Eva has been working @ioBuilders since 2022, leading the People & Culture team. ioB is a Deep Tech company specialized in blockchain enterprise services and building enterprise solutions based on DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology).
They are a team of 80 ioBers, combining enterprise architects, blockchain specialists and legal experts, partnering companies to create meaningful impact in Blockchain/DLT adoption.
They have worked 100% remotely since the start of the company in 2018.
NBS: What do you think about the current state of IT Recruitment?
EC: “The company is focused on profitability (EBITDA) after a rough year; last year we grew our headcount thinking in the number of projects we had in our pipeline but finally we had to push back, we reduced the team (20%) in terms of number and structure in order to be more sustainable.
For instance, we had a Talent Acquisition team in-house and we had to finish the collaboration with them because we cut the hiring-off. Currently we’re looking for a couple of profiles to strengthen the workforce for the new projects signed that we’ll start next year (beginning 2025). In any case, the recruitment activity in our company (engineers profiles mean 80% of the company) nowadays is not the priority because we don’t have turnover (in 2024 our turnover is under 12%)”
NBS: What are the main challenges to get IT Talent?
EC: “It’s very challenging because the candidates are demanding and most of them are not available to follow a process of interviews and technical assignments.
At the same time our technology and the way we make software is demanding as well because of the scope of our projects and clients.
We are not looking specifically for people expert in blockchain but some specific skills like proactivity, dynamism, curiosity, eagerness to learn, and it’s difficult to find those skills nowadays, this is the main challenge, finding suitable candidates in the soft skills side.”
NBS: In-House or External Agency?
EC: “It’s great and healthy to have a mix of both, at the same time I prefer to say collaboration with external agency, partnerships. I like to have a partnership relationship with the external agencies, because I like to build confidence between us, in order to avoid waste of time and money.
The agency will speak about us, about the project, about a lot of details about the company, the essence of the team and how it will be working with us.
I need to be sure they are speaking the same code, addressing the candidates in the same way we’re doing as in-house.
I like the bidirectionality to learn about the market, and the agency will give more data and reality about how it works.”
NBS: How AI is shaping TA?
EC: “It helps a lot in terms of admin/mechanical tasks, but it’s a tool, a complement, it is never going to replace a Talent Acquisition person. Actually in terms of human resources roles, most of them are not going to be replaced by AI.”
NBS: What do you think about remote working?
EC: “We are a 100% remote working company, from the beginning, so for us it is part of our culture and way of working, a big pro and part of our EVP.
We have twice a year in-person events with all the team together and some remote team buildings to maintain the culture and connection between us, so we’re going to keep 100% remote working for sure.”
NBS: Why joining (IoBuilders)?
EC: “For our people, people make the difference. We recognize the ioBers as our most valuable asset. We invest significant effort in supporting their growth within our organization, assessing not only their technical skills, but also their ability to collaborate and maintain professionalism and evolution. We believe that people are essential for achieving long-term success and creating value.
For our values: Collaboration, Transparency, Non-conformity. They are the foundations of everything we do, driving us forward every day, guiding the way to build the company we want to be.
For our personality is shaped by the way we live our values everyday, a direct reflection of our values in action.”
NBS: Your turnover rate is quite low, how do you retain your employees?
EC: “People (iobers), culture, technology (deep tech, blockchain is the future) and projects magnitude/impact.”
NBS: What do you think about counter-offers?
EC: “Using another offer to increase your salary is not part of our culture. When it happened we let him/her go. We trust in our salary internal equity and EVP, so if you find a better job with a better salary and challenge, feel free to go!
Again, we are confidence about what we offer apart of salary and this is very competitive comparing other companies/offers, at least in Spain.”
NBS: Expectations for 2025 in terms of hiring
EC: “We’ll keep our sustainability growth structure and profitability focus. It feels pretty good in terms of new projects for the first quarter of 2025, but let’s sign projects first and look for ways to increase our HC.”
NBS: Who would you propose as our next guest?
EC: “Toni Gimeno, inbound recruitment (in my previous company, Lookiero, we did a specific training with him and it was very useful for the talent acquisition team!)”
We would like to thank Eva for her time and insights. We hope you enjoy the interview as much as we did.
