Patricia Fickenwirth holds the position of HR Assistant at FinLeap. She joined the company builder in December 2015.
The first thing one notices about Patricia is her love for travel. In fact, she spent the last six years outside of Germany. Having lived in the Netherlands, Asia, and the UK, Patricia enjoys the variety of cultures and nationalities that come together at FinLeap to become a successful and efficient team where everyone is friendly.
Patricia joined FinLeap in December 2015. After moving from London to Berlin, she wanted to work for a startup and, thus, found out about FinLeap and its open HR position. As the HR Assistant, Patricia is responsible for the entire candidate experience including contacting, inviting, and scheduling the interviews. Moreover, she completes some admin tasks, travel bookings and reimbursements, job descriptions and job advertisements. Inside the team, Patricia is also responsible for company events such as the new hire dinner every month. Today, we interviewed her about her position, her expectations from candidates, and her past experiences.
FinLeap.com: What do you think is the most interesting part of your job?
Patricia: I think the most interesting part is getting to meet the candidates in person. Sometimes, we email candidates for a month and I like to finally get to know the person.
FinLeap.com: What do you look for in a candidate?
Patricia: I want to see a drive in our direction. It’s shown especially strongly when I organize the interviews, because I can see how motivated the person is to come in and talk to us.
FinLeap.com: How do you make sure all the ventures get the candidates they want?
Patricia: Sometimes, it’s difficult to distinguish between ventures from an HR perspective. Mainly, we divide the candidates based on the priority of the position and the specific needs of the individual venture.
FinLeap.com: How does your position at FinLeap differ from your past experiences?
Patricia: My experience is mainly from the hospitality industry where the standards and environment are quite different. The startup environment is much more casual and very dynamic.
Shown by her international experience, Patricia loves to travel in her free time. In addition, she enjoys cooking, reading, and hanging out with her friends and boyfriend.