What do people need to know about you, Lisa?
My name is Lisa, 25 years old and I live in Genk. I recently graduated as a Commercial Engineer at the KU Leuven, after going to Strasbourg on Erasmus.
I love to keep busy. In my spare time, I like to meet up with friends to have a nice dinner and go out. In addition, I exercise a lot and I provide swimming training to people with a mental disability.
How and when did you end up at Harmony?
Actually, my first contact with Harmony was at the Ekonomika job fair. There, I was approached by 2 people from Harmony, and that was an immediate fun and jovial chat. The following week, I was contacted by Cleo from HR and that's how things started rolling.
And then the application process followed - how did that go?
I would describe the process of my application in one word “friendly”! After the first call, we scheduled an online introductory meeting with Cleo and an experienced consultant. It felt like a fun conversation with a genuine interest in me as a person.
At Harmony, it is very important that there is a click with the new colleagues and a fit with the culture. Thanks to the interview, I got a better insight into the life of a consultant and was able to imagine exactly what the job entails. After that exploratory meeting, I was quickly invited to an office meeting with one of the managers. This conversation was combined with a business case, and immediately gave a good impression of the horizontal structure within Harmony. The managers were - and are - very approachable and involved.
After this conversation and the case, it was clear: the click was there and I could start.
Looking back on it now, I'm very happy and thankful that everything happened so quickly. Despite the fact that there was still a long time between the time I signed my contract and my effective start date — due to my Erasmus — I was already considered a full-fledged colleague and invited to the various team events in the meantime. Meeting my colleagues for the first time in an informal setting was a very big plus!
And then finally, that first day came and the real work began. What did the onboarding look like?
On my first day at Harmony, the tone was set immediately. My other colleague Young Graduate, Bart, and I were immediately introduced to a lot of colleagues, who had all stopped by to co-work in our Hasselt office. We had lunch together and were able to get to know each other better in an informal way.
We also got an intro about Harmony and the inner workings. In addition, all practical matters were also arranged immediately, such as the mobile subscription, installing the laptop, receiving a new car, etc. After that, I sat down with my coach. Johan is an experienced colleague who helps me express and achieve my professional goals. He is there to help me grow as a person, both at work and on a personal level. At the end of our first day, Bart and I had a drink with our buddies. The buddies are consultants within Harmony who have less experience than a coach, but are closer to our environment as Young Graduate. The contact is even more informal and accessible.
The rest of the onboarding week was quite full of training and meetings with various colleagues within Harmony, in order to get a better insight into the different roles that a consultant can perform. It was a nice change between the head office in Hasselt and the co-working spaces in Diegem and Antwerp. We even had lunch at a customer's office once with the colleagues who work there. After the first weeks of training, I was immediately invited to interview for a first project. My colleagues prepared me well for this conversation, so it was successful and allowed me to start at ING the week later!
Can you tell us a bit more about the first project you're working on?
I started at ING as a point of contact for everything related to an external software supplier. In the meantime, I am fully trained and employees from all over the organization know where to find me with questions, change requests, incidents, etc. regarding this external supplier. I have weekly status meetings with this supplier and do everything from daily run to changes, resolving incidents to invoicing and centralization. I really appreciate that ING has given me the confidence to take on this responsibility independently.
When I indicated that I was open to an extra challenge, it was very enthusiastically received. From then on, for example, I was involved in the analysis of new features for the internal tool that our team developed and improved the way of working within our team by, for example, adding more structure to the testing.
To sum it up: my first project is super interesting, multi-faceted and my learning curve is still rising steeply. I am able to develop myself well thanks to Harmony's support. Even though I'm the only Harmonian I am in my team at ING, the other Harmony colleagues at ING are always there for me and I can always contact them if I have doubts about something.
How would you describe the culture within Harmony?
Culture is the big reason why I chose Harmony. The colleagues get along very well and Harmony also finds it very important to focus on connection and connection. Many team buildings are organized and there are regular physical team meetings where the latest news and developments are shared.
Harmony has a very transparent company culture and this is reflected in such a team meeting. Harmony really cares about you as a person, they want you to feel good and be able to become the best version of yourself. In fact, I was able to achieve my big dream of jumping out of a plane thanks to Harmony for an employer branding campaign!
How do you see your future at Harmony?
I still want to learn as much as possible, develop myself and taste different things. I love the trust you are given to work independently. I would like to continue this in the future. Getting responsibilities helps me bring out the best version of myself.
Finally, another message for possible future Young Graduates?
I couldn't have imagined a better start to my career: a great employer, great colleagues and the opportunity to develop yourself with tailor-made personal guidance!
