employer branding at mercado libre.
Employer brands reflect and project the culture of an organization. Already a magnet for talent as a result of its disruptive profile and culture of innovation, Mercado Libre’s support for employee health and wellbeing during the upheaval of COVID-19 has reinforced its standout employer brand. We asked Antonella Scola, Culture & Experience Senior Manager, to explain the importance of talent in navigating through the pandemic, and how Mercado Libre has risen to this ultimate test of its purpose, values, and culture.
Established in 1999, Mercado Libre (MELI) has grown to become Latin America’s largest ecommerce group. MELI’s mission is to democratize commerce and payments by enabling people to buy and sell anything online. Every day, the company enables more than 130 million users in 18 countries to buy, sell, advertise, send, finance, and pay for goods and services with its trademark ease, efficiency, and speed.
The sense of a company that never stands still comes through strongly in our interview with Antonella. “What drives us and binds us as an organization is the adrenaline rush of entrepreneurship. Our entrepreneurial culture is about giving our best every day, executing with excellence to create value for our customers, taking risks and constantly learning,” she says.
Our people take exceptional pride in their work. Rather than just handling a product or package.
To illustrate what “giving our best” means in practice, Antonella cites the example of the people who pick, package, and prepare products for delivery. “Our people take exceptional pride in their work. Rather than just handling a product or package, we encourage them to see this as fulfilling a promise to the buyer,” she says.
Describing what excellence means for her and her team, Antonella highlights their determination to manage people in a world-class way: “We want our company culture to reverberate around the organization. We want our people to be their true selves, and express themselves freely at work. We want them to fulfil their potential, while at the same time having fun.”
more than just a job
MELI’s workforce spans a range of different talents from software, marketing, and business development teams to contact and distribution center personnel. Antonella explains that people are hired for their attitude as much as their skills and experience: “We’re looking for people with the necessary adaptability and cultural fit to thrive in a fast-moving business like ours. We want people with an entrepreneurial spark. People who want to make a difference, and leave their mark.”
The selection process reflects this focus on mindset and cultural fit. This includes placing candidates in everyday work situations, and gauging their reactions. “The people we want to attract view the place where they work as more than a job. It connects them with something bigger; a place where they feel they are making a difference. Our entrepreneurial culture vibrates in every corner, in every operation and in each of the people who make up and join our team”.
We want our people to be their true selves, and express themselves freely at work.
You can download and read the full interview with Antonella Scola, Culture & Experience Senior Manager at Mercado Libre.