Embracing the global mindset – and endless opportunities
“Raise your hand when something looks interesting,” says Katrine Husum Jensen, ISS’s Head of People & Culture in the Americas. “Personally, I feel humbled by the opportunity to have an impact on such a massive people company. And I get great energy from creating development opportunities for people and love seeing one of our employees rise into a leadership position.”
Katrine is passionate about people and has spent more than 10 years in ISS pouring her passion into talent attraction and development.
Her career has taken her on a journey from a local market (ISS Denmark) to the global organisation (ISS Group). And after heading up ISS’s Global Talent Strategy out of the head office in Copenhagen, she was recently asked to move to the US and lead the Americas People & Culture team.
“Now I’m leading a team in a country and bringing my global knowledge back into a region. And this is not something I do just for me and my career – it’s a great adventure for my family, too.”
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“The great thing about ISS is that we really care about our employees. And there are endless career opportunities.”
Of course, with the COVID-19 crisis, this adventure has turned out different from what Katrine expected.
“This pandemic makes a role like mine more critical than ever before. My focus has been on keeping our employees healthy while maintaining morale as we transitioned into a remote-working environment. Over the past two months, I have learned more than in the past two years.”
She’s always been attracted to the global nature of ISS and what she could learn by thinking across borders. When she was working locally in ISS Denmark, she took initiative to strengthen collaboration across countries. Those efforts grew into regional partnerships, which in turn became some of ISS’s signature global development programmes, including what is today known as the Global Management Trainee Programme.
Although she’s always taken initiative herself, she’s never felt alone on her journey.
“I've never feared to take risks or face failure. I have always been pushed by leaders who believed in me. Even when I doubted myself, I knew I had someone behind me who would catch me if I fell. The great thing about ISS is that we really care about our employees. And there are endless career opportunities.”
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