Our employee spotlight shines this time on our HR Manager, Christine Brening!
Affectionately known to us as Chrissy, she is perhaps one of the most welcoming people you will ever meet on your first day of work. As our HR manager, she looks out for the best people to join the team, as our culture requires people to be able to work in a team and autonomously at the same time.
Born in Kyrgyzstan and raised in Germany, Chrissy also spends great effort ensuring the diverse team at Ingenious gets along well, regardless of cultural differences. Once a year, she organises our Christmas party, which always turns out to be a great success as she pays attention to every detail.
In our chat with Chrissy, we learn more about what her role entails, what she thinks are some of the most important things in a corporate culture and some tips for a good job interview.
Meet Chrissy!
Hi Chrissy, what do you do as HR Manager at Ingenious?
As HR Manager at Ingenious I care about the most important resource our company has: the people.
Hence, I am involved in every step of the employee’s lifecycle. It starts with recruiting highly skilled, talented individuals, who have not only the theoretical skill set, but are also a cultural fit to the company – these people make a huge enrichment and addition to our team.
Another huge part of my everyday work is providing HR Services to the team. With HR Services I mean any kind of support they need, as well as performance management, development of employees and HR processes, administration and payroll accounting. I guess you can call me a generalist.
What are some of the greatest joys in your job?
To make it short: Seeing people happy makes me happy. It’s those small but special everyday moments like seeing the team go out for lunch together, have a quick table tennis match, laugh about a joke someone made – or just enjoy fooling around while wearing Christmassy Christmas Jumpers together. My philosophy: Happy people are motivated – and motivation inspires them to perform at their best.
Ingenious consists of very international employees, who speak many different languages, and are spread across various locations. What are some of the most important things you find in a corporate culture?
For me, the most important thing is that people see their goal and have a vision of what they want to reach together.
A good team complements each other’s know-how, and still shares the passion for their work. Last but not least: Sharing and discussing ideas until you’ve reached the best result possible is the key.
What are your top three rules for a good job interview?
Be passionate about what you do. Be confident in what you do. Be yourself!
Where is your favourite spot in Berlin?
I love to spend my time with family, friends and/or my “dog-in-law” at the Gardens of Charlottenburg Palace.
What are your goals for the next years?
Contributing to the company’s growth by getting our current and a lot of future employees enthusiastic about our company and product.
Thanks, Chrissy!
