Michael Page – Miriam Huertas
We talk to Miriam about her career and how she became the director of Michael Page, her assessment of how much gender influences working life and the expectations of people who have just joined the market. It also reveals secrets about the selection process and how to face a personal interview. And finally, he tells us how Michael Page’s marketing department works.
How did you become the director of Michael Page?
Learning and enjoying a lot. It is a long-term path with clear objectives and a roadmap that you are reviewing and rewriting based on different variables.
Of course not everything depends on you but you are the one who decides your own trajectory and you have to see each challenge or obstacle as an opportunity.
Just as important that you make decisions is to surround yourself with a team that is better than you and that give you different prisms.
On a personal level and based on your experience, how do you think your career has evolved?
The personal and professional part are closely linked, you can not be two different people, so any evolution in the personal part influences the professional and vice versa.
I have evolved being aware of my areas of improvement and strengthening the strengths, which should not be forgotten because if something is good or you find it easy to continue working. It is important to listen to your team, ask for feedback but being aware that if you have a base of trust with the people around you, you can hear things that you may not like, but it is the best gift, so you have to gather feedback. reflect and think about an action plan for improvement.
In my case, I have learned that there are grays between black and white and the importance of making decisions based on numbers but not leaving aside intuition.
An enviable path, by the way. There is always talk that this world, especially in the highest echelons, is mainly male. Do you think there is a plus of difficulty in reaching where you have become as a woman?
I work just like a man, I have the same opportunities, it depends on you, the main barriers we put on ourselves, we carry “monkeys” on the back, of course there are many things that organizations still need to implement so that professional trajectories are more conciliatory or at least flexible.
I invite all women to decide, to work and have the trajectories they want and want, the best way is the example, it is not a matter of gender but of talent.
And in this same sense, do you think the
Does gender still have weight in professional development?
If the debate is whether I contract a man or a woman then we are in prehistory, there are still many things to do but we have made progress.
Yes we can find cases that continue to have weight the genre but that company has no future, we must look at these issues from optimism and creativity, generates options, generates solutions and who does not want to see that talent does not distinguish between men and women has a serious problem.
What are the new people looking for in the labor world looking for? Do your aspirations match what companies offer?
About a year ago I moderated a round table at IESE where we were dealing with this issue and we came to the conclusion that, in summary, it was and still is that the new generations do not believe in positions or archaic hierarchies, they believe and they want PROJECT, learning , transversality and being able to decide on themselves.
I agree with those companies that have a clear mission and vision, I invite you to watch a video of the Copa Airlines company about their vision and mission, after watching the video you realize that each person in the company knows that the functions they perform They serve a common purpose.
Those companies that have been successful in the past with opaque structures, verticalised and with opportunities comparable to the duration of the working day have had to be reinvented.
Do you think that in general people are satisfied in their current jobs? What can you do if you want to change it?
What does it mean to be satisfied with your work? The first step is to determine what is the motivation of each person, there are people who are satisfied if their work is close to home, there are people who are satisfied if they have the opportunity to work in a company where they can travel, and so there are many motivations even salary (but beware, it is the most short-term).
So based on your motivations you should be able to answer if you are satisfied or not, you can not generalize at this point.
And if you are not, move, inform yourself, talk and listen to people in your sector, your functional area, family, friends and from there look at options in the market that are aligned with your motivations and change, but change, the Time is the most valuable resource we have.
What qualities does a good recruiter have to have?
Listen to the candidates and the client, have the ability to connect motivations and jobs, be agile and the most important is to always put yourself in the shoes of the other person, understand that all motivations are lawful and feel nerves in the belly when you mark the phone number of a candidate to make an offer that you know will change your life in positive, that helps you meet your expectations.
Be a good person and you will be a good professional.
Along the same lines, what advice would you give someone to excel in a job interview?
That is the same, that smile and that is not nervous, we are all equal, some with more or less years of experience.
Is it true that companies look at the profiles of social networks before making a contract? What parameters do these actions follow?
It’s not that usual but I do know companies that do it. And what do the social networks of a person tell you? Your hobbies, your environment, your concerns, at the end of the day answers that if you create a good climate in the interview you can get to know.
How important is our personal brand? What can we do to enhance it?
The best personal brand that you can boost is the mark you leave on people, it is that feeling that you create and that professional and personal experience that people have when they collaborate with you.
The personal brand is linked with our values, if it is smoke it will soon disappear.
Do all the managers of Michael Page have a personal branding strategy? Why?
Everyone has a personal brand and even if you do not propose it, you transmit it, what better strategy to explain what you like to do and how you do it.
How does the Michael Page SEO team work? Is it an internal or external team?
Our company has a Marketing team consisting of approximately 60 people who offer global service to all countries where PageGroup has a presence.
Within that great Marketing team we have an internal SEO specialists and in parallel we have external agencies that help us to position all the content that we generate specialized aimed at our clients and candidates.
Much of our strategy is based on the generation of content, so it is fundamental for us to have a great job of SEO behind.
How important are the SEM strategies within your company?
The SEM strategy is part of our work, one more pillar that helps to obtain new clients, as well as other actions that we carry out in alternative channels as part of our strategy. It is undoubtedly an important part for the achievement of our objectives, taking into account that PageGroup is a company that moves in a digital maturity environment.
