Hiring Guru: Mossack Fonseca - International HR

As I am so accustomed to interviewing entrepreneurs, I was interested in the path of a Human

Resources professional for such an international corporation with over 500 employees. So, I'm happy to
present an interview with Katia Solano the Director of Human Resources for Mossack Fonseca & Co
(MF).
Established in 1977, Mossack Fonseca is a leading global company which provides comprehensive legal,
trust and accounting services.
Katia's been at the company for more than 20 years. She's moved through many different positions,
learning different skills along the way, from reception to filing and then as the personal assistant to one
of the founders of the company.
"I worked with the founder when MF was a pretty small company; we were around 30 employees at
that time. Later, I worked on accounts receivables and payables, and then I came to the human
resources department."
Give me an overview of the work that is done in the human resources department.
"Human Resources is a company-wide department, so it has to do with the human resources policies for
the entire MF groupthe hiring process, candidate selection, training and development, performance
evaluation, benefits and salaries, internal communications, leadership development, deployment,
cascading goals, the company culture, and induction, amongst others. I work closely with the CEO and
the management team. I deal with all the managers of the different offices around the world. I have a
team of six employees."
To what degree do you keep your finger on the pulse of hiring?
"I meet at least once a week with the Recruitment and Selection Specialistshe reports directly to the
Human Resources Coordinatorbut I meet with her once a week because the recruitment process is a
key process in any organization. However, I don't interview candidates unless we are going to hire
someone for a key position, like for example a lawyer or a management team membersomebody of a
high levelwhether here in Panama or in any of the offices abroad. In Panama it is very difficult to hire
good people because the labor market is so tight."
Katia, what do you do to recruit qualified employees, whether in Panama or abroad, when faced with a
shortage of available talent?
"Well it is very helpful that we have a well-known, highly respected name hereso lawyers, in
particular, want to work at MF; I'm always receiving resumes in my inbox or through LinkedIn. We
usually advertise our positions online. Plus, we are involved with universitieswe maintain close
contact with them and they always refer people to us for internships. We do the same thing with high
schoolswe usually have maybe 15 interns that are about to graduate from high school, so they do
their internships heremany times when they finish their degree programs they apply to work here. In
addition, we try to be involved in all the job fairs."
Your internship program with students from high schools and universities sounds like a great way to
evaluate talent.

"Definitely, because when they come to intern with us we really do make an effort to teach them as
much as possible. I insist that all our managers make sure to give them as much training and experience
as they can handle. There are many companies that simply have their interns do menial tasks; however,
I insist that we don't do that with ours. At MF, the interns learn about the company, its mission, culture,
and values, and usually they like it and they go back to school or university with a good impression. They
share that information with their friends and we usually receive some resumes from other students of
the same schools that want to do internships with us. Also, there are many professors who know that
we really train their students and they refer candidates to us."
How important is it keep personally connected to the process of adding new personnel to the MF team?
"It is very important because our recruitment process is integral to the future of the companyso to me
recruiting talented people is directly related to the strategy of the company because we offer our clients
specialized services so we really need to have talented people to be able to provide our clients with
excellent service. "
Do you have any hard-fast rules that are followed in your own selection of team members or those who
will be working close to you?
"Selecting a new employee is kind of tricky because it is not only that you want to have the person with
the perfect profile, but you need a combination of skills and attributesyou need somebody who has
the capacity and desire to do the job they have applied forsomebody who has a clear vision of what
they want in the short and long termand they have to be a good fit with our company."
Do you have an anecdote or philosophy to share that comes to mind that would sum up your thoughts
about hiring?
"To me, attitude is everything. You may have a good candidate with the perfect academic background
and experience, but if the person does not really want to do the job they are applying for, then we are
wasting our time. Usually I hire people with little to no experience and then we train them; they
appreciate that and they tend to stay for a long time."
Katia's priorities and methodical approach align with Hiring Truth 1: Be diligent, not desperate from my
book The Naked Interview: Hiring Without Regret. She is ensuring the candidates are carefully selected
and that they are cared for with training to help them stick.
"Now, I know that millennials are different. I have millennials on my team and you have to know how to
manage them to keep them interested and motivated. One way I do that is by assigning them various
projectsyou need to work differently with them."
"We keep them interested and motivated by offering them attractive benefits, continuous training and
educationand the opportunity to move laterally (to work in a different department) and
updepending on the individual's skill set and our company needs. Another advantage of MF is our
multicultural and international environment where they can work and interact with our colleagues and
clients all over the world."
"Everything is different now. I mean the usual human resources process is different now because you
cannot plan their careers anymore; they have their career already planned and they evaluate the
company to see if the company meets or exceeds their expectations and in particular, what the
company is going to give them, so everything has changed."

What is the best interview question you have ever used?

"I use a combination of questions. When you are going to interview a candidate, you have to be clear
about what you or the manager needs, and of course, what the company needs. Sometimes you need to
help the managers to identify what they need. When I am doing an interview I pay attention to
everything and usually I write down everything they say, so I will ask questions like: How do you see
yourself (as a professional) in two years? What do you want to do? Why? What kind of company
are you looking for? What would be your ideal job? I ask about previous bosses and companies to get
an idea of what type of boss and company culture they likeor dislike."
What has driven your personal success at Mossack Fonseca Group?
"I like to serve people. I am proud of being a member of MF and also of the human resources
department. I feel that we support MFits management and reputation. I tell my people every day that
we are service providers. To me, it is critical to be willing to serve our internal and external customers,
and to maintain the highest professional standards."