Part-time manager: Insights from the people and culture center

As part-time Director of Recruitment – Birgitt Schmidt-Tophoff shows us that this is possible! In the interview she provides us with insights into her role and tasks in the people and culture center, and how her daily work has changed now that she works as a part-time manager.

Hello Birgitt, please introduce yourself briefly.

In my role as Director of Recruitment, I am affectionately called “the Director” by my team – I manage the Shared Service Center Recruitment. We are jointly responsible for the organic growth of the company, and we help the specialist departments find potential new employees who fit very well with us, both professionally and personally.

Our range of tasks is broad; it extends from the correct positioning of the employer’s brand to the creation and expansion of our careers page to the actual recruitment process, onboarding, and personnel development. This puts the entire end-to-end recruiting and employee experience process in our hands.

What do you do in your role and how does your day-to-day work at valantic look?

In my role, I lead a team on the one hand and am actively involved in recruiting on the other. Communication is one of the essential components of my work, and of course I always have to keep track of the company’s dynamic growth. I stay close to my team, the specialist departments and the candidates. Through regular exchanges on different levels and with very different people, I know who needs what and how we need to position ourselves. By the way, I don’t even know what it’s like to be idle: In order to hire the right candidates for valantic, we have to reflect critically on our actions in recruiting and HR marketing and rethink them constantly. Additionally, my personal challenge is to always remain one step ahead of the competition. 😊

I have complete flexibility in taking on my tasks. I don’t have a typical day-to-day work schedule because every day looks a little different and I can choose when and where I work at will. Long before Corona, at valantic we had the opportunity to work from the home office and we are also very flexible in the way we organize our working hours. Which is something I personally enjoy very much. I have been working part-time at valantic since I started there. In my role this was never an issue; it was always easy and possible.

That sounds interesting. Why did you choose a part-time model?

Since I’ve had my children, I have worked varying amounts of hours, ranging from 50% to 90%. This way, I was able to practice my profession regardless of how old the children were – getting the best of both worlds. The flexibility to determine and change when and where I work spontaneously, depending on what is currently going on in my professional or private life, is of enormous importance to me. At valantic it is pretty straightforward, I can plan my workday by myself.

How has your day-to-day work changed since then?

I have learned to prioritize issues and tasks better and work in a more focused fashion. As a result, I have become more efficient. When I say this, it sounds very simple, but it is also associated with a lot of communication, coordination, and planning. Basically, part-time models only work if you work in an environment where this is made possible, regardless of your role and your responsibilities. I absolutely see this at valantic! And it works, because at valantic we place trust in people and personal needs are prioritized and kept in mind.

Thank you very much for the conversation, Birgitt!