The management team at Mobilise – a startup that helps other businesses improve their communication technology – were looking for a Business and Marketing Intern, but Malwina proved to be so invaluable that she became a permanent team member after her contract finished.
She made the role her own, taking on marketing and design responsibilities before helping hire her newest colleague within a few months of graduating. Now that she’s recruited a new team member, we reached out to discover what it’s like to go from job hunter to hired, and hired to hiring.
Managing international growth
The spring of 2020 was a busy time for the small team at Mobilise. They were growing a remote workforce that stretched across the world, but they needed someone to help build some buzz for the business.
They needed a junior digital marketer.
Mobilise reached out to DigitalGrads to find a Business and Marketing Intern. They were looking for an enthusiastic creative who could help out in all areas of the business.
Getting hired: Malwina’s story
“Looking for a job as a fresh grad is the same as answering the chicken and egg question – you need experience to get a job but you need a job to get experience.
“So what comes first, job or experience?
Malwina’s busy student life – she was studying for her MSc in Business Intelligence and Digital Marketing while working part-time – didn’t allow her much free time to apply for jobs.
And when she did take the time to write and send in an application, it almost seemed pointless: “When you don’t hear back from the recruiters you really just want to give up. In 99% of the cases, you don’t even get a “no, thanks” message.”
When Malwina heard about DigitalGrads in the summer of 2019, everything seemed to change.
“I immediately thought it was a great platform. I created my account and the lovely souls from DigitalGrads helped in setting up my profile.
“Their approach was very personalised. They asked me what kind of job I was looking for and based on that they sent me updates with new opportunities. I went through their online training programme which turned out to be a great warm-up before my Master’s course.
“I paused my profile for a few months and resumed it in February 2020 – a month before my classes were ending – so I had enough time to start my first job in digital marketing.
“I’m happy to say that in March I was already a part of Mobilise.”
After the hire: growing with a company
Malwina joined Mobilise at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic: “Everyone had just switched to working from home, so it was a very strange time for us all. Nevertheless, the team did their best to make me feel welcomed.
“I was quite nervous as it was my first job after graduating and I had no prior experience working in an office or in marketing. But the team gave me time and space to learn and supported me along the way.
“They also valued me and my opinions from the very beginning – that felt very empowering and motivated me to always do my best.
“It’s been going great! I’m very grateful for my team. They support me whenever I need it but also let me handle things on my own, which has been a great learning experience.”
Since joining Mobilise as an intern, Malwina has been promoted to Business and Marketing Specialist.
She has a hand in the company’s marketing and web design. But as the months went on, Mobilise began growing at a rapid rate: “It started with my annual review. I let my line manager know that we may need someone to help us with graphic design as there was more and more work to do. I didn’t have sufficient skills and time to continue doing it on my own.
“We then started discussing our options and decided to hire a new team member who’d be responsible for this as well as the UI of our products.
“From the very beginning we knew we would hire someone through DigitalGrads. As the new UI and Graphic Designer would be a part of my team, I was put in charge of the hiring process.
So just over a year after Malwina was hired, she returned to DigitalGrads to hire someone.
Recruiting someone is a big responsibility: “It was very exciting but also a bit scary. What if I hire someone who will not fit in with the rest of the team?
“Fortunately, I had one of my colleagues supporting me throughout the entire process.”
Malwina and her colleague came to DigitalGrads with a job description and got to work making a task.
“As the new team member would sit across two teams, the task had two parts. I created the marketing part of the task and I had my colleague help me with the UI part.”
After the task was sent out to applicants, Malwina reviewed each submission and shortlisted the best candidates for interviews.
“I then participated in the interviews. I was quite nervous before the first one. Again, my colleague gave me some useful tips on how to prepare my questions and structure the interview.
“I realised that you have to pay attention to the smallest details as they can tell you a lot about the candidate. I also realised how important personality and motivation is. It’s not all about skills and experience!
“You want to hire someone who not only can get the job done but also get along with the team and the company values.
“Also, if you hire a fresh graduate, they don’t have lots of experience but they can show their motivation and drive through completing the task on time and according to the task outline provided. All those things really matter.
“Having been on the other side of the process not that long ago, I tried to avoid all things that I didn’t like when hunting for a job. I responded to all candidates and tried to give everyone some feedback. This was something I really missed myself. Getting a reply, even if it’s a ‘no’, can make such a huge difference.
“Overall, I think I did a good job!
“Our new UI and Graphic Designer is great and gets along with the rest of the team very well.”
Malwina now works alongside her hire, gaining more responsibility as the weeks go on: “Now that I understand the industry and my role a lot more, I feel that I made a good decision in joining Mobilise.
“I’ve realised that small companies have so much to offer in terms of personal development and I would never trade it off to start my career in a big organisation.
“I also feel a lot more confident now. When I started, I questioned all of my actions and was anxious about making decisions. I felt like I didn’t have enough knowledge or experience to make them! But I’ve realised that in many situations even the most experienced people are not 100% sure on which decision will be best.
“Gaining confidence has been a slow process for me but I’m really happy with the outcomes and excited to see what’s next.
“There are lots of things I could say about my job but I’ll only say that I wish everyone could have a first job experience like I’m having at Mobilise.”