Janina / Jana Kosková (Pretty)
Meet Jana
- When Jana was little, she used to introduce herself as Janička Kosková Pretty.
- She loves Lidl and DM stores.
- She owns a huge amount of board games.
- She moved to a little house outside of Prague and currently is having fun improving her new home. She is learning to be a villager and how to catch the return train as she enjoys an evening in the whirlwind of the big city.
- In 999 cases out of 1000, she wears a dress. Even in the winter.
- She likes dogs, puzzles, wine and beer, Kotek and Hoffman. Not necessarily in that order.
- Jana plays sports – she doesn’t run around Vítkov like she used to, but she runs around the court with a racket.
- In 2023, she bought all the equipment for pro cyclists. So she is a cyclist too.
- Jana’s everywhere. And in a good way. When Jana sees the conversation dropping, she knows how to make fun of herself in an entertaining way.
- She can resist sweets. When she chooses, she just doesn’t eat any. Which some of us will never understand.
- Jana excels in Czech. She’s our in-house proofreader.
- She travels a lot.
- She’s a certified Prague guide.
- She was recently delighted to see the Angel Ring, which she thought was a silly thing as a child, and now that she saw it in the store, she had to have it.
How did she start her career as a recruiter
After school, she worked in a travel agency for many years and then joined Zonky in customer care. There, she experienced for the first time how a “modern” company works and liked the work of internal HR from afar. So when she decided to leave the company, she looked for a job in this field. She first joined Capacita as an office manager, where after a short period of time she was given additional responsibilities within operations, payroll, etc. After leaving Capacita and siteq. was founded, she continued in practically the same position and got a part as a researcher of IT specialists. And then, after a few years, the decision to focus on one field came, and recruitment won.
What she thinks is hard about being a headhunter
Ability to negotiate and argue well and promptly in any situation. At the same time, it is sometimes challenging that you are, to a certain extent, dependent on the work of others, which if not done well, the whole work of the headhunter can be for nothing, even though they actually did everything right. And it is certainly a psychological test for any recruiter not to see a concrete result of their work every day. It’s usually a longer process, so it can be challenging for someone to persevere and stay positive. And even if the whole process ends up being a failure, and you can start pretty much all over again.
What makes Jana happy in her current job
She enjoys the fact that everything is negotiable and the freedom-for-responsibility approach works. At the same time, we have a great team and she appreciates the fact that everyone in the team wants to do their best work and can admit their own mistakes.
What would Jana like to learn
She would like to learn to play the guitar. Now that she has a new garden, she would like to learn how to take care of all kinds of plants, fruits and vegetables. And she would also like to learn to speak English fluently and without shyness.
What even we didn’t about Jana
That she never goes into the woods alone.
What her colleagues say about her
Ivana Maříková: “Jana makes not only our office life more beautiful. It is a real pleasure to have her around for several reasons. She’s always ready to lend a helping hand with any problem (especially tricky Czech problems), and she can also provide a safe space when you need to be heard. But perhaps more importantly, she always makes you laugh a lot, no matter what the circumstances. Not only does she know how to make fun of herself just to make others laugh, but she is also always ready with a witty response.”
Denisa Čuprová: “Janička Kosková Pretty is the main carrier of positive energy in siteq. Thanks to Jana, our offices are full of laughter. She knows how to make any company lively and she shares her optimism with people around her even in difficult situations. On the work side, I can’t rate Jana as anything but the best. She wants to be good at her job (and she is) and gives it her all. I’ve worked with a lot of people in my 20 years in recruitment, and Jana is one of the best – professionally and most importantly, humanly.”
Speed dating
favourite food
- potato pancake
- baked pasta and ham
- grilled halloumi cheese
- Asian noodle dishes
- dried tomatoes
favourite colour
- blue, green, black, and shades of these colours (mint, turquoise, etc.)
favourite person
- someone who believes in goodness and justice, doesn’t take everything too seriously and, most importantly, can laugh at themself
favourite movie or TV show
- Friends
- American Beauty
- Secluded, Near Woods
- Dirty Dancing #johnnyforever
favourite book
- Harry Potter
- Pride and Prejudice
- Harry Hole series
- The Little Princ
favourite activity
- tennis
- jigsaw puzzle / playing board games and cards
- travelling
- reading
- sit down to drink beer or wine and chat the evening away
- singing along as soon as my song starts playing, and there’s many
favourite country or city or part of a city (and why)
- Thailand because I feel like I belong there
- the Algarve region in the south of Portugal because it has beautiful pure nature and the endless Atlantic Ocean
- Morocco because that country has everything in terms of nature, and the Berbers are incredibly hospitable and open-minded people
- Rome because there’s a large piece of history to see at every turn / and then lots of other places 🙂
what Harry Potter character would you be
- it’s hard to choose, I’m half Hermione and half Luna Lovegood, but I’m becoming more and more like Alastor Moody
least favourite food
- generally tripe and thick meat
- tripe soup
- olives
what three things upset you the most
- misinformation and the inability of people to think about the facts
- inconsideration towards others in all forms
- people who feel that men are more than women just because they are men
Take a look at Jana’s LinkedIn profile here.