The guest of the fifth episode of the podcast “Conversations with Charm” was Amalia Sterescu, a very dear friend, Eduprenor, Leadership Facilitator, Personal Brand Strategist, Public Speaking Coach, and Author. Amalia’s experience, especially in coaching and education makes her a specialist adept at reinventing and transforming her career. The fact that she did not follow a classical educational structure, having her own form of learning and rediscovery, has become the main form by which she continuously improves her knowledge and skills.
Throughout her career, Amalia has encountered many difficulties, voices of people trying to stop her from pursuing the career that she felt was the right fit. This is how she discover entrepreneurship and now calles herself ”the sum of paradoxes”.
During this conversation, we debated the myth that “what you study in college is going to become your profession and you will retire doing the same job”. Of course, statistically, says Amalia, the percentage is extremely small. In her 16 years of entrepreneurship, she has worked with many young people who have come to discover themselves and what they want to do only after completing their studies. The failure of young people in choosing careers is due to “the lack of career counseling and mentoring in schools”, as well as the importance of the people around us, the role models we choose in life, the entourage, the pressure of society and their influence in the decisions we make in the career we want to pursue and what is the moment when we need to change careers.
Of course, these decisions are also made according to some signals. At 7:40 am Amalia describes a series of signals for a career change, these signals being fueled by the frustrations gathered over time, financial situations, or various constraints that make that person unable to make the right decision in the process of changing their career. Symptoms of these signals, over time, manifest certain repercussions: diseases, dissatisfaction, becoming toxic to those around them.
At 15:59, Amalia talks about the fact that we are not educated to manage failure, describing it as flexibility, adaptability, “a gift from which you learn to become better”. Failure is stigmatized in the Romanian educational system by both the system and the parents.
At 33:05, Amalia describes the failure as “when you made a change and you didn’t learn, you didn’t evolve, and you didn’t bring value to those around you.” For Amalia, failure is judged by “The value you bring to the lives of others.”
At 21:15, Amalia describes the work she does with her clients and how she helps them find their career path, as well as the importance of people’s interaction with the external environment of the workplace. She is firm in listening to intuition, saying that it is very important to listen to this voice, especially when it comes to career and, ”for every problem there is a solution”. Amalia also talks about the importance of breaks and the period of reinvention between jobs and between changes in our professional lives in order to work “differently”.
From Amalia’s point of view, the vocational change is extremely difficult in Romania and the fact that the Romanian society does not look at the potential of man, but at his professional path, judging in templates, and by doing this losing many professionals who can bring extraordinary value to organizations.
Amalia Sterescu’s advice is to continuously learn because otherwise, we risk becoming mediocre. The brain must be provoked and, as a true professional, continuous learning is mandatory.
In the last part of the podcast, Amalia did a time-travelling exercise and told about Amalia the student, what she was like and what dreams she had at the time. You will find the answer at minute 33:45. The message is very meaningful and validates the work of all teachers.
We invite you to watch or listen to this episode on our Youtube channel or audio streaming platforms and leave us your feedback.
Follow us on the Happy Teachers for Romania Facebook page to find out who will be the next guest and to participate in the giveaway we organize together with our partner, Farmec.
