Gema's Career Development Story at Freeletics

Because career development is so important at Freeletics, we sat down with Gema to learn about her new role as a Localization Manager and owner of the Spanish language. Check out what she had to say below!

Introduce yourself: what is your name and where are you from:

Hello, my name is Gema. I am from Spain and I have been living in Germany for almost a decade.

When did you start working at Freeletics and what role did you start in?

I started working at Freeletics in August 2017 in the shared role of Customer Engagement (CE) and Localization specialist.

I had known the product since 2013 and I always wanted to work for Freeletics. In 2017 I was looking for a job and in my search I saw a job advertisement for Freeletics that perfectly fit to my profile. I didn’t think twice before applying and the whole process went very smoothly. I couldn’t have been happier with how things turned out.

What made you want to change positions? Was there a moment where you knew you wanted to make the switch?

I am a certified translator and interpreter, and languages have always been my passion. At the same time I love communicating and helping people, so I loved the diversity of my shared role which allowed me to get to know our product and our customers first hand. Although that made the job very interesting, it was sometimes overwhelming and hard to balance and it was also putting me in an unclear professional path.

Last year it became clear to me that I needed to specialize in one field. After working in different roles and positions through my professional life, I went back to my roots and realized that I wanted to develop myself further in the translation field.

What does the career development process look like at Freeletics?

It is hard for me to speak of one process as I think that it can vary according to the different departments and the possibilities at that moment. However, I do think that direct managers at Freeletics care about employees being happy in their roles and career development is taken into consideration. You can always approach your direct manager and bring forward your ideas of what you would like to do in the future. Together you can see how that vision can fit inside the company’s strategy.

Apart from that, each employee has a budget that can be used for attending external courses on whatever topic the person chooses. German classes are also offered for those willing to learn it. Additionally, we have the chance to attend workshops outside of the office to improve our communication skills or public speaking abilities. They've been great and I had the chance to learn from the best.

What did your Development Talk look like? What kinds of questions did your manager ask you?

Career development was a big topic inside CE and my direct manager and I spoke about it frequently during our 1–1s. Here I would express that I saw myself developing in Localization rather than CE due to my studies. Even though my managers were very understanding, there were unfortunately no open positions at the time. Finally at the beginning of this year an opportunity presented itself and I asked to be taken into consideration for the selection process.

What advice do you have for someone wanting to make a move within their company?

Sometimes the opportunity is given to you without you even expecting it — which is the ideal scenario — and sometimes you need to identify the opportunity and work your way to it. My advice would be to follow your gut and to:

1. Work. If you are already thinking about how great you would do in another role, you may end up neglecting your current tasks. Don’t do that. Showing that you are a responsible person and that you can do whatever you are given will only speak in your favor when someone else inside the company is considering whether to give you an opportunity or not.

2. Communicate properly. Depending, of course, on how things work inside your company, but if you never express the idea of growing within the company, probably nobody will think of you as a potential candidate. So take some time to think about what you can bring to the table and why you are the right candidate for a position. Present it to others in the same way you would if you were being interviewed.

3. Be patient. You need to understand that changes are not going to happen from one day to the next and even if you feel completely ready to make the move, there are external circumstances that are out of your control. So, don’t get fixated on the idea that you need to move right away and get frustrated if you don’t, and rather use that time to learn and improve yourself. Whatever needs to happen, will happen.

4. Have the right attitude. Wanting to make a move within your company is great, because that means that you want to stay there and it also brings some advantages as you already know the product, the people and the culture of the company. If you are given the opportunity, make sure the transition is as smooth as possible for your old and your new team. Be thankful to your old and new managers for this opportunity and get ready to show them that they made the right decision.

Q: How does Freeletics prioritize the needs of its employees? Do you think it is harder to pivot in other companies?

As I said before, Freeletics cares about the happiness and wellbeing of their employees. This is why we have feedback tools like Officevibe or 360 Feedback, where employees can express their concerns or evaluate the company atmosphere, procedures and their colleagues (at their own request). There is also a pretty flat hierarchy and direct managers are approachable and understanding, so you can easily express your concerns or thoughts to them. Of course there is not a one-company-fits-all solution, so what may work for one person may not work for another.

Regarding the second question, I think that there are many scenarios within companies. I can imagine that in a start-up it’s easier to pivot because the structure is not as rigidly defined and the company grows faster than in a well-established company where every process is already set and there is more bureaucracy. However, I assume that this can vary depending on your speciality, your department and the company’s strategy, so I think that that is something you can only assess once you have been working there for some time or you are invited for an interview.