Get To Know Carolin Theiss

Welcome to Carolin Theiss, Global Mobility Consultant from Santa Fe Germany

Discover our new mini-series #GetToKnowOurPeople. Santa Fe employees worldwide talk freely about their life in and out of work. Santa Fe Relocation values its people, their fantastic diversity and the vast pool of knowledge they bring. We learn from each other every day, so we’re happy for you to get to know them too.

Tell us about yourself

My name is Carolin. I am 29 years old and I joined Santa Fe in September 2017. Before that, I had recently graduated in English and Spanish Philology and I had just gotten back from teaching German in Pamplona, Spain.
I would consider myself as a kind and empathic person with a good sense of humour and a passion for languages (as you can tell from my degree. I am also currently learning Italian).
My second passion is music, and my third one is improve theatre and comedy which I recently discovered.
I don’t like when people are judged rashly, and I also can’t stand coriander. I love discovering new places and learning new things. I never get tired of asking questions and I always stay curious about everything.

Tell us about Santa Fe

Santa Fe is very dynamic as it adapts very quickly to changes and to our customers’ needs. But not only that! It is also diverse and multicultural. And so are our clients.
In a nutshell: People from all over the world help people from all over the world to discover places all over the world.

What do you do at work?

I work as a Global Mobility Consultant in Destination Services for the Santa Fe team in Frankfurt. This means I coordinate the services that we provide to our clients after they have arrived in Germany.
This includes for example the coordination of a home search, apartment handovers, registration at town hall, assistance with school and kindergarten applications… and many more.
Let’ say I help with almost everything you can think of when you have just arrived in a new country.

Why did you choose Santa Fe?

After just getting back from working abroad myself, I was looking for an opportunity to use these valuable experiences to help people in a similar situation. I wanted to work in an international surrounding and at the same time learn more about the corporate world.
Santa Fe offers exactly this, so it was a perfect fit for me. Also, they offer great opportunities for people who are just at the beginning of their career. I really appreciate the way new employees are integrated here. I am very grateful that I was given this chance.

Why did we choose you?

Santa Fe is looking for empathic people who can relate to our clients’ needs in the exceptional situation they find themselves in when relocating to a new place.
Coming from a multicultural background (American father, German mother) and having lived abroad in Spain myself help me empathize with our clients in a sensitive and welcoming way. It is important to me that assignees feel comfortable with me and that they know that their concerns are being taken care of. The fact that I worked in hospitality for a long time before rounds off my customer-oriented mindset.
After my Job interview at Santa Fe, you called me “bubbly but, in a good way”. And a couple of days later, I got my working contract.
So Santa Fe must have felt that our clients are in good hands with me.

What is your greatest achievement at work?

Last year, I was selected to be responsible for our new trainees in our Frankfurt’s office. Being chosen to help our young employees on their career path is a true honour for me and one of my best successes at Santa Fe so far.
But besides talking about one big achievement, I would like to highlight my personal importance on the “everyday achievements”, as I would like to call it. When I can really help someone, it means a lot to me and feels like an achievement.

What is your greatest achievement in life?

If I was THE 1st female entrepreneur who became a self-made multi-millionaire by developing an amazing app, I would surely mention this now. But let’s face it: I’m not. So again, I think in my life there isn’t THE one and only achievement. Instead, I have a lot of things that I am proud of.

When I was only 14 years old, for example, I travelled across the world all by myself to find my roots and meet my American family for the first time. It was a beautiful experience and a big deal for a 14-year-old.
During my time in Spain, I discovered my talent for teaching. Before, I would never have thought it possible that I could inspire a group of thirty young teens to learn German. This achievement means a lot to me.
Apart from this, having successfully graduated from college, having travelled a lot and being able to speak 3 languages fluently are also among my personal achievements.

What or who inspires you in your life and at work?

In life, it is my partner, for many reasons. But particularly because he has this gift of remaining calm about things that I sometimes don’t remain calm about. It can be small and irrelevant things, like being stuck in traffic (because what can you do about it right now?) but also big things, like not knowing what will happen next in life. He just radiates this great optimism and fundamental trust, that everything will be good in the end anyway.

At work, it is my team, for many reasons:

My peers, Jasmin, Björn and Miriam, who always go out of their way to help me, wherever and whenever they can. They show me every day how great it is to work in a team and that working together brings so much more success than trying to manage everything on your own. With them, I never walk alone!
My team lead, Marion, for the same reason as the above, but also because she never gets tired of standing up for us, in every situation. She manages to lead our team efficiently, but at the same time she has a sixth sense to find how we are really doing. You can tell, she cares for her team, even beyond work. Her door is always open for us, no matter how much she has on her desk.
She is a reminder, that true leadership is also about connecting and caring for your people. And so is our manager, Alejandra, actually.

What is the best thing about working at Santa Fe?

There are many great things about Santa Fe. I appreciate its diversity and the international working environment. Also, they did a fantastic job during COVID when it comes to ensuring a smooth transition from working in the office to remote working in just a day! A true example of digital transformation during these challenging times.
But without a doubt: The people here are the best part of it all.
Despite all difficulties, that the current situation has brought on, we have kept our fantastic team spirit, not only within our own team but among other teams, too.
There is a saying that goes: “Tough times don’t last, tough teams do”. It is true for us.

What is the best thing about our horse?

Being our company logo, to me, our horse stands for unlimited flexibility for our customer and the freedom to go with us, wherever life is taking them.
Speaking in metaphor: With Santa Fe, you can jump on our horse and it takes you everywhere, where you want to go. All you have to do is enjoy the ride.

What is the best advice you can give to people?

My advice is very simple. I would say: Just be yourself and let other people be themselves.
We are very over-adjusted and love to compare ourselves with others. At the same time, we expect others to be just like us. Wouldn’t it be much more fun to just appreciate what every individual has got in store?

What would you do in the event of a zombie apocalypse?

Luckily, this never happened to me before and I hope it is never going to happen. That is why I am not sure if I could fight zombies successfully. I usually never fight conflicts with hands but try it with friendly words first. So why not this time, too?
I would go ahead and have a conversation with the zombies. What if they are only unaware of the fact that eating people isn’t really a thing here on earth and no one told them before? If that fails, I will have to grab my loved ones and run as fast as I can.

There are now 25 hours in a day, how would you spend the extra hour?

Interesting question, I like it!
I would certainly invest this hour in myself: I would learn a secret new skill and not tell everyone what it is until I am a professional at it.
But this is not the only thing I would do! It is also important to restore your energy from time to time, which is why some days, I would use this extra hour to relax and sleep, preferably in a hammock at the beach.

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?

It may still take a while until traveling will be possible again, but the imagination of it feels great. There are a lot of countries on my bucket list. Hopefully, one day I will be able to see as many countries in the world as possible. Last year, I was planning to see a friend in Rio de Janeiro, but we cancelled, due to COVID. So, it would be great to go there now. I have never been to Brazil.
I also really want to visit my Family in the USA and my friends in Pamplona, as it has been a while since I last saw them.
But if you asked me right now, I would already be happy with a nice long weekend in Lisbon or Barcelona, simply because I find these two cities very beautiful and I had a great time when I last visited.

How did you find this interview?

It was a fun opportunity to tell you a little bit more about me. Thank you for this. I am also very much looking forward to seeing the other interviews, from my colleagues all around the world.

Watch Carolin’s video here.

Santa Fe sincerely thanks Carolin for participating in this initiative and for sharing her story.