Ana Colak-Fustin, former Global 500 recruiter, on figuring out internal job changes and career growth internationally
Who is Ana Colak-Fustin
Ana Colak-Fustin is a former recruiter for Global 500 companies and startups, career coach, and founder of ByRecruiters - a website for job seekers featured in Yahoo News, A Better HR Business, Best Colleges, Side Hustle School, Starter Story, and more.
As a recruiter, she saw firsthand what employers are looking for in candidates and what job search strategies actually work. She also developed her career clarity framework to guide her career decisions and continue building her career even when moving abroad.
She now uses these insights to help corporate professionals navigate their job search and advance their careers.
How Ana has navigated a successful (and fulfilling) international career
With a Masters in Psychology, and experience in recruitment, Ana realized that she had a keen interest in coaching. She didn’t come up with this through applying for jobs, though; she first did some deep internal reflection to figure out where she wanted to take her career.
Ana and her husband are both highly motivated to progress their career, and have a shared love for travel and living abroad. With this context and clarity, Ana and her husband have been able to make aligned decisions that has allowed them to live and work in 3 different countries to date, all while progressing their career in jobs they love.
Top takeaways: building an intentional and fulfilling career
Reflection is always your first step
“One or two hours of reflection can save you weeks, or months, or years, down the line.”
Asking yourself some questions first can save you time and potentially poor/rushed decisions.
Take into consideration things like:
How happy are you in your current situation?
Are you in a rush, for any reason, to make this move? (Read: are you absolutely miserable?)
What do you want your life outside of work to look like? Where are you located? What are you doing? Who are you with?
Internal moves (in your current company) are often overlooked
You might actually like the company you work for and the people you work with, it’s just the work that no longer excites you.
You’ve built up a reputation, so why not exhaust every internal option first before completely walking away from an otherwise good thing.
Ana did an excellent job of explaining some of the ways you can seek internal mobility opportunities, including:
Having an open discussion with your manager about wanting to make a shift but hoping to stay in the team/department/company if possible. This will get them on board to support and reduce any friction caused by blindsiding them later on.
If there aren’t any opportunities in your role, direct team or department, start thinking outside the box. What transferable skills could allow you to achieve the career growth you’re looking for?
Looking for interesting opportunities where you believe you could add value and in a way that excites you.
Your first step in making a career or job pivot is NOT applying for jobs
Ana stressed that one of the biggest mistakes you can make in the process of changing careers or jobs, is starting out the process by applying for jobs.
She says that by starting out with reflection, you can create the foundation to build a fulfilling and intentional career that is long-lasting. She also stressed the importance of continuing to reflect throughout your career and make shifts to stay in alignment with your life and career goals.
If you’re contemplating a career or job change, here are three first steps you can take:
Listen to my previous episode on setting intentions for the year ahead, which includes a guided meditation to help you get clear on what you want
Download my reflection guide “5 Steps to Career Clarity” that will walk you through uncovering who you are and where you want to take your career (and accompanying podcast episode can be found here)
Check out Ana’s Etsy and webshop and get 20% of all resume templates with code ALLFIGUREDOUT
To connect with Ana via LinkedIn click here.
To check out Ana’s website click here.
