Just hearing them [LeanSEM] speak – one could clearly see it’s a pure act of purpose and passion. It made me feel like I want to be part of that team.
Meet our PPC Account Director, Ivana Mitevska – the girl who joined LeanSEM after completing the Google Ads Masterclass and became a Senior PPC Manager within just seven months after getting the job.
Now, with a much more significant role, she shares her interesting viewpoint on “success” and what she adores about working at LeanSEM. Read more about it.
- Choose three words to describe yourself?
How I think of myself is not necessarily how others feel about me or even who I am. I don’t like creating the picture in other people’s minds on how they perceive me, so I would instead leave for them to judge. ?
- What’s your current position at the company?
PCC Account Director.
- What did your career path at LeanSEM look like? What milestones have you reached?
I started as a PCC Specialist, “evolved” into Senior PPC Manager 7 months later, and I am starting 2021 in the PCC Account Director Role.
I must mention that LeanSEM puts enormous amounts of energy into helping you grow. Starting from a personalized career path (which defines specific milestones for each level) to weekly 1:1 meetings (where you are gathering feedback from your mentors and determine the next challenges that you need to overcome to reach the upper level) and not even mentioning all the training videos and materials we are continually working on.
I feel proud of being part of a company that takes care of its employees’ welfare and growth!
- What is your most vital attribute that allowed you to get where you are right now?
Commitment, curiosity, not being easily satisfied, I guess… But when you think about it, it all comes down to one thing – the passion you have within you to truly make a difference. It must come from the inside.
- What does it mean for you to be part of such an agency and such a team?
No word can describe how much all this means to me.
LeanSEM gave me an opportunity to work with top-level marketers and really make an impact. I am surrounded by like-minded individuals that are always “fueling” my passion for marketing even more. All this made me feel more valuable and also grew me as a person very fast.
I will be forever grateful for that!
- Was your previous work experience marketing related? How did you find out about LeanSEM, and what made you apply for your work position?
Yes, after almost a year of marketing-related internships, I got my first official job in a Macedonian digital marketing agency. I learned a ton there, but I felt like I could do so much more after some time.
I focused extensively on reading more of what I thought could help me progress further and that’s when I saw LeanSEM’s Facebook ad for the Google Ads Masterclass – the perfect timing. I went through the site, got the feeling of who LeanSEM is, and I applied a week after.
I must mention that I was not necessarily thinking about applying for a job position initially, just until I went through the course and took a “sneak peek” into LeanSEM’s culture and expertise. Just hearing them speak – one could clearly see it’s a pure act of purpose and passion. It made me feel like I want to be part of that team.
- What does “success” mean to you? Do you feel like you are on your way to reaching it; have you perhaps already reached it, or is it just an idea that a person strives for for the rest of his life?
Let me start by answering the second question first.
I don’t think that I’ve reached “the success,” and I don’t think I ever want to feel like I’ve reached it. I believe the moment you feel you have achieved your greatest success, you have decided to stop pushing yourself. This is clearly not something that I am striving for.
However, I do think it’s really important to feel that you are “moving towards the feeling of success”. For me, this is happening when I “move things”, when I open myself to new challenges and develop mentally, spiritually, and professionally.
- Some say the LeanSEM’s employment criteria are frighteningly high and strict. Do you agree?
All we ask for is a passion for marketing. Is this frighteningly high and strict for you? If yes, you are probably not the right person for LeanSEM. If you have the passion, the things we ask for will seem very natural and easy to you. ?
- What is the mistake you learned the most from?
There are a lot. Aside from the technical things, I can highlight one thing that changed the way I think.
In the beginning, I could say I was too much of a perfectionist. I’ve recently read a book that said, “It’s much easier to strive for perfection when you are never bored” and I couldn’t agree more. I love what I do, so I can spend hours nitpicking tiny details, redrafting, and improving.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that this is a 100% bad thing, but what I’ve learned in LeanSEM is that this attitude can easily stop you from acting. Action is critical because that is what makes the real impact at the end of the day.
I will stop here and just say that I learned to let go of the “perfect” in favor of “done”, which helped me on both a professional and personal level.
- What is the biggest challenge you face now?
My main focus right now is growing the Google team and its members. This is crucial to my role and ties back to what I mentioned earlier – the focus LeanSEM puts into growing people is something that I’ve rarely seen or heard about other organizations. ?
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Want to find out more about our Lean Superstars? Read all interviews.
And, if you have a passion for digital marketing and you see yourself as part of our team – take a look at our open positions 😉
