Prospa’s Maria Kojevnikova talks to Laura Johnson from Strivin and Neil Gunning from Tech Life Sydney about her career story and lessons learned along the way in this episode of Strivin & Thrivin.



“If I could give my younger self advice, I would tell her not to force herself to continue to operate in an environment that she knows is what she’s naturally excited about or drawn to…”

She started her career in recruitment in fashion and retail on the agency side and transitioned into in-house resourcing roles from there.

What attracted Maria to shift inhouse was a combination of two things:

1. Her desire to build longer-standing relationships with candidates once she’s placed them - enjoying the opportunity to, for example, catch up with them during random watercooler chats or celebrating their internal promotions.


2. Her instinct to solve strategic business problems using her people-focused lens.

Off the back of this shift, Maria gained more in-depth experience in collaborating with hiring managers and guiding them to help design and deliver a great candidate experience. This is a real opportunity for partnership, explains Maria… As internal talent acquisition, you can perform a much deeper analysis of your hiring manager’s needs. It’s an opportunity to identify what skills gaps exist in the larger team, for example.  Partnering with your hiring manager(s) enables talent acquisition to become a trusted partner that can help drive the business objectives - focusing on adding value, rather than just getting a bum on a seat.

A key theme that stands out in this episode with Maria is the value of having a strong network.  Maria reminisces, for example, about how she got into the tech industry through a loose connection she had with the husband of a client she was recruiting for. This contact was someone influential in the tech industry, helping her become more familiar with the landscape.



Another example of this is the exposure Maria got to HR through her mother, who was studying HR when Maria was young.

She also reflects on the best advice she’s ever received:

“...people don't remember what you say or what you do, and I think it's a Maya Angelou quote, but it's really how you make them feel…”