Professionally, I am a tech recruiter; have been for over a decade. And yet, I always say that first and foremost I am just trying to be both myself and a mother to my two children – and only after comes the job.
This hierarchy of identities reflects the values that guide me in life: I truly enjoy the work I do, and at the same time I am open and honest about the fact that I prioritise my personal life very much as well – it is fundamental for me that there’s something left of Heini after the working day, to be given to my children.
Heini Matero, Technology Recruitment Lead, RELEX Solutions
Building a career that matches personal values
My studies have actually nothing to do with what I do for a living; at least in Finland, there’s not a study route that prepares you to build a career in talent acquisition. I studied Economics at the University of Helsinki and after graduation, it dawned on me that I still had to discover what I wanted to actually do, professionally speaking. This is something that I see in others and also in my personal life as well: we’re usually good at telling what we don’t want, but it takes time for us to discern what we want.
After graduation, I started working at a small investment capital company. I realised after a while that it wasn’t as fulfilling as I wanted it to be, and overall, that I was not reaching my full potential. I was lucky then to give it a try to recruitment and started working at Academic Work – what a change I experienced! I got to work in an environment where I could put to use all my strengths; for example, interacting with people, making them trust me, and creating open and honest working environments. This was a pivotal moment in creating my career, and the funny thing is, that just like many other great things in life, it came to me almost as a coincidence, so when I look back, I consider myself really lucky.
Also in hindsight, looking at my career I have been reflecting on two very important questions, checking with myself often: Do I enjoy what I do? Do I see myself doing this for the next couple of years? So far, the answer has always been yes – and suddenly a decade has gone by, and here I am, still on the field.
Five fulfilling years at Relex
I’ve been at Relex for soon to be five years. I am in charge of our company’s technology recruitment to our headquarters, in Finland. In practice, my job entails doing whatever it takes to fill the roles given to us: looking for the best matches, so a real 360-degree recruitment role: one day focusing totally on sourcing – looking to attract the passive talent on the market.
I also attend the interviews, in order to both evaluate the candidates’ soft skills and sell our company, looking to see if we’re a good fit for each other. This is the part I love the most: attending case-by-case evaluations. I consider myself an energetic person – even though I am an introvert – so I enjoy how I become 100% present in that moment, at the interview. It’s beautiful and inspiring for me to witness the moments when the candidate gets into their energy: when they start speaking about their skills or their passion for their job, and you can feel it. It’s incredibly refreshing.
As a bonus, the process of interviewing these tech professionals is also a source of reflection for myself about my own passions: as I approach forty years old and find myself with a stable career that I enjoy, I am still finding even more passions that I can nurture!
In general, what I enjoy the most at Relex is that we trust each other: even though you start as a “junior”, I truly believe that you are still regarded as an expert in your own field. From the first day, I was considered an expert in recruitment. People came to me asking for opinions even though they had been recruiting way longer than me, and they still wanted my perspective.
Words of inspiration for future generations
When I reflect on bringing more women into tech, as a recruiter, naturally for me the way to go is speaking about it as much as possible: the more we bring this up – this being the fact that women are already in tech, women can handle tech brilliantly – the more we normalise it the more it is in people’s minds: indeed, we do have women in tech, and we do want even more gender diversity in tech.
And to the women who are already in tech? I always try to think: What would I say to my younger self? I’ve had my share of self-doubt, and questioned myself on my abilities to recruit tech talents; insecurities exist in all forms. So, I often think, if I could go back in time and talk with that young professional, I maybe actually wouldn’t talk very much but instead, I would sit and hold that woman’s hand: I’d try to emotionally be there for her – because all those struggles are needed in order to grow and be here happily today.
I say to those who are carving a path in tech: hold yourself with love, compassion, and trust.
“I say to those who are carving a path in tech: hold yourself with love, compassion and trust.”
