A people person in IT: Meet a 7N agent 

Businesses differ in form, size, industry, but also culture. Culture might work as a selling point and set you apart from competitors, but a company’s culture also comes to define its employees and vice versa. As a company, 7N places the same emphasis on personality, values, and soft skills as technical skills when connecting people and companies. Naturally, as a people company, we consist of people persons - one of these is our Head of Client Relations in Finland, Katja Mercedes.

We asked Katja a few questions to about her motives and her role as an agent. 

Socializing for a living  

Katja is an agent with 7N  –  a social role consisting of several elements, especially building and maintaining relationships with consultants and clients. Luckily, this is the part of the job that Katja loves the most. As a social person, meeting new people and having a job that allows her to help people further their careers is something that makes her want to get up in the morning:

Moreover, working with the top 3% IT consultants is inspiring to her, and she is full of respect for their visions, accomplishments, and abilities.  

Working with the top 3% also comes with its own set of demands. Katja is determined to fulfill her role as a consultancy agent by staying on top of industry trends and technologies. In order to do that best, she is a member of numerous business and digital networks and is present at IT summits and events such as the Nordic Fintech Summit discussing the topics of security, neo banking, and core banking renewals. 

An upcoming conference that Katja will attend is the Nordic Business Forum which is a chance to gather insights on courageous leadership from the world's top business experts. These initiatives give Katja an opportunity to grow her global network and hear presentations from talented people in different industries.

“I take pride in staying curious and up to date on trends and changes in the industry, and in that regard, our consultants are the greatest source of knowledge available. ” 

The perfect fit  

Katja has, for the past 17 years, worked in nearly all aspects of IT resourcing, including supply business, vendor business and management, sales, recruitment, and network growth. And although Katja’s professional background is in IT resourcing, her educational background is a whole other story.  

With a master’s in linguistics and several psychology courses in her arsenal, Katja has expert analytical and communication skills and extensive knowledge of human behavior:

“I am a people lover but also a commercial person,” says Katja with a smile, “so talent resourcing ended up being the perfect fit for me. To work with IT, I took courses in coding and Java Standard to better my understanding of the people I was working with.”   

With an interest in psychology, she especially cares about the soft skills of consultants and the personal connections she creates with them. This is exactly why 7N is the perfect match for her. 

“7N has a more personal touch and an excellent consultant network. We value quality over quantity, and that also shows in our network. All consultants are carefully selected and comprehensively tested for soft and hard skills, allowing us to offer the best candidates. Because we already know our consultants and have done all the interviewing, the process is quick and seamless – both locally and internationally. Having offices and agents in thirteen cities broadens the talent pool, making it easier to create the perfect match, especially as more people work remotely.”  

As far back as 2006, 7N hired an industrial psychologist to help define ”The Secret Code” – the competencies of the perfect consultant, and to this day, it is a crucial tool in finding, recruiting, and working with our consultants.  

IT talent, anywhere  

The international aspect of 7N is another part of the job that motivates Katja. She believes that it is the answer to one of the biggest challenges companies face now, which is a lack of local talent. She states, “Within your country or network, there  may not be a perfect match for you, and that is where I really see the value of 7N’s international network. Luckily, remote work is more and more popular, and in the countries that we work in, we have a huge talent pool to source from when we get a request. The fact that we have offices and colleagues in these countries only helps the process run smoother and quicker.”  

During her time at 7N, Katja has seen and heard plenty of examples of successful cooperation, both on big international projects and personally with consultants.  

“We had a project where a client needed an entire team, and unfortunately, we couldn’t find any matches in Finland, that we believed would meet the requirements or could fit the client. Therefore, we created a team of several people from five different countries, and it was impressive to experience the ease of the process. It proves our capabilities to work internationally and across several borders.  

Finally, we asked Katja what she believes to be the most crucial factors in a successful freelance consultant.  

“It is crucial for a consultant to have the right motivation, attitude, and personality fit for the project and client. I appreciate the emphasis we put on people’s soft skills – the right personality can be a game-changer and as equally defining as experience and talent.”  

As a people company, we take pride in people like Katja to represent 7N and our talented consultants. Her professional background, expertise in human behavior, and natural curiosity for IT and its development create a strong foundation for her to advise our clients, place our consultants, and create the perfect match.