Success Story: Natia at Sophiahemmet University

Meet our ambitious and prestigeless consultant Natia Lortkipanidze who is one of several consultants we have recruited to Sophiahemmet University. After a broad variety of roles, she landed a job as an Examination Coordinator. Her manager Nora Välimäki, Head of Student Affairs, speaks highly of her and her contributions at the university.

Natia Lortkipanidze, Examination Coordinator

What occupation did you have before your current employment?
Before arriving at Sophiahemmet University (SHH) I had been studying at Södertörn university, master’s in Media Communications and cultural analysis and had been serving as a Young Ambassador of Georgia to Sweden. With the educational background in communications, I had always been working in the fields where I could meet and interact with people, whether it  for example within sales department, customer service, hospitality, or public sector, both in Georgia and in Sweden.

How did you experience the recruiting process with Novare Potential?

Typically, it’s a job hunter who looks for different announcements in different channels and tries to find the vacancies that matches to one’s experience, skills, and interests. This process is usually tiresome and tough, sometimes it might be even frustrating to wait for responses from the recruiters. But with Novare Potential, I had a very different experience as a jobseeker. I remember I sent the CV and a personal letter to Novare Potential’s official e-mail. I did not apply to any vacancy and honestly, I did not expect too much. But in two weeks’ time I received the call from a Researcher asking me if I would be interested to work at SHH who were looking for someone with experience and skills like mine. After a short phone interview, it was decided that I would go to the next phase of the recruiting process and met the senior recruiter at Novare Potential’s office. The interview was followed by another face-to-face interview with a direct hirer, who today is my manager.

Totally it took less than a month for me to find a job thanks to Novare Potential who acted as the third party between me and SHH and did the most important job, not only for SHH but for me as a job hunter as well. 

Tell us a little bit about your role at Sophiahemmet.

I started as a halftime administrator, for a three-months period, and today I am a fulltime Examination Coordinator at Sophiahemmet University and a proud member of a wonderful team. My core responsibility is to organize and coordinate the university’s centralized digital exams. The main goal is to make sure that the annual process and delivery of examinations is functioning smoothly, and students receive the best service, which can be achieved by a clockwork communication and collaboration between all the parties involved in the process. Specificity of the exams is that it happens in real time and any unexpected problem has a high urgency and needs a quick solution that might be a challenge from time to time. However, in a right environment such as Sophiahemmet all the challenges turn into opportunities to learn something new and to grow constantly, which is the one of the things I love with my job. I believe that with my can-do attitude and the courage to try new things, I bring diversity, positive thinking, and an entrepreneurial spirit at SHH.

What does this job mean to you?

For me the most important thing and a main drive force in life is to be doing something meaningful, that helps others and connects me with people. I believe that with putting my knowledge and skills to good use, in service of students, I make a valued contribution to the University.

I meet people here with more working and life experience, and I learn a lot from them. I am a part of a team and work in the environment where I am not afraid to express my ideas, in vice versa, I have the manager, who encourages me and each of my colleagues to freely express ourselves and be initiators. This creates very a friendly and collaborative environment, where everyone’s voice is heard and we all together ensure that the organization’s vision and mission is fulfilled.

Nora Välimäki, Head of Student Affairs at Sophiahemmet University

What kind of qualities and skills do you look for in your employees?

In addition to obvious formal qualifications, which need to be adequate for the role, I always look for engagement, enthusiasm, and a positive, problem-solving attitude. A critical mindset is essential, but it needs to be put to productive and solution-focused use; complacent complainers are not our cup of tea. Although our organisation has long traditions, we’re also fast-paced and highly digitalised, which means you need to be adaptable and quick on your feet.

What was it that Natia did or said to make you think she is the right fit for the job?

From the very first interview, Natia clearly filled my expectations on both engagement and enthusiasm. She gave a positive outlook and came across as both engaged, interested, and had clearly read up on the role and our organisation which was impressive given the short timeframe we had for the recruitment.

Did Natia live up to your expectations?

Very much so. She took on her role with great engagement and in a short time managed to sort out many of the issues we had with the process she took charge of. She has a natural ability to both organise processes and get people to follow her lead when she does so. Her positive, kind, and sociable personality also contributes, and she has become a very valued colleague within our organisation. Honestly, we don’t know what we’d do without her anymore!

Why did you decide to collaborate with Novare and are you happy with the outcome?

Our organisation has clear humanitarian values, and the Agenda 2030 goals immerse everything we do. The goals of reduced inequality and decent work are very important for me personally and with our collaboration I found a practical way to both help people who face unfair challenges in the regular job market and at the same time benefit our organisation with great individuals. We have already employed 3 people through Novare within our unit, and every single collaboration has been a great success.