Meet Josefa: Orca Scan’s new Head of People 💛

Meet Josefa: Orca Scan’s new Head of People 💛

A little bit of context: Meet Josefa 💛

Name: Josefa

Age: 23

Degree: BSc (Hons) Business Management

Current role: Head of People

Orca-Anniversary: May 2022

Hey, Josefa 👋 Congratulations on your promotion! What is your new role?

Hey! Thank you! I have recently been promoted to Head of People. So, it’s my role to support all of the team members at Orca Scan with any questions or issues that might arise. I am also responsible for ensuring all our internal policies are up-to-date and correct and that any HR-related tasks are getting the right attention.

How long have you been working at Orca Scan?

It’s been two years since I started working at Orca Scan. It’s crazy; it feels like yesterday when I got the job offer from John. It’s been awesome, and I’ve travelled all over the world whilst working remotely.

How did you get your job at Orca Scan?

So, three years ago, I worked at Costa Coffee in Cambridge, and John was one of our usual customers. He can be a perfectionist 👀 so every time he came in, I knew his order straight away. We would chat a little bit, but I mostly spoke to his wife as she was at the same university as me at the time. I left Costa and went to another coffee shop, but then John’s wife, Erica, contacted me and told me about a job opportunity at Orca, so I met John for an interview, and that was it.

What are you most looking forward to doing or achieving in your new role?

I hope to improve communication between team members at Orca Scan so that everyone feels heard and enjoys their role.

Is it challenging working in a tech industry with little experience before joining?

When I started, I considered doing a mini course to help me understand more of what the developers do so I could understand what they were talking about in meetings. But you learn one thing at a time, day by day, so there was no need for this. I’ve realised that I don’t need to know the depths of what they are saying, just the fundamentals of what the team is doing.

How does it feel to be a young female in a senior management role at Orca Scan?

It’s really exciting to progress so much in a company that I love to work for and to learn alongside my colleagues.

Do you feel extra pressure to succeed being a female in this position?

Not at all. At Orca Scan, everyone is so supportive, and I don’t feel the pressure of being in a senior female management position, you know? Everyone at Orca is treated the same, no matter what position.

Gender-wise, the team is male-dominated, but it doesn’t feel like it. As a female staff member, I don’t feel ignored or any extra pressure to complete work. I don’t feel any difference in behaviour or attitude towards me because I’m female.

I’m still learning, and I’m so grateful to John and the team for giving me the opportunity to be in this position already.

Do you think Orca Scan provides a supportive, inclusive work environment?

Yes, absolutely. We help each other every day, and if we see mistakes, we work through them together.

Orca Scan provides us with everything, from as little as a coffee to get us through the day, to providing all the equipment needed to do the job. The team ensures that everyone feels included and is taken care of… Well, that is my job, really, but yes, I think everyone in the company would agree that we have everything we need, including the support we need, to do our job to the best of our ability. We work in such a supportive environment without any fear of asking for something if we need it.

What is your favourite thing about working at Orca Scan?

It would have to be the ability to work fully remotely. I recently started travelling more around the world, and it is fantastic to learn about new cultures while doing what I love. For example, the south of Thailand was one of my favourite places because one of the hostels I stayed at had a cafe that was literally on the beachfront. So I could sit down to work and look in front of me, and the ocean was right there in front of me. It was amazing.

Being in Asia made me feel so grateful for my job at Orca because I met so many people with the same story: they had to quit their jobs to be able to travel or were using their savings to travel. So it made me feel even more grateful that I don’t have to do that 🙏

How do you juggle work with travel?

It depends on the time zone where I am, but I usually start working a bit earlier than everyone else and then catch up with the team when it is morning, back in UK hours, before I clock out. An amazing thing that Orca Scan provides is the flexibility to work at the time that’s best for us, so that helps a lot when it comes to being able to go around the city and explore a bit before work… and i always make a to-do list before I start my daily tasks, that helps me stay organised while I am travelling.

Any travel plans for 2024?

I still don’t have a plan for this year. I just finished five months around Southeast Asia back in February, so right now, I have been laying low and staying at home in Portugal. I have planned small trips to France and the UK, but nothing major. I would love to go to Norway at the end of the year and then maybe go back to Southeast Asia… I miss the beach 😅

Any advice for other employees who want to travel and work?

Just do it! Before I went travelling around Southeast Asia, I was not ready to go at all. I wasn’t confident and was doubting myself, but I just thought, you know what? If you don’t do it, you will regret it later in life.

We have this amazing opportunity to work and travel. We can do it all! I can always come back home if I don’t feel comfortable, but Orca gives us the flexibility to do this, so we should take advantage of it!

I was so proud of myself and so grateful to be able to do this that when I landed in Bangkok, I couldn’t take the smile off my face.

So, I’ve not got a lot of advice other than quit making excuses and just do it. It’s definitely worth it 😃

If our interview with Josefa inspired you to work at Orca Scan, please contact us with your CV or check out our job opportunities, and let’s talk business! 📩🚀