THANASIS VASILAKIS '99

March 1, 2007

On January 18th, Thanasis Vasilakis (’99) had his nameday. By midday, more than 5 ACT alum friends had already called to wish him their best. You’d think 8 years would do their share of distancing classmates, but Thanasis thinks otherwise.

“I think a very special kind of friendship is often created under difficult and stressful circumstances. In many semesters I (and fellow classmates) had very tight schedules. We worked under a lot of pressure. I remember writing papers with people who later became my friends. You cannot always get along with everyone but, with some people, you remain close long after many years in spite (or maybe because) of sometimes disappointing grades…”

But besides friends, Thanasis also thinks fondly of his professors back at ACT. “I really appreciated the fact that most of the professors at ACT were not only helpful with sharing their knowledge but also were quite interesting individuals. They were trying to make us well-educated professionals, but also made us better human beings along the way. Regardless of my questions (whether they were course-related or not), they were always there. My favorite classes back then were Organizational Behavior and HR Management with Mrs. Kalotidou and International Politics with Mr. Tzorbatzoglou.”

Thanasis graduated with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration. He got his first job as a personnel supervisor at Sani Resort right after graduation. The Greek army followed, after which he worked at Porto Carras Grand Resort as a training and development officer and payroll supervisor. In search of more challenging HR responsibilities, Thanasis decided to move to the IT industry. He now works at Ideal Group Athens as an HR Manager.

“In my present job, as a part of the recruitment process, I had to produce a detailed report on how to create a human resources system. Guess what? All those long nights spent writing papers at ACT paid off. They helped me in terms of content and structure of the report. The thing I always found most boring back in college was bibliography – citing your sources at the end of the paper. But by then it had become a routine and, funny enough, it was the thing that impressed my managers (who were all graduates of well-known business schools).”

Thanasis’ main responsibilities at Ideal Group include recruiting, training, performance appraisal, payroll, budgeting, and reward & compensation--all challenging things, but all greatly enjoyed by him. “What I find most fascinating is that I have to adjust my attitude and the way that I speak according to the person that I’m talking to. Managers depend on me in order to get advice on business matters and personnel come to me when they want career help or even for family issues. I think that being an HR professional combines actual business results with aspects of psychology”.

As for the future, Thanasis’ plans are clearly set. His immediate objective is to gain experience as an HR manager. He then plans to turn to consulting. “In 5 years, I would like to start teaching at a business college but I do not know exactly how I’m going to find the time for a PhD.” Speaking about time, we asked Thanasis about life in Athens as opposed to the more “relaxed” Thessaloniki. He says: “If you think outside the box, life is very easy. For example, I use public transportation alot so I find it very easy to go from one place to another. The subway is especially helpful and convenient. Last time I checked, using public transportation in Thessaloniki is closer to an adventure than a routine.” He also appreciates the fact that Athens is richer in opportunities and networking possibilities.

If there were more hours in a day, he’d like to play more basketball. In the little spare time he has, Thanasis enjoys reading and going to the movies. The books he reads nowadays are mostly related to HR, as he wants to stay abreast of current developments. And living next to a Cineplex lets him have his fill of movies.

And when we asked Thanasis, “what more could ACT do?”, he suggested continuing to help alumni on job placement, preparation and searching for jobs and even highlighted a possible new opportunity: to run a series of business seminars on very practical subjects that will help make business graduates better managers. No argument here.