Strivin & Thrivin

This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we spoke with Lorna Hegarty, Brand and Communications Manager at Squiz.

Lorna has listened to the podcast quite a bit and told us that she’s recognised that a lot of people talk about falling into her career. “I definitely didn’t”, she said when referencing studying public relations.

“But I think obviously my career has taken a different path as I’ve gone along and it’s evolved. But then I was thinking back even further, and it was quite a semi-conscious effort when I even studied PR.”

Lorna started out in PR and spent a number of years in agency, and did a stint in a Deloitte press office in London before moving to Australia where she continued in agency PR. She then moved to New Zealand and took an in-house role with Xref, and is now working for Squiz.

With a role that has a broader comms focus, Lorna has seen PR agencies take this approach as well. It was the move to Xref that gave her her first look into a broader comms and brand aspect…but she admits she didn’t really know what she was doing.

“Last year, I did the Marketing Week Mini MBA in brand management and that was a real turning point for me. I knew I wanted to understand it better, and so doing that course was like this kind of make or break, and it was absolutely make. It just ignited something in me from a brand perspective and I realised I absolutely loved it.”

There’s no doubt the PR landscape has dramatically changed in the last 10 years, and anyone who has been in the game for a while will agree with that. Lorna remembers it being all about having a little black book when she first started, and now it’s even harder with the introduction of content creators and influencers over the years.

“I think the pure PR agency model has changed so much, and PR agencies now have to think a lot more broadly about how they position their clients and how they really get that traction with the audiences that they need to…you can’t rely on having a good list of emails anymore.”

With all the experience Lorna has had in her career, we loved what her response was to, “what’s one thing you wish you knew at the start of your career that you know now?”

Lorna said, “You really don’t need to sweat the small stuff. And actually, the stuff that you’re worrying about now, you’ll look back on in a few years and be like, ‘why was I worried about that now that I’ve got to think about this?’”

This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we speak with Laura Scholey, freelance marketing consultant.

Laura accidentally fell into marketing when she finished uni, when she was thankfully offered a market research job in the middle of a recession. Then, a move to Australia saw her end up in sales, where she spent a couple of years before moving back to marketing.

“I started to get involved in digital marketing and I started to champion within the team the marketing automation side of things for the sales guys and that's what then ended up drawing me back into marketing.”

Sales just wasn’t for her, and thinks it takes a certain type of person that loves sales and resetting. But ending a month and going back to zero? Laura couldn’t stand it. It was getting back to that familiar place with marketing and speaking in a common language that made her feel comfortable. Laura actually credits sales for her understanding of communication and sales psychology. It wasn’t all bad!

Laura then went down the path of digital marketing, demand gen, lead generation, marketing automation and pretty much anything digital. Now, she’s going out on her own and doing contract work with the plan to balance it with consulting.

While some people focus on specialising, moving into different parts of marketing was great for Laura.

“I recommend to anybody, if you've got the opportunity to work with really smart people, then go out and do it. I think that really helped set a foundation of knowledge and probably critical thinking as well in some things I was doing in marketing.”

As for the worst piece of advice she’s received? It’s a quote you might be familiar with. “Dress for the job you want, not the job you have”. To be frank, Laura calls BS on that!

On the back of that, we loved what Laura had to say about authenticity and the importance of a personal brand.

“I think your personal brand is important. But even as we talk about branding in businesses, your brand has to be genuine. You can't create a brand that you're not living and breathing. So, it's like this idea of personal brand, I think people think that they have to create something.”

This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we speak with Rebecca Zeitunian, Head of Brand and Growth at ResDiary.

Coming from a working class family who expected her to get married and have kids, Rebecca’s life couldn’t have been any different.

Starting out in tele-sales and working her way through operations and account management, Rebecca later joined Woolworths for a role in buying and marketing, which saw her work in the meat industry. Let’s just say, she can pick a good steak!

But thankfully, picking a good steak isn’t all Rebecca can do well (although much appreciated). With a thirst for some education, she fell into an opportunity to do an Advanced Diploma in Business Marketing at TAFE. From here, Rebecca fell into a marketing role and stayed there for a few years before jumping ship to Optus, and being the first content person that they ever appointed.

When it comes to what’s shifted for her in her career, she says getting out of a specialist skill and wanting to go more general has been at the top of her list.

“As I look at my career, I'd love to stay at this more general but broader role as I progress. And specialising in those disciplines, I could almost predict there would be a ceiling and I don't like being restricted. And so really looking for those other avenues to go, okay, well how do I continue to progress my career?”

Rebecca has quite the resume, it’s really shown the power non-traditional career advancement has had and it’s given her the tools to mentor up-and-comers.

“I look at how I’m going to take more of that leadership role and really mentor up and coming marketers in probably a non-traditional way without that full certification of tertiary education, and using more hands-on real life experience.

I think there's different ways to look at it, and if you're hungry for something, there's always a way to find opportunities to develop and get that experience.”

So what is the best advice Rebecca has received in her 15-plus years in the biz? “Control your controllables”

This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we speak to Siobhan Carlson, B2B marketing enthusiast and Marketing Manager at MYOB.

Siobhan initially went to uni for a science degree, she wanted to be a pharmacist but realised it wasn’t for her within 12 months, and ended up realising her true passion was in graphic design.

Not sure that her parent would approve of a pure Graphic Design degree Siobhan ended up adding marketing to her degree, which turned out pretty well because she fell in love with it!

After a three-day holiday in Melbourne, Siobhan and her partner decided to move down from Queensland, where she landed in recruitment which then led her into Sales and Marketing and finally to where she is now, at MYOB, where she was recently promoted to lead the marketing acquisition team!

With Siobhan, her career trajectory was more of a side-stepping journey, which isn’t something to be ashamed of.

“It hasn't been deliberate at all. I feel like a lot of it has been quite accidental and a case of, "Oh my goodness, I've landed on my feet again." That's half of life, right? It’s just chance.

Siobhan credits a really smart GM as some of the best advice she’s received, which was about telling your own narrative and story. It then evolved to creating your own luck.

“You’re the person who puts it out into the world and says, “This is what I want. This is what I’m driving for”. That’s how you’re able to control those side steps a little bit more, instead of being on a roller coaster and just chasing dollars all the time. But being able to hone in on what you’re interested in, what sparks your interests, what gets you up in the morning definitely helps you create that story as well.”

As for what Siobhan thinks has been the key to her success along the way…well, she put it quite frankly. “I think the one thing is probably the sense of getting stuck in and getting shit done.” - We have to love her for it.

This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we speak with Lynne Johnston, CEO of MAYDAY Recruitment Group.

Lynne has been in the recruitment industry for 14 years and is originally from Northern Ireland, and started her career there before she travelled around Australia, building up her little black book of industry contacts.

Lynne was then sponsored by a recruitment agency in Sydney, progressing through the business and ended up being with them for five years. She then jumped ship after being offered a role at American Express managing corporate clients.

“I just learned loads in that job. It was so different from what I'd done before.”

With no experience in finance, there was a lot to learn. Luckily, Lynne’s transferable skills - such as relationship building, problem solving, holding a conversation, relating to them, understanding their business problem and coming up with solutions - really helped Lynne level-up and take on a new role within the company in business development.

After her stint at AMEX, Lynne joined MAYDAY, a recruitment company three of her best friends started, and that saw her move back into recruitment. But due to two of her friends going on maternity leave, Lynne had to step up and knew she had to work hard, as there was a real boom coming after making good traction with a lot of companies.

Now, Lynne is the CEO of MAYDAY, working on the overall development of the team, as well as being the key account manager. Lynne is also the director of the Wellness Committee, making sure people are healthy and happy at work and love what they do.

“If I can do that, then I’m doing a good job.”

When Covid hit in March 2020, there was a huge shift and change in the business, which saw their usual 50% temporary revenue and 50% permanent revenue wiped out. Permanent fell off the planet, everything went on hold, everything was paused, jobs were cancelled and even start dates were cancelled for people who had already placed in roles.

Thankfully, they won some business off the back of businesses who were busy because of Covid, so their temporary numbers remained steady and actually grew throughout the pandemic.

So, what has Lynne learned about herself over the years? She credits one of her biggest lessons as realising you don’t have to be the strict boss.

“You don’t have to try and emulate some other manager that you had because you think that’s how you need to manage. You need to be relatable. You need to show that level of vulnerability I think as a leader so that your people know that it's okay to come to you and that it's okay to tell when they're not okay. Or when they are struggling with something they know that you're approachable.”

When it comes to balancing work and life, Lynne is all about looking after her mental health as well as physical health.

“I think that's really key, and that's something I bring to the business here. I love that I can bring my philosophy and all of that to people, and our team now love it.”

To hear more from Lynne, including what she wished she knew back then as a rookie, listen to the latest episode of Strivin and Thrivin now!

This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we speak with Jennifer Hankin, Head of Marketing at RecordPoint.

For some people, they might say their career started by stumbling upon something or seeing it in a movie and loving the idea of having a job like that. But for Jen, it started with a vodka bottle. Absolut Vodka to be precise.

Jen found herself sprawling through magazines at a young age and being really drawn to the Absolut ads. This then led her to getting her degree in marketing and advertising, and her first job as a product marketing manager in a publishing company. Jen then made the decision to go to business school to get her MBA.

“For me, going back to business school was about rounding out my management and leadership experience. I was very focused on marketing, but I wanted to understand the other facets of business that I felt would help me as I moved through the leadership journey as a marketer.”

When it comes to marketing, Jen relates to being a marketing generalist rather than a specialist and reassures us it’s not a dirty word! Point being, you really CAN accelerate your career by being a generalist. Being a  ‘jack of all trades’ might just be essential to your success, so don’t cancel it out just yet!

Recommended reading: Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialised World - David Esptein.

“I guess what I feel like I bring in is that I bring that like the overarching strategy. I can see how all the bits of pieces pull together and then how marketing influences the rest of the business, and work really closely with those cross-functional stakeholders….I really own the marketing generalist.”

Jen clearly has the experience and drive to start her own business, but is it something she’s keen on doing herself? Not really. But the ideas are there! She jokes her Mum used to tell her that she always got up on her ‘soapbox’ due to her opinionated nature. But Jen credits that to her success - challenging the status quo. Not the worst trait to have as a ‘marketing generalist’ now, is it?!

So, what advice does Jen have for the next keen marketer? Well, it all starts with a mentor - something Jen wishes she had done early on in her career.

“The advice that I've gotten is the advice that I've sought out myself and that I've read. And that's something that I wish I could go back and say to myself, ‘Go get a mentor earlier, go seek those relationships.’ Don't ever stop learning.”

To hear more from Jennifer, including what advice she would say to her younger self , listen to the latest episode of Strivin and Thrivin now!

Prospa’s Maria Kojevnikova talks to Laura Johnson from Strivin and Neil Gunning from Tech Life Sydney about her career story and lessons learned along the way in this episode of Strivin & Thrivin.

She started her career in recruitment in fashion and retail on the agency side and transitioned into in-house resourcing roles from there.

What attracted Maria to shift inhouse was a combination of two things:

Off the back of this shift, Maria gained more in-depth experience in collaborating with hiring managers and guiding them to help design and deliver a great candidate experience. This is a real opportunity for partnership, explains Maria… As internal talent acquisition, you can perform a much deeper analysis of your hiring manager’s needs. It’s an opportunity to identify what skills gaps exist in the larger team, for example.  Partnering with your hiring manager(s) enables talent acquisition to become a trusted partner that can help drive the business objectives - focusing on adding value, rather than just getting a bum on a seat.

A key theme that stands out in this episode with Maria is the value of having a strong network.  Maria reminisces, for example, about how she got into the tech industry through a loose connection she had with the husband of a client she was recruiting for. This contact was someone influential in the tech industry, helping her become more familiar with the landscape.

She also reflects on the best advice she’s ever received:

Today, Laura and Neil are joined by Jessica Morris, Head of People and Culture at Reckon.

Jessica is a driven HR professional and genuine people person who has thrived by throwing herself headfirst into every opportunity. Jess discusses her career progression from studying business to becoming the Head of People and Culture at Reckon, highlighting that throughout her journey, people are what make a company amazing.

Jess started her journey at university where she majored in Business Law and HR. Her initial vision was to be a lawyer, identifying a desire to help people but through a limited prism where she didn’t know the scope of different career options. However, after interning, Jess discovered her love for business and changed the trajectory of her path.

Transitioning from academia into the real world of HR, Jess explains the shift from a focus on psychology to placing importance on wellbeing. This change forced Jess to essentially reconsider what she had learnt at university, harbouring the fundamentals while placing more emphasis on being a “really good people person”.

Jess discusses the benefits of opening up a conversation about mental health in the HR space, explaining that it gave her the ability to “bring her whole self to work”. This shift came with a realisation for Jess in terms of her relationship with HR: people trusted her more when she was being authentically herself in the work space.

“I think you should really get to know everyone in a company to succeed.”

Jess’ clarity regarding getting to know people in the workplace informed her decision not to work within agencies. From her first role at Groupon she moved onto an HR Administrator role at IGT and was promoted to HR Business Partner within the year. Here, she worked with a network of people who motivated and mentored her.

The knowledge and confidence Jess gained at IGT inspired her to embrace an unexpected opportunity at her next company when her manager resigned, effectively promoting Jess to HR Advisor. While also discovering her own capability in this role, Jess learnt how to say no to get the most out of herself.

Finally, six years ago, Jess found herself at Reckon. Talking about the transformative journey that Reckon has undergone in this time, she is proud of the upwards trajectory it has taken and her own personal growth.

“My favourite saying is ‘love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life’.”

To hear more from Jess, including her definition of an organic mentor and the tools she uses to grow personally and professionally, listen to the full episode of Strivin and Thrivin.

In his current role, Jamie Finnegan, Finder’s Global Head of Talent, is responsible for the growth of Finder's team while also designing and driving business initiatives to further enhance Finder's unique culture.

This week’s episode of Strivin and Thrivin covers Jamie’s career journey from England to Australia and beyond.  Together with Strivin’s Laura Johnson and Tech Life Sydney’s Neil Gunning, Jamie reminisces about starting his career as a recruiter and then moving into the people function.

“I've been very fortunate that the growth has come in many different forms and directions.”

“Just be a sponge. Just soak up as much as information as you can. Learn from everyone, everyone's going to have a different perspective.”

According to Jamie, these learning opportunities are everywhere. He names numerous people that have been instrumental in his career (and learnings) and talks about the course he is currently participating in, called Redefining HR.

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