing a career at Arvato, in a young and dynamic team, can apply for one of the jobs available on their website www.createyourcareer.ro or right from the app on the Facebook page. Among the jobs offered in the Cluj-Napoca center are team manager, trainer, customer service representative or IT systems administrator.