Her Story
About Sophia
I'm currently working as a recruiter, having just started this week at a company where I previously interned in sales. When they offered me an account manager position, I told them I didn't want that, and they offered me the recruiting position instead, which I was excited to accept. I'm 24 years old and currently finishing my master's degree in HR, which I'll graduate from this May. I've been studying HR for a few years now, and while I'm doing full-time school and full-time work, my ultimate goal is to transition into an HR role. What really attracted me to my current company is that they seem to see value in me for down the line when the company grows and managerial or HR positions open up. My father was also in HR, so I'm trying to follow the path that he took. Right now, my biggest career goal is to gain confidence and comfortability in what I'm doing. I want to feel confident and proud in my work. Over the next couple of years, I hope to stay at this company and build that confidence, and then in about 5 years, I'd like to be working in HR. I know I'm still young and just have to climb that ladder, but I'm eager to learn and never stop learning.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Sophia
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think I would just say the eagerness to learn, and to never stop learning. I love learning. I will always push toward learning, and I will always vocalize that I love learning. I mean, you could - I know I'm fresh and stuff, but people in their careers who have been there for 40, 50 years, the most successful people will say that it's because they love to learn, and they will learn every single day. If you're ever at a point where you say, well, I'm here, I've made it, I'm done learning, that's when you stop being successful.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My biggest thing has always been fake it till you make it. All my classes have been with people who are well-established in their careers, and I was incredibly nervous about taking classes with established people and then feeling like my voice wasn't quite necessary, because why would they listen to someone who's fresh out of college when they have 20, 30 years under their belt. But what was really important to me throughout school has always been, you know what, just say what you think the answer is, just say how you feel. I always spoke in a very confident manner, and that was my goal out of school too, was to gain confidence. I always spoke in a very confident way so that they respected me. I was always taught growing up, like, even if you're not 100% sure, just say it confidently, just believe in what you're saying, and that'll already take you halfway there. Just believe in yourself. Even starting a new job, ask the questions you want to ask. I've been told time and time again throughout my jobs and internships that they love that I ask a lot of questions, because even though it might seem annoying on my end, that helps them understand that I truly am there to learn, and I'm eager to understand what they're trying to teach me right now. So just stand tall. I want to tell women to stand tall. It frustrates me and makes me sad for people who feel like they have to go small to fit in a space, when that is not the case at all. If it looks like you know what you're talking about, people will already respect you so much more. It's just like mind games at the end of the day, and the business world is a hard place to try to get far in, and so you just have to play the games of the corporate world at the end of the day to achieve far.
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