Interview with Xandra Bañuelos

Xandra Bañuelos, our new Talent Acquisition Manager at Ad Maiorem, tells us about her vision of technology from a Human Resources perspective. Xandra has almost a decade of experience serving the Aerospace, Defense, Industrial, Transportation and Telecommunications sectors, offering innovative solutions to implement talent recruitment and selection processes, procedures management and corporate culture. On this occasion, she tells us about her personal and professional expectations, as well as the employment context in the technology industry in Spain.

1. Who are you? Tell us about yourself

I define myself as a normal person, who is constantly in search of a very marked, positive, methodical and organized personal and professional growth, of course, in adequate doses without going to the extreme. Today the most important thing for me is to be aware of maintaining a balanced self-esteem that allows me to assume new responsibilities with perseverance and dedication, in addition to solving problems from experience and trust, two key characteristics for me. I enjoy the people around me and I allow myself to learn from all of them. Other points that define me are honesty and transparency, I do not contemplate a satisfactory life without being one.

2. Interests, likes, activities, personal hobbies?

I am quite an active person. Currently I practice Yoga and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, sports that in addition to instilling respect, humility and discipline, align with my personal and professional expectations, and that help me increase confidence, strengthen my continuous learning process, act from tolerance and above all work in a team. I continually strive to keep sticking to it. Besides, I enjoy my free time, I like documentaries, reading, watching movies and nature. I love my cats and it is always a pleasure to spend time with my family and friends.

3. In what works and/or projects have you previously collaborated?

I have always been linked to engineering consulting, developing especially in the Aerospace, Defense, Industrial, Transportation sectors and briefly in Telecommunications. My experience is especially focused on the selection area, where I have carried out innumerable processes for technological profiles. Likewise, in document management and execution of business climate and culture programs.

4. What did you like about Ad Maiorem?

Its values: honesty, talent, innovation, projection and ethics. There is an environment that honors the "culture of success" as we call it. A healthy and open climate, where communication and listening are fundamental assets to increase the participation of the team in all the activities carried out by the organization. On the other hand, as we develop in a technological environment, we are very aware of the main advances in this field, and of course of the various options with which to contribute to the personal and professional development of the team. It seems to me an ideal environment to continue growing.

5. What opportunities does this change bring you?

Definitely the possibility of challenging myself again doing what I like to do the most: working with people and for people. I liked Ad Maiorem from the first moment. I feel that this "new beginning" will bring me great satisfaction, beautiful consequences that I want to derive solely and exclusively from the desire with which I begin this new work adventure. This is the next step in my professional career, what I was looking for, a space in which to propose, develop and implement in a consensual way.

6. What are the differential attributes that the Human Resources area must have?

Beyond the knowledge and mastery of people management techniques and tools, I am convinced that honesty, communication and closeness are fundamental. These are the real reasons why employees get involved in the activities carried out by the company. Human Resources, from my perspective, has to be a cross-cutting body throughout the organization, and much more, if we take into account the turn of our technology business. My responsibility as a leader, in this case, is focused on generating value by attracting qualified talent to be part of our international technological innovation projects; However, my intention is to go further, I want to manage a qualitative space in which we can measure our capacity for service, teamwork and empowerment.

7. How do you see your work team? What features are essential?

It is imperative that they like the work they do. A human group linked to the values ??of the organization, spokespersons for a good working environment and with a clear, very clear vocation of service towards others. As I have already anticipated, assertive communication, respect, closeness and the desire to learn about everything, for everyone and at all times, should not be lacking. I see my team as a facilitating body that supports, to the best of our ability, the projects and activities of the different areas that make up Ad Maiorem. In short, "leaders who form leaders."

8. What will be your contribution to the development of the team's skills?

I am going to project and strengthen that reach that they already have, organizing and configuring the area and our activities with innovative ideas that feed our soft and hard skills. I am very attentive to the skills and areas for improvement of each of the members of my team; My intention is to work with them on a personalized roadmap in which we specifically strengthen trust, responsibility and transparency, as well as analytical capacity and constructive criticism, from the perspective of our company culture.

9. How do you find the job market at the moment? Specifically the technological one.

Although we are currently in a stage of uncertainty at the global level, I have taken a positive stance regarding the development of economic markets and the sectors in which we operate. Specifically in technological engineering, projects do not stop, and in this sense the needs and opportunities are still there. For example, it is a good time to continue promoting the development of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data or cybersecurity, activities that are gaining prominence for the survival of organizations in this era of the Coronavirus that we have to face. In this sense, I see a great opportunity for the tech job market.

We are developing in a sector, technology, which is one of the ones that best faces the crisis caused by the pandemic, due to its preparation and implications for dealing with teleworking and the new market needs. At the labor level, in terms of new job offers, the technology industry has registered a slight 10% drop in published job offers, while in other economic sectors this figure has been around 65%. Likewise, an interesting fact is that Spain, compared to the rest of the European Union countries, only has three researchers and seven developers for every 1,000 inhabitants, which means a greater number of job offers than specialized professionals, which for Ad Maiorem represents a positive scenario for hiring qualified professionals at European level.

10. Any formula to acquire and retain technological talent?

I consider important the task of aligning our corporate culture with the Employer Branding tools, through which we can report on the benefits and rewards of working at our firm. It is true that we maintain competitive salary standards according to the market, but, in addition, we are motivated by the possibility of transmitting to our team, and possible future collaborators, how proud we are to participate in technological projects that adapt to our lives, doing it more and more comfortable. The formula for success is: say what we do, say we do it well and identify with our work.

Bonus track: leave us a greeting, talk to the readers.

I thank Ad Maiorem for this opportunity, which I see as a gift and I take it with great responsibility and wish everyone an extraordinary future. Many thanks to the team for an excellent reception.

A hug to all.