Learning curve vs. doing curve

Jan here, the COO. I don’t believe in preemptive learning. What you’ve learned so far doesn’t really matter. No one will ask you about it. How many amazing things did you learn in your second semester of university? Or in 11th-grade math class? It’s all quickly forgotten.

I believe in doing.

What have you done? Because what you will do at Buena is something no one can ever take away from you. I also believe that learning is downstream from doing. You'll be able to say you placed 20 candidates in a quarter - and built a system to handle 50 with an intern. You won’t need to say that you learned to interview well, design systems, look for candidates in creative ways, train juniors and prioritize well. It'll be implicitly clear.

I don’t care what you’ve learned before or what you want to learn here. I leave that to the academic world. What matters to us is that you’ll do a lot here:

1. People management: You will work directly with team leads of our portcos (portfolio companies) in understanding the personell structure - and suggesting changes.
2. Search & place candidates: Find creative ways (Buena has budgets) to find the right candidates in big markets (software engineers in Berlin) and niche ones (property manager in Düren, a village near Cologne.
3. Build systems: You'd own recruiting for the entire Buena group, incl. the software for the job ads - and improve the process that involves all hiring managers. Want to try out new processes or software? Buena might be the best place to iterate fast.
4. Diverse roles to fill: You'll hire property managers, software engineers, operators, interns and many more roles. You won't get bored as each role has different hiring managers and requirements.

Work directly with the Leadership Team

You will work directly with the Leadership Team during hiring process and report to the COO. One could say that you’ll learn a lot from this, but as mentioned above, that’s secondary. Primarily, working with the leadership team means two things:

1. You can do a lot: Your direct supervisor has the autonomy to approve everything and empower you to act quickly. To get a better understanding for what that means exactly ask the other members of the Ops team you’ll meet in our recruiting process about how budgets work here.
2. You can grow with the company: In a few years, Buena needs senior leaders to run recruiting and HR functions. I want to prepare you for this development so that—even when Buena reaches €100 million or €10 billion in revenue—you continue to report directly to the Leadership Team. Or secure our angel investment for your own startup. #PaypalMafia

Your first week at Buena

9:00 "Here's your laptop; I've assigned you a Linear project where you'll find everything you need to get started."

You spend about 30 minutes reading “everything” you need to know beforehand.

9:34 "Your first task involves coordinating with our hiring managers for two upcoming job openings in Berlin and Cologne. This afternoon, you’ll have an initial sync call with each to align on expectations and requirements."

9:51 You explore our internal communication channels on Slack, familiarize yourself with the ATS (currently Teamtailor - but not 100% happy), and read through past recruitment notes for context.

11:00 A call with Ilonka, the hiring manager for the Berlin role, where she outlines the key competencies required and shares insights on the current team structure. You also discuss potential recruitment timelines and sourcing strategies.

12:00 Lunch break

12:45 You meet with Jan, our COO, to brainstorm ways to enhance candidate experience. Together, you discuss possible improvements in communication touchpoints and feedback loops.

14:00 A discussion with Sonja, the team lead for the Cologne office, who highlights the urgent need for candidates with specific industry experience. You coordinate to start a targeted outreach campaign.

15:04 You book a recruiting event space for a networking meet-up that could attract relevant talent to both locations.

15:41 Reviewing applications for open positions, you prioritize candidates that align well with the job descriptions and initiate the first round of screening calls.

17:29 A debrief with Kourosh, our recruiting intern, about recent developments in the candidate pipeline for the Berlin role. You strategize on scheduling interviews efficiently and identifying potential challenges.

18:06 You join the Operations team for a quick meal in the common area, discussing how to wow a candidate who is coming in tomorrow and the last company offsite.

19:00 You prepare follow-up emails for candidates interviewed earlier this week, ensuring personalized communication and feedback notes are sent out.

20:46 You finish up with a review of data analytics in the ATS to optimize the sourcing and outreach processes before heading home, ready to tackle tomorrow’s tasks.

Hard requirements

1. Native German
2. Move near the office

Application process

1. Brief conversation to cover the basics
2. Talk with other Business Generalists
3. Case study to demonstrate your approach to new problems
4. Conversation with Jan (COO) about values, goals, and motivation
5. Office tour on-site
6. Meeting with Din (CEO)
7. Contract signing
8. Onboarding

These steps can be completed in 4 days.

Read more about Buena here.