Most job interviews only last an hour or two, tops. But this is the unusual story of an interview that dragged on for four long years. It must be some kind of world record, right? Not quite…
We often hear people complain about how difficult it is to find a high-quality job in Croatia, how it’s impossible to land the career you really want, how most jobs don’t offer the salary you need—and the list of negative comments goes on and on.
After hearing all these job-seeker horror stories, you may begin to wonder if all your hard work and investment in yourself will ever pay off.
Don’t let the deluge of downer stories get you down.
As it turns out, there is hope for those who are persistent, driven and determined. In the sea of depressing career stories, this one is an uplifting tale where a job seeker’s hard work, passion, and commitment to personal goals ultimately led to success—it just took a little time. Four years, to be exact.
1,434 days ago
As you might have guessed, this story all started four years ago—long before Infinum had grown to 130+ employees and moved into our big, shiny offices. Back then, we were a lean, mean start-up machine.
On this particular day, Infinum’s HR manager Tanja hailed a taxi. After she climbed into the car, Tanja and the driver engaged in the customary small talk. They discussed the weather, current events, Tanja’s job, and what her company does…
“Wait a minute!” the driver exclaimed. “Your company designs apps and websites?”
As it turns out, the driver’s son was studying to become a designer. In fact, he had already successfully designed his very own app. Tanja handed the proud father her business card. “Here’s my contact info. Tell your son to give us a call some time,” she said.
“You never know,” she thought to herself, “maybe his son is truly talented.”
A few days later
Tanja received a call from the driver’s son, whose name was David. Although David was in his fourth year of studies, he did not have any real-world career experience. Even so, Tanja invited David to come in for an interview. Our management team had a very pleasant conversation with him. Unfortunately, at that time we were hiring only senior designers. Nevertheless, we told David to keep in touch.
Again, some time has passed, and a smaller Croatian company was looking for a young designer and asked us if we had any recommendations. We immediately thought of David and knew he’d be the perfect fit. We recommended him to the company, and—go figure—we helped him land his first job!
One month ago
As time passed, David progressed in his career and took on a few other jobs. Then, last month we received an online application for a job posted on our website. We were pleasantly surprised to see the application was from David!
It had been four years since our initial interview, and David’s CV was buffed up with plenty of practical experience—which made him a perfect candidate for creating world-class digital products. After putting him through our comprehensive selection process, we offered David the job. He accepted our offer and joined the Infinum team today.
Since the moment we first met David, 1,434 days have passed. After all that time, David never gave up on us—and we never gave up on him. Today, David is a part of our family, which consists of hard-working, passionate people who invest in themselves and others.
The moral of the story
Set goals, work hard, and persistently pursue your passion. Invest in yourself, and don’t give up on what you love. No matter what happens, hard work always pays off in the long run.
