Meet Ana Miguel Executive VP of Búsquedas IT
First of all, how are you and your team doing?
We are very good. This year consecrated a team that grew by 50% from 2020 – to 2023. We have plans for slightly more horizontal growth and not as dizzying as the one we have had over the last 2 years. This year means affirming experiences, consolidating the team, and focusing on more and better delivery service experiences.
Because of that, we are implementing many organization and talent management practices within the team, which allows us to view operations from a more challenging perspective and be much more oriented toward developing the skills and experience of the current team.
Tell us about you, your career, and how you founded Búsquedas IT.
Búsquedas IT was founded by my partner and friend, Sofía Maradei, in 2011 as a Job Posting Blog: initiative whose purpose was to disseminate job opportunities for Uruguay and Argentina. Sofi carried out the Blog’s operation until turning it into a Recruitment Agency, working on it just in her free time since she was working as an IT Recruiter for many Software Companies.
We met each other in the same Company, here in Uruguay, in 2011. Although we did not work together in the same team at that time, we got along very well and maintained the relationship after that work experience, making a very close friendship.
In 2018 we partnered and decided to focus 100% of our professional effort on Búsquedas IT. Thus, with Sofi, we co-lead the Agency’s operation, having proposed a growth path that far exceeded our horizons and projections.
With a very gradual growth, we were laying the foundations to achieve exponential growth from 2018 to now, placing us as one of the leading IT Recruiting Agencies in Uruguay and the region – LATAM.
What is Búsquedas IT?
Búsquedas IT is an IT Recruitment Agency that operates from Uruguay and Argentina, the USA, and Europe since many of our Recruiters live and work from there. We are a team of 10 Professionals who work remotely, matching our family, leisure, and personal times with work.
We innovate in the work approach: we developed our methodology called “Agile Recruiting,” changing the way of carrying out selection processes: agile rhythms, empathetic approaches, a lot of flexibility but above all: closeness not only with clients but also with candidates.
We have a cutting-edge website with first-rate aesthetics and usability that is always changing in design and features according to our and clients’ needs. Innovation is in our DNA. We will not attract the best profiles for our clients if we do not stay ahead, nor would that appeal to us.
Why did you decide to become a business owner?
I have over 13 years of experience providing consulting services to different local and global companies. I trained as a Psychologist and then graduated in Organizational Transformation. I think I have a solid professional background, but I felt that something was missing. I have always been very anxious, expeditious, and hasty when deciding, which didn’t always lead me down the right path, principally with bosses.
That’s how I started thinking about what kind of professional development would make me feel happy and how I could be spontaneous without having bad consequences. And the idea came to me: starting my own Company. At the same time, Sofi analyzed how to figure out better growth for Búsquedas IT. We were friends, so we used to talk frequently about our interests, needs, and projects.
After a few minutes of talking about what we wanted to do: me as a new Entrepreneur, and she with Búsquedas IT, the decision came up immediately: we needed to start to work together. And we started to plan how to do it.
What is your biggest success?
My main professional success is Búsquedas IT, which has consolidated a team with commitment, desire, and a strong sense of belonging. With our team, we have grown a lot: learning from mistakes, having good and bad experiences, going through an uncertain time like the Pandemic, and being able to recover and learn from that.
How much time do you spend working on your business each day?
I work a lot. It isn’t easy when you are the owner to find a limit. I try to achieve an 8-hour workday, sometimes, it extends to 10, and sometimes I give myself the freedom not to work or cut the day if I feel unproductive. We work 100% remotely, we have always worked remotely, and it has been part of our approach and culture from the very beginning.
That is why the Pandemic brought us the opportunity to take advantage of this operational experience and culture. Working remotely has its advantages and disadvantages: it is important to find a balance and take care of your interests and leisure time.
What advice would you give to beginners who want to start their own Technology Company?
We always had two things clear: operational focus and life priorities. The Operational Focus must be your mission, and you need to ask yourself: what type of work do I want to do? So you will easily find out what things you are going to say “NO,” and the good job, you will say “YES” and go for it.
Life priorities will allow you to forge team, organization, and approach decisions. Having this clear would generate the best organizational culture for your business. A Business with an aligned culture means a Business with an aligned team, and with that, you will succeed.
How do you advertise your business?
We have a Branding and Marketing Lead who is always looking for new strategies for advertising and marketing. We use Social Media and work a lot with our clients to make good experiences, and many times, the clients make the best advertising, recommending us. Something similar happens with candidates.
What is the future of Búsquedas IT? Where do you see Búsquedas IT in the next 5 to 10 Years?
I see Búsquedas IT transformed. Change is in our DNA, which moves us day by day. I can’t quite visualize how specifically I can see ourselves. Still, I see us growing with a consolidated market and perhaps doing very different things from what we do today.
Who knows exactly where it is going to be in many years? I don’t know much where or how, but I can confirm that we will be transformed and Avant-garde and vanguardist.
Finally, what would you like to say to CEO Advertising readers? Your final thoughts?
I would like you to learn more about Búsquedas IT, our way of working, and our approach. Being from Uruguay, one of the smallest countries in Latin America fills me with pride to be the Recruitment supplier of first-level international companies.
Narattor: Ana Miguel
Company: Búsquedas IT
