Since encountering Avature for the first time back in 2018, I’ve heard the phrase “Avature is a global tech company that’s all about people” a lot of times. From the very beginning, I thought the concept was pretty cool, but I only got lucky enough to really understand and feel what it meant once I became part of the (amazing) A-Team. In this article, I’ll tell you about my career path at Avature and how the concept became a feeling. So let’s just get to it, shall we?
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I started out as receptionist in the Palermo office when I was 19 years old and had no previous work experience at all. When heading to my first interview, I felt nervous and excited at the same time. “Am I too dressed up?”, “Should I be myself or pretend to be someone I’m not?”. A mix of emotions ran through my body, but as soon as an Avaturian opened the front door, they all went away—or almost all of them. I’m pretty shy so that one was still there! My first impression of the company was just “Wow!”. It was March (still summer in Argentina) and people walked around with very casual outfits—some of them were even wearing flip-flops and shorts, which caught my attention right away, since up to that moment, I believed that working at a multinational meant wearing a shirt and tie. I was definitely wrong and I loved it. I remember leaving the office with a smile on my face, knowing that Avature was the right place for me and hoping they’d give me a chance. And thankfully, they did!
Being at the reception was an incredible experience. I quickly got to know almost everyone in Palermo. The front desk witnessed lots and lots of endless talks and laughs, and I remember all of them. At that time, I was still in college, so I had to find a balance between work and my studies; that balance was definitely Avature. I arrived at 2 p.m. and worked until 8 p.m., and to be honest, watching almost everyone leave before me was kind of weird, since I had no one to talk to, no candidates to welcome, no coffees to prepare. But still, I knew everyone would be there the following day to make me laugh again.
After a year and a half in the reception, I decided to take the next step in my career and joined the Travel team. If having the possibility of working with a lot of people was already one of the best parts of my job, imagine what it was like when I became travel analyst and started working with people from all around the world. Okay, let me tell you: amazing! I worked with Avaturians from Madrid, Melbourne, Shenzhen, Bahía Blanca, Canada, the US and much more, and I was thrilled to see we all shared the same spirit. Besides, I organized all kinds of trips and got to know places (through the screen, of course!) I had never heard about. When people came back from the trips and were happy about the whole organization, I felt joy, just as if I had travelled with them.
Then, without any warning, the worldwide pandemic hit and all trips were frozen from one day to the other. No on-site trainings, implementations, onboardings, or conference trips to organize; just waiting until people could travel safely again. A few months went by and trips continued to be frozen. I thought it would be it, until one day, someone in the Talent Management team contacted me to ask me the best question: “Would you like to start helping the Internal Communications team with their tasks?” I was still in college, studying advertising communication, so my answer was “YES!” without even thinking. Do you see what happened? They knew I was studying communication and realized I could be doing something I liked, so the idea that I could join the Comms team was theirs, not mine. I believe that’s awesome. Having people thinking about what’s best for you, especially in such difficult times we’re living, it’s just awesome.
More than a year has gone by since I joined the team and we’ve never had a face-to-face meeting, and still, I feel them so close, just as if we worked next to each other every day. And I think we have to thank Avature for that (and my team of course, @Comms you rock!) because even during the pandemic, when I thought ties with people would be cut, Avature still fosters spaces that allow Avaturians to continue meeting new people, nurturing the spirit of teamwork.
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It’s been three years since the day I became an Avaturian and heard the phrase for the first time. So far, I’ve been part of three different teams, but actually I’ve always been working in one team: the A-team. Avature is a global company with a lot of people based in a lot of different places, but we actually are one big global team. We work together as if there was no distance separating us, and that’s incredible. I think that’s what I love the most about Avature: the quality and hearts of its people. Everyone I came across through my journey was special in their own way, no matter where they came from or what language they spoke, they all helped me become the person I am today.
I’ve heard the phrase a million times, but now I know that Avature really is all about the people.
#1000Avaturians1Team