1) How did your Coordea journey start?
My journey with Coordea began November 2015, two months before I have actually started working for Coordea. I was looking for a new career challenge, since I was not satisfied with what I can achieve in my previous job position, I had higher ambitions. That November new job position as IT Support for one of the Swedish clients was opened in Coordea and I sent my CV. That was the day when I took my first step into this journey, little scared of the unknown, but confident and with head held high. After 3 interviews January 1st 2016 was my first working day in Coordea.
2) What inspired you to apply to Coordea?
The internal drive to step out of the comfort zone and my ambitions to show my skills and abilities. Also, it was a great opportunity and challenge to work for a Swedish company, to learn new things and culture, and hope that I can practice and improve my skills and grow in my career.
3) Has there been anything that surprised you about working at Coordea?
The support that I have from all colleagues in Coordea and from Husse, client I work for.
First days when I started, I had huge support from Goce, who was a manager for Coordea Tetovo at that time, and at the same time he is working for the same client that I started to work and I still work for. Also, Gabriel who was Web Manager in Husse was always there for every question and issue that I had at the beginning, but always I had, and I still have great support from everyone in the Husse Central Office. And not to forget Vera, she is always there for each member of Husse BackOffice that works in Coordea.
4) What was the moment you knew you’d made the right decision to work here?
I can say it was during the first month when I started working. I was pleasantly surprised by the communication with the client for which I work and how employees are treated. The third week when I started to work, I was invited to Stockholm to meet the client and everyone who works there. To my biggest surprise, and satisfaction at the same time, that was on the first day when I arrived during the lunch, I was on the same table with the owner of this huge company which has franchisees all over the world and we were talking everyday things, not job-related topics. For Macedonia and from my previous work experience this was really strange, but very positive and motivating for employees, at that moment I felt that I am part of the company.
5) What is your biggest accomplishment at Coordea that you’re most proud of…?
I have started as Web Assistant for Husse where at that time Web Manager was a person in Stockholm. Shortly after, I was promoted into Web Manager, and from September 2019 I am appointed as IT Director or “Head of IT” in Husse and I am part of the Management team of Husse. This is proof that hard work always pays off, in Sweden someone sees and appreciates what you do, and loyalty, honesty and hard work will be rewarded for sure.
Like my colleague Aneta said:
“Most importantly, you have to be a fair judge and a hard worker, no excuses. Sometimes you have to be willing to sacrifice, able to bite your tongue and bend your pride. Having courage, empathy, vision, character, patience and forgiveness are crucial. And above all, you have to have love – for all!”
Our pride and patience are our biggest enemy. Bending our pride sometimes shouldn’t be treated as failure. Also, if we wait for 2 minutes for someone to end the sentence so we can tell our opinion will not hurt our pride, because sometimes the main point is at the end of the sentence. This is how you can succeed in your career.
6) When you tell people about your job what’s one thing that surprises them, or gets them excited about the work you do?
Working with a customer from all over the world and traveling in different countries. Daily, I am in contact with clients from Japan to Arizona, we have over 50 different clients from all over the world. Sometimes is hard to switch from Macedonian to English in a short time and it is funny how silly mistakes we make when speaking.
Give me a weird fact about yourself?
Hmm… maybe you should ask my colleagues for this :)
But if I have to tell something, then I would say the following 2 things:
| I am fan od Marvel and DC characters
| I am bad in managing my private time, I’m always late :)
8) What are 3 benefit’s you’ve discovered about working here that you weren’t aware of when you started?
| The working environment in Coordea and communication with the higher management in the company. We can go and talk to anyone from the management or with founders for whatever we think is important or we think is not OK and propose a solution that we think would improve the overall quality of the services that we provide. Open relations between Management and employees are very important and useful for every company and can only be beneficial.
| Employee satisfaction, both from Coordea and from Husse as a client for who I work.
Coordea with over 70 employees is trying its best to maintain a friendly atmosphere between all employees. Couple of times during a year, Coordea organizes team-building activities for employees where we have a chance to bond with all colleagues that work for other clients.
Also, Husse is organizing similar activities where we can build up and strengthen the team spirit and I really like how we as a team in Husse work and have fun, all 17 strong here in Coordea.
|Opportunities to travel and meet new people – something that gives best life and work experience. Working with people from different countries that have different working and living culture is the biggest treasure. Every day you learn something new and becoming better person in some field of life.
9) What advice would you give a job seeker who’s thinking about applying for a job with us?
I would start with the well-known sentence that is completely true:
“Find a job you enjoy doing and you will never have to work a day in your life”
And this is how I feel now at my current job in Coordea.
First, and I think that the most important for everyone is to be honest. This applies from the beginning, from your CV that you are sending to apply for a job position, and later in everyday work. If you are dishonest in your CV you will be under-performing and no one likes that. In everyday work everyone makes mistakes, we all learn from mistakes and it is always best to admit the mistake and propose a solution or ask for a solution/suggestion.
Hard work, commitment, loyalty, patience and honesty, those are the key values. But also, besides that, you need to feel the company as your second home. If you don’t care about the company, about how you will represent it and what others will think, then it will be really hard to grow in your career. You need to love your job and company and respect the company and your colleagues since that is the place from where you come and that represents you too.
In Coordea we have love for everyone, so make your step and join the Coordea team.