My first year at Career Angels – a summary
Exactly a year ago, I started working at Career Angels. And although I received my laptop in May, I finished the induction in June, so emotionally I’m counting it from June! For that reason, I decided to summarize this extraordinary and intense year.
But from the beginning… I “met” Career Angels in 2018 during the first Career Consultant Course. At the time, I was working as a recruiter in financial outsourcing and after two intensive training days, I said that I would never work as a career consultant. Why? At that time, I was terrified of all the details of the processes, expert knowledge, shared responsibility for the clients’ success in their job search and, of course, these meticulous statistics.
When I was working in internal HR, I felt like I was missing something, but didn’t do anything about it. When COVID-19 appeared in Poland in April 2020, I lost my job. At that time, Career Angels were offering 300 hours of free consultations. As I needed advice, I called Sandra Bichl – founder of Career Angels – informing her that I was looking for a new job and that I needed someone who already knew me a bit (from the course) to simply “talk through” my situation. I did not expect our interview to go the way it went… one thing let to another, we talked about potentially cooperating, so Sandra suggested I “officially” apply to Career Angels and complete all tests that are part of the recruitment process. And voilà! It turned out that I’m an “angels fit” :)
Career Angels backstage
I received my laptop in May and so my official induction process began – fully online. The team has been working remotely since 2013, but I had never worked this way before, and I had never onboarded online. The process was quite intriguing, but also stressful.
Onboarding
Despite my concerns, I could always count on the support of the team. From the very beginning, it was an intensive study of procedures, but, what I liked the most: I could always practice tasks on examples. And it was possible thanks to:
- checklists that led me through the internal file structure
- qualitative and detailed instructions for both internal and external processes
- e-books that helped me understand the company’s environment
- data-driven subject matter knowledge (KPI)
- a monthly summary of my progress and work
Communication
Internal communication was a big surprise for me. I can plan my calendar and working time independently via Google Calendar. Each team member has access to it and can see when I have a meeting and when I’m available. It allows me to fulfill myself professionally, to plan my free time activities, but also to be involved in the lives of my two daughters. On a daily basis, communication in the company is additionally improved by:
– support of an individual mentor (experienced HR specialist, Senior Consultant) who makes sure that I can easily navigate through everything. I could (and still can) count on at any time
– constant contact with my immediate supervisor, working together via Skype on a shared screen, thanks to which I could learn something new during each meeting
Supporting clients
As I mentioned at the very beginning, at some point in my previous job I felt that I missed something. I have always wanted to work with a mission of helping others. I am very happy to be able to share my knowledge and experience with people who are looking for a job, especially during COVID-19. What I appreciate in my work is that I can get to know individual stories of people. Each consultation is personally very valuable to me. Every client has different problems, challenges and questions:
- How do I discover my career goal?
- How do I figure out my USP?
- How do I write a CV that will help me stand out?
- How do I handle bots during recruitment processes?
- How do I effectively look for a job?
- How do I turn frustration into action?
- How do I answer difficult questions during interviews?
- How do I deal with emotions when contacting employers directly?
From a single mother who wants to return to work after her maternity leave, to an ambitious Finance Manager or a lost candidate over 50 who is looking for a job for the first time in 20 years… each case is different.
I can perfectly understand how some of my clients are feeling today, because a) a year and a half ago I was fired myself and b) I was job hunting using the same methods. For example, I tried direct application to potential employers. I was very stressed sending every e-mail to a potential employer. Surprisingly, it was received very positively (my e-mail, written according to Career Angels’ instructions, stood out so much that I received positive feedback). Often our fears can block us, when in reality they only exist in our heads. It is worth trying, breaking through, and we may find out that the market perceives us in a completely different way than we assumed at the beginning.
Every day I enjoy:
– the successes of my clients when they get a new job or get their first interview invitations after a long break
– spontaneous references that I receive by e-mail
– recommendations from customers to their loved-ones
2 roles at Career Angels
But there’s more! I live a double life :) I am a Career Consultant, but also a Marketing Coordinator. Thanks to this position, I have the chance to learn more about communication channels on social media. I know how important it is to know the functioning of algorithms, bots and SEO in order to stand out in the Internet. I like this part of my work because it allows me to approach each client as a whole to consciously build personal branding online, e.g. on LinkedIn. We all remember how marketing was based on the design of a catchy flyer and its printing. Today it is based on:
- data
- statistics
- analysis
- right tools and strategies
In summary
A year ago, I dreamed of professional growth… now I can sum up each day of work at Career Angels with one word: “growth, growth, growth…”. Sometimes I think how good it would be not to develop for one day ;D I believe that every person can find a place for themselves, where they will be fulfilled every day.
