OpenSky Employee Spotlight: Aleksandra Szęcińska (HR & Business Analysis)

Creating great teams isn't just about hiring; it's also about supporting those team members in their desire to experiment, grow, and develop in their careers. Today's OpenSky Employee Spotlight focuses on Aleksandra Szęcińska, our HR Administrator & Office Manager in Poland, who is currently transitioning into a new role as a Business Analyst, testament to our policy of development at OpenSky. 

At OpenSky, we understand the importance of giving our staff the time and space to learn, grow, experiment, and develop their career skills. Aleksandra came to us to work in HR; she is now learning and starting to be a Business Analyst. It's vital for companies to fully support their people in their development, upskilling, and life goals, and letting them try new things and pursue new challenges in their career.

 Aleksandra highlights how we bring flexibility and support to careers at OpenSky. 

Aleksandra's Start (and Success) in HR

Aleksandra first joined OpenSky in September of 2019. Coming from a highly academic background in Political Studies with a Master's degree in English, Aleksandra brought a range of skills and experience to the OpenSky offices.

"Shortly after finishing my studies, I worked as an English teacher, and then switched over to an office job. I worked as an administrative assistant and then an office manager, before taking on the role and responsibilities of OpenSky's HR and office administration."

This new role had a great deal administrative work – work that Aleksandra excelled at.

"Every day there was lots of paperwork and data. On an average day, I'd be dealing with invoices and queries, doing payroll, managing office orders, and all the very necessary 'invisible stuff' that makes an office function on a daily basis."

Aleksandra's hard work and remarkable efficiency in this role soon had her taking on more responsibilities, and she was shortly promoted to take charge of all HR processes in our Poland offices.

How to Properly Support Your Team: Choice, Flexibility, & Development Opportunities

Aleksandra's career had always been built on learning, developing, and trying new things. Not keen to settle into the same routine forever, she decided to try something new. 

"I think in HR, I kind of reached my peak. Once you're the expert on how to file invoices, deal with payroll and taxes and office orders, where do you go? The next level was more management roles, and I had already decided that I didn't want to work in managerial roles. I wanted to be challenged, to try new things."

That's when she was given a new opportunity in her career progression at OpenSky: a transition into a role filled with the learning and development opportunities she wanted. Aleksandra started her switch into a new role as a Junior Business Analyst, encouraged and supported by her OpenSky colleagues.

"I had an opportunity to work with a team member, Lidia, in the Business Analysis division. The work seemed new and fresh and different; it was just what I'd been looking for. Lidia said to me, 'Why don’t you try it out?'

I'd never really thought about about, and I'd never done anything quite like it. Lidia was very supportive, recommended I try it, and helped me to explore this move into new and challenging work."

Aleksandra officially started her new role as  Business Analyst in November 2021, drawing on her deep reservoir of interpersonal and human resources skills. One of the most crucial is people skills. 

"In this role, you're always working with people. It's just like in recruitment and interviewing in my time in HR: you have to meet people, explore what they want, and make sure that you're hearing and listening to what they're looking for.

In this BA role, you need to be really good at listening to people -- especially to what they don’t say. It's a unique and interesting way of solving problems, and designing solutions that don't just get the job done, but which bring real, lasting value and satisfaction to these people you're partnering with."

How To Make a Career Switch: from HR to Business Analysis

Making a rather drastic career shift like this, from HR to Business Analysis, can be a daunting prospect. Luckily, Aleksandra has the team members, tools, and flexible, hands-on exposure that would teach her what she needed first-hand. 

"In the lead-up to switching over, Lidia was all about hands-on experience. From the start, we talked about designing the path to switch over, what I'd need to know, what certifications or accreditations I'd need, and how to balance the work and wrap-up of my HR tasks as I move into the BA division. She closely involved me in all the different projects. 

I'm constantly learning, and there's lots of reading and research I need to do be on top of these projects and to keep up with changing legislation. Best of all, you get to know the people, projects, and partners in real time and on the ground."

What Are The Best Parts About Working at OpenSky?

For Aleksandra, two things have been central to making her career at OpenSky one she's loved. 

"Career support and flexibility have been a huge part of the things I've loved about working here. First, it's so incredible to work here with this team. There's such a wide range of friendly and expert people who share in your common goals, and who you can rely on to teach you something or help you get a difficulty resolved. Especially in Poland, even though our team is divided across two locations, we are still so close, more like friends than colleagues."

The second important thing has been the refreshing diversity and flexibility of the work you do here. The work can be highly demanding, but you're never locked into one repetitive job or task. There's lots of new stuff to try out, promotions, avenues for real career growth, and support for big cross-department moves like the one I made. That's so critical to what I care about in my career: the opportunity for development and upward growth.

Thanks to this flexibility, Aleksandra finds plenty of time to pursue her two passions: reading and travel. 

"I'm an avid reader: books, magazines, you name it. I really love it. The other thing is travelling: I spend lots of time travelling with my family. I've been across Europe, to the US, and want to travel to India and beyond, especially now with things opening up."

Finally – and perhaps most important of all – the work Aleksandra does, whether its in HR or in Business Analysis, is rewarding and enjoyable.

"One thing that also makes me feel fulfilled is definitely the people's reactions and appreciation. Through the work that you do, you see a real difference, especially when you're working on some projects like the ones we do that help real people in hospitals, homeless centres, refugee offices, and so on. These are the moments that I like the most."

In 2022 and beyond, Aleksandra has her signs set high. 

"I'm really looking forward to moving completely into my new role in analysis and grow in it. My next step is to get my certification and pass my analysis exams."

Join the Team Leading Ireland's Best-in-Class Public Sector Technology Services

At OpenSky, we're always looking for talented, hardworking, and development-minded professionals to join our team. With us, flexibility, rewards, and career progression are just as vital a part of work as KPIs, customer success, and timely service delivery. 

If you're looking to join a large technology company that builds products that help real people with technology services that help to build modern hiring, housing, homeless assistance, refugee support, green waste management, and more, we encourage you to see where you could fit in on our careers page, and get in touch with us.