Part 3: Own Business |
When I moved to Hungary I had very few job prospects. For a few months I completed a graduate work exchange placement through the same organisation I had been volunteering with, but beyond that I had no further prospects as it was hard to get a HR or Management job in Hungary without speaking Hungarian. I used my time to complete a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration. As part of the paper, Innovations and New Ventures, I developed a business plan for a Learning & Development consultancy which I decided to follow through with.
My organisation SELTI was born, where I worked with companies to identify learning needs, and then design and deliver educational programs to meet these needs. Having a HR background I was able to work well with client's HR departments, and business expanded from an initial focus on Business English teaching, to encompass a broad range of language, IT and general business skills education. My company expanded beyond me, to have 40 full time staff at its peak. During this time I learnt a lot about starting new businesses, managing company growth, growing and engaging a staff base, and then managing through difficult times when in the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009 the financial crisis hit. Our business survived as our educational solutions had to focus on real business needs, and immediate application to the workplace. We also started work in the Middle East where the financial crisis had less of an impact, and eventually I moved permanently to Qatar in 2011. Throughout my time in own business I wore two hats. I was a SME business manager and an educator myself, actively designing and delivering programs. However in retrospect I was a much better educator than business manager. Unfortunately although surviving, the ongoing Hungary operations were unsustainable due to the prolonged impact of the financial crisis and I closed the office, and the relationship with my local partner in Qatar fell through, so in 2012 I left the business. I continued consulting work however, including supporting new educational institutes establishing in Qatar, delivery of programs for workplace skills training, and the design of educational material to support multinational companies going through organisational identify change. |
Key points in my development as a:
HR / Management Professional
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Education Professional
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