Mastering the start of your career, reorienting yourself, daring to try something new: your career path doesn’t have to fit a template. In the coming weeks, we will introduce you to three Kookus and ask them about their beginnings, new directions they have taken and tips for shaping their careers.

Alina has been part of the Kooku team as a Recruiting Consultant for one and a half years. She is responsible for RPO and interim projects, particularly in the areas of marketing, design, sales and customer success. She also drives the internationalization of the company and supports new Kookus as an onboarding buddy. In her day-to-day work, Alina draws on a wealth of experience, although her entry into the recruiting world was not so long ago. We spoke to her about her career start.

Did you have a specific career in mind after leaving school?

I was a little undecided. This is also reflected in my choice of degree course: before I finally decided on business studies, I tried out two other courses. I went to school in Australia and initially started to study journalism after my Abitur. Then I changed my mind again and started studying Nursing and Paramedicine . After working a lot in the hospitality industry on the side and having the idea that I might be able to open my own business at some point, I ended up studying business administration. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. I just thought it could be an interesting path – an open degree that wouldn’t tie me down to one direction.

Were the transitions between your degree programs seamless, and if not, how did you spend the time in between?

No, the transitions were not seamless. I used the transition phases to work and worked full-time in the catering industry, most recently as a restaurant manager. That was a crazy time. I was only 21 years old at the time, but I really enjoyed having responsibility and gaining experience in a managerial position. At some point, however, I realized that I had reached the limit of my learning curve there. For me personally, working in the restaurant was more physically than mentally draining, and I had the desire to return to university to explore further and take the next step.

How did you experience your studies? What were you able to take with you, what made you doubt?

Studying journalism was particularly valuable because I learned to think critically. I also learned the basics of PR work there. What spoke against finishing my studies at the time was the situation on the job market. My second degree course, Nursing and Paramedicine, was very exciting because it was very scientifically oriented. However, after I did my first internship in a nursing home, I quickly realized that I couldn’t necessarily see myself starting a career in this field. As a nurse or paramedic, I would have been tied to a particular location as I was studying in Australia. I always knew that I wanted to live in Germany one day, so it was important to me not to limit myself in this respect. During my business studies, I was particularly interested in economics and entrepreneurship . I also liked corporate sustainability and management. In general, I really enjoy strategic topics.

What did you do after your studies?

I completed my Bachelor’s degree in July 2019, and shortly after that I quit my job at the restaurant. In September 2019, my partner and I left Australia. We had already made the decision to move to Berlin, but then went traveling and spent four months in Italy and Eastern Europe before finally moving to Germany in January 2020. In Berlin, I then started looking for an internship. My aim was to find a career start and gain a better understanding of the German job market. I didn’t know exactly where to start and looked in different directions when applying. It was quite overwhelming at first. After successful interviews at a tech recruitment company, I then started an internship in sales there.

How did you come to look for internships in the field of sales?

Sales was an option for me as I had gained a lot of experience in the restaurant industry, which is very similar to sales: I worked with different people in the restaurant, selling food and drink and building good relationships with guests. I wanted to build on this and then looked for sales, account management, SDR and CRM positions to start my career. As a service employee, you are the face of a restaurant. In Australia, the customer service mentality is also a little different. There, you are expected to create a pleasant atmosphere and always remain positive. Of course, it always depends on the expectations of the guests. That’s also part of the job: learning to assess how intensively you should interact with each table. The ability to be sensitive to what my counterpart wants and needs and to adapt my interactions accordingly made it much easier for me to start working in sales back then.

How did you experience your internship? What did you like and what did you dislike?

First of all, it was very exciting for me to work in German. I had never done that before. I grew up bilingual, but I don’t feel nearly as comfortable in German as I do in English. At the beginning, it was a huge challenge for me to speak professional German in a work context. It frustrated me at times, but the positive feeling prevailed and I really enjoyed it. During this time, I learned a lot of new things about corporate culture and job opportunities in Germany, especially through my research into companies, making contacts and, of course, cold calling. This was extremely valuable for me, as it allowed me to start my career in Germany and at the same time showed me new options for my own career path.

What happened after your internship?

After six months, I was given a permanent position. In addition to my operational tasks in Sales, I was also responsible for setting up processes and training new employees. At some point, I stopped and realized that I didn’t really see myself in the role of account manager, which would have been the next step in my career. One of my colleagues then took up a new position in Recruiting and put me forward there too. As I wanted to try myself out further, I was very happy about this opportunity. That’s how I ended up in my full-time position as a junior recruiter in a Berlin start-up.

What attracted you to recruiting back then?

As a sales employee, I did a lot of cold calling. When you cold call people, they don’t know that you’re calling them and they don’t want to be called. In recruiting, on the other hand, candidates know that you are calling them and they want to be called! I thought that was great. Apart from that, recruiting is also sales. As a recruiter, I have to convince candidates of the company I work for. Instead of researching companies, I looked for suitable profiles, for example. The change was really easy for me at the time.

You’ve been part of Kooku Recruiting for almost a year and a half now. How did you join us?

At the time, I was constantly expanding my network and making contact with other recruiters in order to exchange ideas with colleagues in the same field. In the course of this, I approached Aylin, who immediately arranged an appointment with me. She quickly turned our conversation into a sales pitch for Kooku! I found what she told me about Kooku super interesting, especially the option to work remotely and the general flexibility. After the interview, I entered the interview process and ultimately got the job.

Which skills that you acquired or deepened during your studies or previous jobs are now helpful for you in recruiting?

Definitely people skills. Being able to deal with different people in different life situations. I’ve worked in a variety of places in the hospitality industry, from cafés and pubs to five-star hotels. This brought me into contact with a huge range of people. This experience made it much easier for me to start my career after graduation. Contact with people is this one thread that runs through my career so far – how to treat people with respect, how to be open with people, how to give them a nice experience. The second point would be dealing with stress, which I think is a big factor. In a restaurant, you have to act immediately. Good service takes place in the here and now. Once the guests have left, there is no way to make things better. This fast, solution-oriented and creative way of thinking has stayed with me.

What factors on the company side made it easier for you to switch to recruiting back then?

What I liked was that I had a lot of freedom. I was thrown in at the deep end a bit, but I didn’t find that bad at all as I was already used to it. My jobs in the catering industry were mostly under the motto: “Improvise, fake it till you make it.” That was also the case when I switched to recruiting. I knew very little about the job at the time, but I was able to draw on the skills I had acquired in sales. This enabled me to quickly familiarize myself with the job and start my career without any complications.

How can companies support career changers? How can companies benefit from career changers?

Good onboarding that is tailored to the individual needs of the person is essential. It must be made clear which tasks need to be completed and the willingness to answer questions and provide support where necessary should be signaled. This can make the first few weeks in particular easier. Career changers enrich companies by bringing in new perspectives and different ideas about how processes can be designed. The more diverse the people who make up a company and the experience they bring with them, the more diverse the ideas that are created.

What advice would you give to career starters?

If possible, I would advise you to do paid internships. Ideally during your studies. I also think it makes sense to seek career advice to get an overview of the various opportunities on the job market. As soon as you have a rough idea of which direction might be suitable: get started. Find positions to start your career, try them out and don’t commit yourself too quickly. Provided, of course, that you have the opportunity to do so. I also think it’s advisable to get to know different companies in order to better understand individual preferences in terms of size, structure and concept. After all, you don’t know what you like until you’ve tried it. Experiment, experiment, experiment!