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| Dragos Gheban, Business Development Manager, Catalyst |
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At just 27 years old Dragos Gheban is a succesfull entrepreneur.
Pasionate and energetic, he managed to create an inovative business in a field in which nobody thought something new could be done.
The reputation that Angajatori de Top or www.hipo.ro enjoy is a testament to his professionalism and dedication.
What's it like to be a young entrepreneur in Romania?
It's an extraordinary opportunity, one that I am glad I didn't miss. Romania is going through a period of tremendous growth and as a result it offers a lot of opportunities. I'm glad I made the decision to stay in Romania and start a business in HR together with my partners.
A lot of work. The first years of any business are critical and demand a great deal of focus and energy. A 12 hour program is not unusual and the idea of a weekend is relative.
Accelerated learning. Being an entrepreneur requires continuous learning especially in the field of business where we offer our services but also in areas that were completely strange to me: marketing, sales, finance and IT.
Satisfaction. When you find out that at your last event over 1000 people were hired and when you receive positive feedback from your clients.
Why did you choose to start your own business instead of working in a company? What were the biggest obstacles you encountered?
The main reason was the need to make my own schedule, freedom of movement and obviously a more generous financial perspective in the long run. Apart from this you also have the satisfaction of creating something from scratch, the freedom to use your creativity to the maximum as well as the opportunity to be challenged constantly.
I think the biggest obstacle was the lack of a solid starting capital that allows you to begin your journey with a bigger team. We compensated this with many sleepless nights and an extra degree of creativity. Another obstacle is that everything we do is something new on the market and we had to put a lot effort in educating and shaping it. Obviously, once this strategy is successful, there are a lot of advantages. At present the biggest challenge is team management and project management. Both our team and our projects have grown, an aspect which requires extra abilities. We educate and grow a lot of them as we go by.
How difficult was the launch of www.hipo.ro in Romania seeing as there were already a lot of websites dedicated to online recruiting? What are the advantages that www.hipo.ro has in comparison with the other websites?
Online recruiting is a very competitive field in Romania. When we launched www.hipo.ro there were already three big players on the market. This was the reason why we decided to position our site differently: www.hipo.ro is designed exclusively for young professionals with academic studies and among the employers present on our site we have some of the biggest players in every field. The website is different because of the quality of its users, a very active promotion strategy through events ( Angajatori de Top, Top Talents Romania) and the degree of flexibility regarding presentation instruments for employers.
What is your opinion about the level of training that young people have in Romania?
I think the market is starting to mature. I met a lot of HiPo's (High Potentials) that intimidate you with their capacity to assimilate information, highly motivated, that know what they want from life. They have access to a large number of opportunities, they are exposed to an international environment and they speak two or three foreign languages. At the same time I met a lot of indifferent youths that are fooled by the mirage of a wealth of opportunities and stop making an effort to educate themselves further, thinking that superficiality is easily forgiven due to the gap between demand and supply.
What do you recommend to companies that want to attract the best professionals on the market?
I advise them to pay close attention to events where they can meet face to face with young professionals. Such opportunities allow a coherent communication of your brand as an employer and ensure an increased degree of interactivity and transparency in the hiring process. I don't think the online environment should be neglected. Companies that don't have a presence in this field don't exist in the minds of a lot of candidates.
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Human Invest is a Premier League company in the arena of training and
organizational development consultancy services, present on the Romanian market since 1998.
We are recognized for conceiving and implementing programs which offer managers an authentic experience towards improving their leadership
performances, and thus we support companies in becoming more and more engaged in delivering excellent services for their clients.
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