Maria Ćwiląg

How it started:

While completing her Master’s degree in Management at the Cracow University of Economics, Maria began her professional journey at Career Angels in 2013. She initially supported career consultants in their advisory work, learning the foundations of career and HR consulting. She quickly became an essential part of the management team by building service delivery standards, streamlining procedures, and training new team members – including career consultants. Her contributions were consistently recognized, leading to several promotions:

– 2014: Junior Business Partner

– 2016: HR Business Partner

– 2017: HR & Admin Manager

– 2021: Career Consultant

Highlights from her HR role include:

– Implementing the #HireCompetenciesNotCVs approach, relying on objective testing (incl. Gallup CliftonStrengths & Decision Dynamics Career View)

– Championing the #WeReply principle to ensure candidates receive feedback within 2 business days

– Reducing employee turnover from 30-50% to 0%

– Coordinating 50+ recruitment processes

– Decreasing average recruitment duration from 7-8 weeks to just 1 week (assuming candidates are responsive :))

– Cutting onboarding time in half through a self-designed e-learning module

Alongside her career, Maria pursued postgraduate studies at the University of Occupational Safety Management in Katowice in “HR & Payroll”.

How it’s going:

Today, parallel to her HR & Admin responsibilities, she supports:

1) Experienced managers and executives across:

– Poland and Europe, including the DACH region

– A variety of industries, such as FMCG, financial services, production, logistics, marketing, and luxury

2) HR Consultants in the delivery of B2B consulting projects

3) Delivery of CSR and outplacement programs

Why are you at Career Angels? What’s your favourite part of your work?

I really enjoy the flexibility and variety in my work. None of my days are “typical”. I am responsible for so many different tasks that I never get bored. And although there’s a lot of novelty and mobility every day, this job fulfills my need for specialization, as we are highly focused on quality and in-depth knowledge.

In addition, I get more and more involved in career consulting services, so I experience the feeling of changing our clients’ lives in a positive way – that is highly satisfying!

What’s your life motto?

“Do what is right, not what is easy”.

I try to be remembered as a good person. I wouldn’t like to regret any of my decisions. I try to influence others in a good way.

What’s the best & worst career advice that you have ever received?

I have learnt everything I know about career at Career Angels, so it is really hard for me to choose one specific piece of “best” advice.

During my postgraduate studies on payroll, we had a subject called “career consulting”. The lecturer shared with the group the following advice (keep in mind – it was already 2017!): “headhunters don’t use LinkedIn when looking for candidates – they have their own databases as a resource. It is worth having a profile, but it is not that important in terms of recruitment, so don’t treat it like a CV – e.g. there is no need for you to provide your responsibilities or profile summary.”