Monika Gwiżdż is a person who is always positive and with great gratitude inside. She followed our guidance, was not afraid to create additional value-giving projects and write to managers and decision-makers with them, which resulted in invitations to recruitment interviews. Her process of changing the industry succeeded exemplary, although as always it was a bumpy road. We invite you to read more!
CareerChange2IT – Klaudia and Łukasz Jarych: Monika, you are one of the people we supported during the transition to the HR industry as part of our flagship program (LINK). You have been very proactive and have planned the process perfectly. You have successfully transitioned into the HR industry in only 7 months! Heartfelt congratulations! Today, we’d like to talk about the lessons and thoughts from the transition process and your current role.
Monika Gwiżdż: Now I’m celebrating success – I managed to get the job of my dreams. However, the road I went through was hard and bumpy for me. Full of ups and downs. There were moments of joy related to invitations to interviews and moments filled with regret and sadness related to the rejection of my applications.
CC2IT: Why did you decide to change the industry and the choice fell on the HR specialist?
Monika: After nearly 10 years in banking, the job no longer gave me satisfaction. The HR are a fast-growing industry, and development is my passion. I love working with and for people, so HR specialist seemed like a reasonable choice. Even before I changed my profession, I completed my master’s degree in this field, which allowed me to reaffirm my belief that it was time for changes.
CC2IT: If you had to say what 3 things helped you the most in changing your industry, what would it be?
Monika: First of all, the basis for me was to construct a functional CV. Until now, I did not realize that it is possible to write them differently than chronologically. With the support of the Dookoła Pracy team, I highlighted my advantages in the functional CV, directed the readers to my strengths, and directed the lack of experience to the background. Thanks to this, I received invitations to interviews in which it was a mandatory requirement to have experience in the HR industry!
The second serious skill I gained thanks to the course was acquiring contacts. My LinkedIn profile started to live, I gained access to many interesting materials, I could contact recruiters, managers, etc. This way, with each application, I could show how much I care about my work.
The last but equally important thing was my self-development in the HR industry. These are dozens of courses and trainings I have attended. Hundreds of pages of industry literature read. Numerous webinars and any meetings that allowed me to acquire theoretical knowledge, which is now a solid base for me to acquire practical skills.
CC2IT: In our course “Changing the Industry in 5 Steps” we mention that the second step in this process is to get a technical mentor who will tell you what the specifics of working in a given industry are. It is also worth having your “partner in change” who will motivate you to act and support you at every stage of the process from the labor market side and show you how to convince employers. Tell me, did you have a mentor and a partner in change and what value did they bring to your transition process?
Monika: Yes, I had a mentor. He helped reorganize my LinkedIn profile and sent me industry literature worth special attention. It was a practical guide for me, although we did not always agree with each other. As for the partner in the transition, for me it was you. It was with you that I shared my fears, impressions after the talks. It was with your support that I prepared my first HR project. It was you who did not let me give up on failures and helped me finish this mission with success!
CC2IT: Changing profession is a process that requires regularity and appropriate scheduling. Tell us how you have prepared yourself to acquire substantive knowledge (e.g. the tools you used).
Monika: Initially, I focused on building basic knowledge. On the Internet, I was looking for courses and trainings on the subject I was interested in. I also signed up for all possible HR conferences and events. At the same time, I also focused my activities on building a network of contacts, because from there I drew knowledge about novelties – this allowed me to be up to date. In an ever-changing industry, this is extremely important.
CC2IT: Step 4 is to put knowledge into practice to enter a new industry. How did you highlight your already gained experience and skills to convince managers that you are the right person in the right place?
Monika: During each of the conversations, I tried to focus the dialog on my strengths. I am a person for whom continuous development is extremely important. They say that who stagnates – regresses. I am the complete opposite of that. I love when there’s a lot going on, when I can read something and know what the others are talking about. I always try to be one step ahead. My second undoubted advantage is the ease of establishing contacts, communicativeness. Working in banking also allowed me to learn to talk to people of all ages. I can enter even a very close-knit team and become its inseparable element. I think I’m a pretty good mix of soft and hard skills and the changing professions just had to succeed
CC2IT: At a certain stage of transition — already as a formality, you need a CV. This is usually a chronological resume. In the case of changing professions, it is much more beneficial to present your experience in it. How did these resumes co-created with us work for you?
Monika: Writing a CV was one of the most difficult stages for me. I thought I could do it, that everyone could do it. I remember the next time I received your comments, I couldn’t look at them anymore. But I had the greatest satisfaction later, during recruitment interviews. Often there were comments that this was the best CV that recruiters had in their hands. I heard that despite my lack of experience, they “wanted to get to know me” because my resume had “that something.” I managed to show what is my strength and cleverly hide my lack of experience.
CC2IT: Monika, and how was it for you with networking and reaching out to decision-makers? We know that you received an invitation to a certain company, where you sent the manager proposals to improve their recruitment system. Can you tell us more about it?
Monika: I have always been looking for both recruiters and decision-makers via LinkedIn. If I was not able to reach them on my own, I was looking for employees from this company and asked for “directions” to managers and sent them private messages. As for the project improving recruitment, I decided to prepare it according to your advice, in order to stand out from other candidates, to show that I can do more than send the required CV. In order to get the idea for the project, I applied for several positions at this company (not related to HR, but identical to my previous professional experience). This allowed me to see what the recruitment process looks like and how long it takes there, how contact with the candidate takes place, how they are informed about the decision, etc. I juxtaposed this with recruitment, in which I would like to participate myself. With recruitment focused on the candidate, on his feelings. I sent the project to decision-makers and managed to get an invitation to an interview. In the end, however, I did not get this job, due to lack of experience and this was the most difficult moment for me in the transition. I felt that without experience, changing the industry was unrealistic to perform. However, I am far from a person who gives up on dreams. I came back with doubled strength and now I’m enjoying my success.
CC2IT: Monika Gwiżdż’s golden advice for people who are thinking about changing their industry is…
Monika: Accept failures, believe in yourself, be consistent, and the work of dreams will soon knock on your door. And remember that lack of experience does not discard you!