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We had a pleasure to sit down and have a coffee with Sanja on a sunny day in Belgrade in a caffe next to the Kalemegdan fortress and talk a bit about her work experience with Balkan Hire.
Sanja was all smiles while she told us her story of how she found success with remote working and quickly rose to the position of a COO of a leading Amazon brand.
Sanja was born and raised in Belgrade, Serbia, finished Belgrade Business School – Business College of Applied Studies, and was very interested in Management and Marketing to begin with.
After college, she tried pursuing a career in her own profession, but even with all the enthusiasm and willingness to learn and work the offers usually ended with ‘’You don’t have enough experience’’, or ‘’ You are too young ‘’ responses.
Before diving into remote work she was employed in one of the largest bookstores in Serbia as an Assistant Manager for over two years, but she ended up being overworked and underpaid, like it sadly happens with this position, especially in Belgrade.
BH: Tell us a bit about yourself.
First of all, I wanted to say thank you for creating Balkan Hire , I am sure that you will give many great people a chance for a better future, as it happened with me. As you probably assumed from my intro, I was just a typical girl that worked in so many different places just to support myself through college, telling myself that it would all be worth it once I finish and finally have a degree.
I thought a degree would give me a chance to work in my own field of profession and interest, but that never happened for me like it doesn’t happen for most of the people here.
I hear a lot about self-titled millennials, but honestly, I could not get any opportunity in my field and I was willing to start from nothing and prove myself.
So, after a series of menial jobs, bad employers, and even worse paychecks, I decided that I have to change something. After a long search and many, many interviews that lead nowhere, I finally stumbled upon Balkan Hire, and my world completely changed.
BH: How did you get interested in remote working/working from home? Where did you hear about it? Did it seem achievable?
I used to hear stories on social media, blogs, and magazines about all of these people that started working as VAs for foreign companies and doing their work from home.
It seemed like something I would like to pursue, especially since knowledge of foreign languages was crucial for these jobs and I was fluent in two of them.
But finding these jobs seemed like a hard task, and honestly, I started believing at a certain moment that it was just not going to happen for me…
BH: What made you dissatisfied with your previous role?
As a person who loves to read a lot, working in a bookstore seemed so nice and interesting. But, very quickly I realized that there was nothing charming about it.
From long hours, a minimal salary that never increased, and no chance for any real promotion, I wanted to move on to a job that would give me a chance to show and use my knowledge, learn, improve, and, finally, advance.
BH: What was the recruiting process back then? How did you prepare for it?
Testing of English language was one of the first tests I had, along with testing our computer skills, people skills, ability to solve problems quickly and even doing some “testing” researches of the themes that I was unfamiliar with at the moment.
It was all part of the large test to see if I was capable to learn and adapt to different situations .
BH: What were the skills that you believe helped you ‘’make the cut’’?
Advanced knowledge of English was definitely one of the important traits that was required, ability to adapt to new situations quickly and the overall willingness to learn and give 110% of commitment .
My CEO was looking for problem solvers and creative thinkers that won’t just wait to be told what to do, but they would (after training) be autonomous employees.
Before he decided to hire remotely in Serbia, he was remote hiring employees from the Philippines and other Asian countries and he was not satisfied. In his words and experience, he needed to constantly micromanage his previous employees which eventually tired him out.
From a YouTube channel he heard about positive experience when hiring remote workers from the Balkans and decided to give it a go. I’m very glad he did.
BH: Tell us a bit about working remotely for a company? How would you summarize it and what were the main benefits?
I work for a company that designs and sells fitness equipment for women and starting this new job, at the moment, was so exciting and refreshing.
I remember that one of the biggest surprises for me was the chance for my ideas to be heard and appreciated and the fact that my time and efforts were acknowledged and awarded.
The feeling of progress, constant growth and all the new knowledge I acquired were also huge bonuses for me.
BH: What skills have you improved the most?
I learned a lot about marketing, sales, customer service, all the logistics that goes into running an Amazon FBA business and adapting to every change that Amazon throws at sellers.
On a personal level more than any skills, I noticed that my confidence, belief in myself and my abilities were restored, which is priceless.
Besides that, my time management and communication skills have been vastly expanded.
BH: What was the biggest challenge?
Taking the risk at starting something new when everybody tells you to keep doing the same old, safe thing.
BH: How do you manage working from home and staying productive? Do you use coworking spaces? How do you plan your day?
I found out that I love working from home. It gives me better focus on my work and no distractions.
I have tried working from coworking spaces and I think that they are great for bigger meetings, but personally I concentrate better at home.
I would usually start my work around 9am, I would work until 1-2pm when I usually go out for a lunch or make a nice homemade lunch.
After that, I get back to finishing my work which is usually around 5pm and then I enjoy the rest of my day relaxing, exercising and enjoying the things I love to do.
One of the biggest advantages of working remotely for me is that fact that you can organize your time, work at the hours you’re the most productive at and change the environment from time to time for an additional motivation and inspiration.
I work from home 90% of time time, but when I feel like it I can move to a coffee shop, restaurant or even work from this pretty Kalemegdan terrace across the street.
BH: Taking into account you progressed quite fast in your role – what do you think made you rise up to the challenge?
I believe that the gratitude for the amazing chance I was given made me focus much harder on learning everything I needed to know quickly.
I always want to learn more and give as much as I can, and that is something that my employer seems to respect and like.
The biggest satisfaction was looking back after two years and realizing how far we came – the number of products we were selling on Amazon was tripled and our brand got a huge exposure thanks to our efforts.
BH: What’s the advice you’d give to someone looking to start working remotely?
I would say go for it! With enough commitment and desire to learn you can have the job you always dreamed of and the job that you deserve.
BH: Based on your work experience with Balkan hire, what would you say to the companies/entrepreneurs looking to hire in the Balkan region? What makes talents from the Balkans stand out?
I believe that people of this region invest much of themselves in their education, but after that they can’t get the jobs they deserve here which is why, if hired for the right company, they will be hard workers and loyal.
Most of the youth here speaks more than one foreign language and are very friendly and adaptable.
And I really think if you give a chance to a talent from Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Macedonia, they will have a huge desire to prove themselves, grow and show that you have made the right choice.
We are hungry for success and your company can benefit greatly from this drive. 🙂
