In today’s business environment (full of challenges in terms of demographics, skills and cultures), companies that build a truly diverse and inclusive culture are the ones that will have an advantage over their competitors. So, maintaining sustainable business performance requires the ability to attract and retain a diverse workforce.
Diversity and inclusion mean that all individuals have equal opportunities, regardless of their ethnic group, country of origin, sexual orientation, race, ability, gender, age or even personal interests. It is not just about employment opportunities, but about people feeling secure in who they are, and that their different experiences, values and perspectives are valued, rather than something that could be detrimental to them. So, we in the cleantech sector would be honoured to have you with us.
Thank you for taking the time to read our blog. My name is Luisa, and in the following lines you will get to know a little about me and my love for recruitment, climate change and my interest in diversity and inclusion.
I am originally from the Dominican Republic, I studied clinical psychology and I am in infinite learning since 2013. I say this because you NEVER stop learning, time has shown me that. As a volunteer I have been working since my childhood with the local church in my country, so after finishing my studies I decided to do volunteer work for people of low income and low social strata who need guidance. In the same way, I dedicate myself to work orientation for young people who want orientation for their personal and professional life, young people who at their young age may be struggling with some mental illness or psychosocial dependency and want to find their way in life, and learn to live in the most independent and healthy way, that is why I always advise them that whatever decision they make in their life (personal or work) does not hurt anyone, that it makes them happy and if it makes them happy it can also make others happy and they will never feel that they are “tired” or “unmotivated”.
I have always been interested in the behaviour of people individually or in groups, their culture, language, way of life and everything that is involved in living in another place. Every country has its own way of living and living, and I could feel this more closely when I came to Germany, where you can see the great diversity that exists. When I came here, I did an “integration” course where I learned about German politics, culture, language, in which we were also about 25 people, each of different nationalities and it was so great to have that human contact with each other and to learn from each other; that’s what diversity is all about!
After a short time, I realised that I wanted to work with something similar with people from different parts of the world and to know what are the difficulties that people go through out there in reality, and not as described in the media; in that integration course I realised that we ALL had the same problem due to climate change: droughts, heavy rains, climate instability, the seasons do not follow their natural course, among other things. And also, as in many countries, in terms of employment, there is not much diversity.
After finishing this language course, I found a company, which was my first (and) international company, I worked there for 7 years, in which I had a lot of fun and nice moments and learned a lot especially in diversity, it was a department that focused on environment, natural resources, renewable energies, electricity, water and sanitation. But in most of the projects the main positions were occupied by men, only the typically female careers had leadership, and when it came to fulfilling equality quotas it was very difficult to find women working in the sector that is mostly represented by men and this also depended on the country, culture, religion and politics! But over time this has been changing for the better. More and more young men and women are becoming interested in caring for the planet. From this, my interest grew, I decided that I wanted to work in recruitment where I could continue to learn more, where I could apply my previous knowledge and experiences during my working and studying life, and where I could work directly helping the planet and people in their job search. It is after this that I met a recruiter who introduced me to Hyperion and where I could see that there is a world called cleantech, which has within its word and approach like the department I worked in and which is a world of work that has what I was looking for and excellent, kind, friendly colleagues and managers!
I have been received in the best way by my co-workers, there is an excellent working atmosphere, a climate of support, a climate of incredible mutual motivation in which we want more people with the same spirit and desire to help fight the negative damage to the planet to join us. We are ready to receive and transmit diversity; where it doesn’t matter, if you are married, with or without children, single, disabled, of different nationality, your sexuality, your religion. Everything that makes you different from others we welcome with open arms.
By Luisa Quinones
