Elia’s Story
We asked Elia to tell us about her professional journey before and after her Personal Career Management coaching sessions…
“The financial crisis hit Spain very badly and what I decided is to invest in my education and I went to the UK to study a postgraduate at Birmingham University in strategic marketing and consultancy.
I applied for a job in a French multinational company called Veolia. I went to London, I met the manager, we liked each other and I got the job. I stayed a little bit more than a year, it was a great company, the team young, a lot of multinational backgrounds, it was an amazing experience but the problem is I didn’t like the industry. It was super technical and I really love communications. So after a year, I saw a job in the BBC for a sales job in advertising, I got the job, that for me was like an amazing dream come true. I learned so much and I really enjoyed my colleagues and the team, we had an amazing connection. I decided to collaborate with Children in Need and they needed people to dress up as Pudsey, a little bit tough sometimes because of course being a bear is not that easy.
At the beginning I started to work for the news, I was selling advertising, sponsorship for news programmes internationally which was amazing, I remember going to Manchester meeting all the stars from the BBC there, it was a fantastic experience.
From there I saw a position to work for Blue Planet II, David Attenborough’s series because I wanted to meet David Attenborough, to see how they worked, to see all the commercial strategy around the franchise.
That role was not permanent, the contract expired and from there I started, of course, to look for a new opportunity. I started to work for another very big company in the entertainment industry.
When you are working abroad your professional experience needs to be rewarding. I dunno, there are some roles that they are love at first sight and teams that is love at first sight and of course not all the experiences can be super pleasant or super rewarding.
I reached a point in which I knew I needed to take another path, make another journey and I needed some advice and guidance.”
How did you discover Personal Career Management?
“I was reading the Guardian and I saw an article speaking about Personal Career Management and how they were helping people in very very different stages of their career, to succeed.
I was completely lost, so I knew something was missing but I wasn’t able to understand what that concept was or what that meant for me or even if that industry like entertainment, media was for me.”
How would you describe your experience with Personal Career Management?
“Personal Career Management helped me in many ways, in many ways I cannot tell you only one. The experience was super positive because my coach of course was wonderful and all her amazing and precious help and support and understanding and you know it went far beyond being just a coach it was more like a friend. She helped me a lot, first of all, to be secure, practical things like rehearsing an interview, how to give the appropriate question, how to shine in an interview you know, how strong my CV was, how good a candidate I was, not to feel threatened and be more confident in my own skin and also understanding that not all the companies are good for you and that’s it and that is not bad it’s just that it’s two way – it’s not only you fit in the company, it is also the company fitting you.”
What was the result of your coaching with Personal Career Management?
“Thanks to Personal Career Management I basically got a job in Google. So I’m currently working in YouTube as a Strategic Partner Manager helping Spanish creators to thrive, to be the best creators they can be. That opportunity just came like, I dunno, it was like how do you say ‘the icing on the cake’ right? It was perfect.”
How would you summarise the advice from Personal Career Management?
“We need to understand who we are and which kind of companies, what kind of culture are actually a fit for us. If you are for example like in my case I’m loud, I speak a lot, I can’t be working in an environment super serious, super quiet because it doesn’t fit my personality and there’s nothing wrong with one environment or the other it’s just it’s not a fit.
So I really recommend everyone or anyone that is really looking for that kind of guidance, to contact Personal Career Management. Don’t hesitate, do it. “