Welcome to the fourth episode of Inside Index. With each Inside article, we invite you to discover our agency via interviews with our experts. This week, we are interviewing Arianne, our Director of Human Resources & Administration
Arianne Matte joined Index at its inception, seven years ago. Having started out as an SEO writer, today she occupies a hybrid position as the Director of Human Resources and Administration. Despite coming from an already diverse academic background (natural sciences, engineering, mathematics), she continues to study part-time and is currently learning Portuguese both for her personal development and for her work in communications with the development team in Brazil.
Arianne is responsible for the smooth functioning of the agency from a financial point of view. She must “ensure that budgets are respected and regularly informs the team and management of the state of finances.” She also “oversees payroll deadlines for employees and produces reports.” So that the agency is operating at its most efficient, Arianne takes care of all the general administrative tasks, such as buying all the material necessary for the team. Finally, Arianne is responsible for human resources. She deals with the recruitment and arrival of new employees.
As for her hiring process, Arianne selects resumes based not only presentation but also by “reading between the lines in order to identify the competent candidates but who aren’t as good at advocating for themselves.” During interviews, she focuses mainly on analyzing the body language, how at ease a person is, the answers given … Depending on the position to be filled, she sets different selection criteria: experience, technical knowledge, enthusiasm. The goal is always to hire the best person possible who will fit into the given role.
Arianne’s work is not just important to the agency. It is essential. Without it, the agency would not be able to run smoothly. Her role acts as one of the basic pillars for a healthy business structure. This profession isn’t necessarily glamourous or visible but is of paramount importance. Without foundations, “the agency will crumble and eventually fall.”
As the Administrative Director, Arianne faces new challenges daily: “In my position, I am constantly faced with challenges of all different sizes and complexity.” She must make sure to be efficient in her work in order to solve any problems the agency may face. The most prominent example that came to mind was the opening of the Toronto office. “I didn’t know anything about the laws, standards, working conditions, and so on, in Ontario. I was just back from vacation at that time and had to do the research and go through the process of opening the office in just two weeks. I ended up being really satisfied with the results since everything ended up running smoothly.”
In order to be effective in her hybrid position, Arianne thinks that the main qualities to have are “good organizational skills to manage the various parts of the job at the same time, as well as all the challenges that crop up from this mix. In the same breath, to have a facility with numbers for the finances and accounting, as well as a great sense of responsibility is also essential.”
For that, Arianne bases herself on the moment when she meets with the person. “It’s partly a matter of intuition. You have to make sure that the person has the desire to work in a small team, and that he or she appreciates the benefits it provides.” She also takes into consideration more general criteria, such as the state of mind of the person, in order to make the right choice and contribute to the team’s performance and goodwill. “Unfortunately, there is still no algorithm that identifies these kind of qualities in humans!”
See you soon for the next edition of Inside Index, the only blog giving you behind-the-scenes insights into the life of an agency specializing in web marketing!