My journey to my dream job

Hi, I am Anita!

I am a Certified Coach, Member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC), International Career Strategist, and Founder of CareerTips.

I'm originally from Poland, but for the last 16 years, I've been living in Ireland (with 18 months of adventure in Cyprus). Over the years, I worked in a few different industries. For the last eight years, I was globally recruiting from Interns and Grads up to the Executive Level for companies like Microsoft, Wargaming, and HubSpot.

My professional journey wasn’t straightforward, and I haven’t followed the traditional career path.

I have studied and graduated in Environmental Engineering and Spatial Economy while working in the Insurance Sector in Dublin for almost five years. I’ve never enjoyed that industry, and I found this business and its products uninspiring and outdated.

At that time (2007), Ireland was stepping into a deep economic crisis with limited graduate job opportunities for environmental engineers. The chances of moving into that field were relatively small for me, so I started thinking about shifting my career path in a different direction.

I felt unconfident and unsafe.

One of my college lecturers remarked that I might be good at recruitment. I wasn’t sure if that would be something that I liked, but to better understand it, I signed up for a CIPD Diploma in HRM at the National College of Ireland. I have quickly realised that it is something that I’m genuinely passionate about!

Quitting my stable, well-paid insurance-industry job and starting my career from scratch was not easy, especially during the crisis.

But, sometimes, taking a step back is as necessary as moving forward.

I’ve kicked off my recruitment journey at Microsoft, first as a recruitment coordinator and then as a University Recruiter. I had a fantastic opportunity to be a part of Microsoft’s Graduate Recruitment Team- discovering the wonderful world of the Tech Industry and hiring Graduates across EMEA. However, after three years, I’ve decided that it was time to say “goodbye” to Microsoft or rather “hello” to a new adventure in Cyprus, where I became a part of the Global TA Team at Wargaming, leading global recruitment for Development, Technology, Finance and HR.

My family and I have always considered Ireland our Home, so after 18 months spent in Cyprus, we have decided to come back. I have joined Hubspot, where I’ve been working as EMEA Recruiter searching for sales professionals across the globe.

I thought that career success was equal to working for big companies and climbing the corporate ladder for a long time. But despite working hard and progressing well as a recruiter, having great perks and flexibility working from home, I still didn’t feel fulfilment and satisfaction. I was trying to change the roles, recruit for different business areas, and change the companies, but the result was still the same- lack of satisfaction.

That was a signal that I was looking for something else, and success meant something different.

I started reviewing my entire life, my previous experience, and the environment where I am at my best, reflecting on who I am and my values, passions, and interests. It was a long self-reflection process, which helped me understand and define my goals for life and career.

The most exciting part of my role was always to help people get their dream jobs and see people growing in their careers.

And that was one of the traits that led me to become a Career and Life Fulfilment Coach and build CareerTips.

What is YOUR story that helped you understand your why and helped you realise that you need to change something?