As a Finbite Consultant, Kerli is well-known to many of our customers. Her calm voice on the other end of the phone can help solve even the most difficult situations. With Kerli’s knowledge and ingenious solutions, you wouldn’t think that just 2 years ago she was a professional hairdresser who didn’t know much about e-invoicing and accounting. Read more about her career change and journey in Finbite. In addition, you can discover how a kitten was turned into an expense report during one training webinar.
How did you start your career at Finbite?
This is an interesting story. In December 2020, I found a job advertisement for a Consultant position in Finbite. Since Finbite is a subsidiary of Omniva and an acquaintance of mine worked for Omniva, I called to see what Finbite was. I wasn’t really looking for a job, I was happy with my current role – I was working as a hairdresser and I liked it.
So I dismissed the job advert at that point because I knew nothing about e-invoices or the world of accounting. A month went by when the same person called and asked why they couldn’t find my CV among the applicants. I explained that I hadn’t applied, etc. A few more hours went by and I got a call back saying, “Now there’s no way out, you’ve got a job interview tomorrow.”
During the interview, I also mentioned like 100 times how Finbite had to take into account that I didn’t know anything about the field. Fortunately they were prepared to take the risk and I became a Consultant. I don’t think they’ve regretted it. I have now worked at Finbite for 2 years and 4 months and I love my job. As I work Monday to Friday and 9 am to 5 pm, I have more time to spend with my family and my children than before. And despite the career change, I haven’t let my hairdressing skills go to waste.
What are you doing in Finbite today?
My job is to help clients who are using the Finbite environment. I am one of the voices who answers our customers’ calls by phone and replies to their emails. In addition, I provide training to clients and help colleagues when they have questions about our environment.
Which professional achievements and developments are you particularly proud of?
I’m proud to have got to where I am today. I started off with absolutely zero knowledge of e-invoices and accounting, but now 2+ years later I can say that I have a solid understanding of the Finbite environment, the complex e-invoice files and the integration questions. It’s been a learning curve and there are still moments when I learn something new again that I didn’t know before.
Talk about a funny incident or situation you have faced at work.
One recent funny situation happened when I was providing training to a client. I had to show the company’s representatives how to prepare expense reports in the Finbite environment. Usually I prepare myself and go through the whole process before the training to make sure everything runs smoothly and is in order. This time, when it came to preparing the expense report, I noticed that the image of the sample receipt I had added earlier had been lost. As a quick fix, I noticed that our other consultant had also attached an image of a receipt and decided to use that. Under the watchful eye of the customers, I opened this unknown file and I have never blushed so much. It was not a receipt file but a picture of a beautiful kitten. I got over my initial panic when the customers on the other side of the screen started laughing – all was well and we could make a sample expense report out of the cat picture.
In fact, we often have funny incidents in the office with colleagues, as well as at joint events.
What important developments are still to come or what would you like to achieve professionally?
Finbite is evolving daily, but I definitely want to be involved in all the processes that impact the experience of our customers and users. Now that we are on the road to separation and cutting ourselves off from Omniva’s systems, our customers will also see more innovations and developments. I am keen to help our customers get their work done quickly and conveniently in our environment.
What makes your eyes light up after a day at work?
In the summer I love nature. Picking chanterelles is one of my favourite activities. Our family travels a lot with our camper van. It’s definitely an activity that makes my eyes light up and puts a smile on my face. If you can’t find me out in nature or cruising around in my camper van, I’m working in the backyard.
