This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we speak with Caro Caluwé, Head of People at ezyCollect.
After studying law then working in hospitality at five star hotels, Caro transitioned into HR in the hotel industry. She then jumped to hospitality HR, then to tech HR.
But interestingly enough, Caro didn’t want to be in recruitment!
“I wouldn’t say I necessarily enjoy it too much, but it was more so for visa reasons, because when I moved here, I moved just on a working holiday visa with the intention to stay here. But that was the easiest way, I guess, to get some kind of visa. Every year, I slowly transitioned more and more into the HR side of things. Although recruitment is still part of my role, it’s not my major passion.”
When it comes to the tech world, however, Caro was interested in this whole new world she hadn’t seen before, and three years later, is still there!
“I was actually quite fortunate that management was kind enough to see some potential in me and take me on. And oh, yeah, it’s been three years here now. And now I could actually not imagine working in any other industry, to be honest. The tech world is just way too interesting.”
Now, one question we ask all our guests is what’s one piece of good advice and one piece of bad advice you’ve received in your career? We loved what Caro had to share.
“I think one of the worst ones that I’ve been given is that once you are in an industry, you’ll have to stick with that and you’ll have to be an expert in that industry. And it will be very hard for you to change it. And one of the better pieces of advice is you know that saying that they say, “People don’t remember what you said to them, but how it made them feel”? I actually think about that a lot and it’s true…that’s something that I also often think about in the way that I interact with other people.”
Caro has moved countries a few times, so we had to ask what she thinks her biggest learnings are and how she thinks that’s helped where she is now.
“It’s helped me tremendously, just living in different countries. And because we all have to deal with different nationalities, it’s different if you actually experience a different culture.”
