Different Country, Same Passion @Scout24: Meet Sidar Gumus

Sidar Gumus is from Bulgaria and has been with the company for more than two years now. He started as a working student and is now a Data Analyst. We had the pleasure to talk to him about his tasks, his challenges when moving to a new country such as Germany and how his individual background influences his work at Scout24.

1.Where are you originally from and what is your job at Scout24?

Sidar: My native country is Bulgaria, generously enriched with Kurdish influence. At Scout24 I am part of the Central Insights and Analytics team where I started as a working student 2 years ago. Right after graduation, I and was given the opportunity to take a Junior position right after graduating and to reach the next level as a Professional Data Analyst just last month.

As part of the Central Analysts team, I work on topics related to understanding and communicating the performance of our company as a whole, the drivers behind it and the market dynamics around it. However, I also got the chance to learn more about our business units and therefore I am currently assigned to another team as an interim Segment Analyst in our Commercial business, which brought me closer to our product and customers. In this temporary function, my tasks revolve around exploring our users’ booking and search behaviour in order to help our Commercial product teams build a data-driven strategy when it comes to A/B experimentation, revenue forecasting and market intelligence.

2.Why did you apply to work at Scout24?

Sidar: An alumni from my study programme promoted an open position which got me hooked since its description hit the bull’s eye — perfectly fitting my university agenda and offering the opportunity to gain practical experience at a market leading tech company. Later I realised that the difference to other companies is that not only the posting is in English but also the main company language. While that was enough for me to apply, the process that followed gave me even more reasons to be excited about the position.

3.What has been the biggest challenge moving to and working in a new country such as Germany?

Sidar: Germany and Berlin in particular became my home base already in 2013 when I came for my studies. Funnily, my biggest challenge ever since has been finding a suitable living space. My first month’s accommodation was a sleeping bag in a friend’s room. Later I ended up moving 6 times within Berlin and spent more than half a year to find my latest apartment that appears to only be the launch pad for move #7. Thus, it is cool to be part of a company that aims to make this process smoother and easier for all people, regardless of their origins, identity and life situation.

4.How does your individual background influence your work at Scout24 and with your team?

Sidar: Having a diverse team — people from various parts of the world but also with different professional and academic backgrounds, identities and experiences — brings abundance of ideas and approaches to solving work related problems. This kind of diversity also contributes to an interesting and enriching environment as well. Apart from contributing to this mix, my upbringing — cultural and professional — helps me be flexible and use the chances to move through teams and topics and learn from them.

5.Comparing Scout24 to other employers you had in the past, what distinguishes our company from them?

Sidar: Maybe my favourite thing about Scout24 in comparison to my previous employers is that it hits the golden middle on the size scale — not feeling like a cold corporation but being big enough to offer a great working environment and new learnings. The company is not a volatile startup but it still has the dynamic and progressive touch to strategy and operations. Additionally, seeing the company streamline its core values and bring them closer to the ones I hold has been a significant advantage to many organisations.