Nick Kramskoy and JC de los Reyes are Aarki's Employees of the Month

People are the most important resource of a company. Valuing and engaging your staff is key to creating a loyal, motivated, and productive team.

We are thrilled to continue our insight series featuring Aarki employees who gave stellar work performances during the month. Nick Kramskoy, Senior Client Services Manager, and Jose Carlo, Client Service Associate at Aarki, are appreciated for their dedication and efforts that contributed to company success and progress.

“Jose joined Aarki two years ago fresh out of college,” said Claire Cruz, Director of Client Services - Asia at Aarki. “He is enthusiastic, diligent, and hardworking. He has proven that at a young age, he can drive growth, provide clients excellent service, and build rapport with our customers. His commitment, positive attitude, and interpersonal skills have helped grow key accounts in EMEA significantly. Aarki's Client Services team is proud to have Jose.”

“Nick is pivotal to the Client Services team,” said Kristina Kern, Director of Client Services -NA & EMEA at Aarki. “With his kindness, wit, cheerful disposition, and his relentless commitment to providing superior support, Nick is a favorite among many partners and peers. Nick's approach is client-centric and it shows. Nick is very deserving of this accolade.”

Q: What do you love most about the company culture at Aarki?

JC: I love how Aarki brings people together. We might be far away from each other, as we live in different countries, with different cultures and traditions, but you can always feel the connection between each and everyone.

"What makes it more enjoyable is the fact that you can always count on every single person in the company."

Nick: Covid-19 has been challenging for most companies and team cultures. Although the majority of Aarki’s satellite teams already work remotely, one thing that has brought us closer together is our weekly Friday virtual happy hours where we play games like Codenames and catch up with workmates in Seattle, Portland, Denver, London, Munich and Manila.  

"The support, dedication and expertise is a huge part of why I love it here."

The thing I love the most about Aarki company culture is the fun we all have at Christmas company parties, celebrating on the beach in the Philippines. It’s hard to beat that! 

Q: What do you think is the most important skill needed in your role?

JC: It would probably be patience. Communicating with different kinds of people all around the world is difficult at times. I’ve been in several situations that required from me a great amount of patience in order to succeed and move forward. Through this patience, I can administer to the needs of my clients and I am able to work in harmony with my teammates whom I am very grateful to be working with.

Nick: For client services, aside from the usual listening to clients, understanding their needs and managing expectations, in my opinion the key skills differentiators are having high standards for work, being thoughtful and going above and beyond to help people.  Find opportunities to go a step further, to simplify decision making, remove complexity and provide clear and honest strategic recommendations that benefit clients.  

In addition to the above, it’s important to lay solid foundations in the partnership. Be there and be accountable. Build rapport, find common ground, and get to know the people, their apps and their businesses. Understand how people communicate and what they expect from you. Then build a supportive framework with a positive and growth mindset among internal teams to advocate for the client internally. A combination of the above will help you produce exceptional work, respond quickly to their changing needs, and, deliver on both the companies and client’s vision of success.  

JC: Take each day as it comes. I am an overthinker. I tend to make assumptions that tomorrow is going to be tiring and exhausting. But I realized that every single day will always be unique and special. We should not put so much pressure on ourselves. Instead, we should deal with whatever is being thrown at us today and wake up tomorrow with enthusiasm and a smile.

Nick: I’ve picked up lots of advice over the years and learnt through experiences. I think the most impactful advice that’s helped me through my career so far, was through a book I read when I was interning at a web development agency.  The book, by Steve Krug is called ‘Don’t Make Me Think’ and is about web design and usability. I broadened the learnings to apply to thoughtful communication.  Simply put and in my eyes, ‘Don’t make me think twice.’  Whenever you’re writing emails, putting presentations together, drafting proposals, liaising on technical projects or building insights from reports, try to present messaging so it’s crystal clear so people don’t have to read or think twice.  

We are delighted to have Nick and JC in the Aarki team!