A year of growth — Ash Alwis, Talent Acquisition Partner
Meet Ash, he moved to sunny Barcelona from London to catch some rays, enjoy good vibes, and go after his career goals. He recently celebrated his first year anniversary at Preply, and as always, we used this occasion to reflect together on his growth and learnings over the past 12 months.
💥 What has been your highlight in these 12 months at Preply?
For me a sign that you are blessed with a job you enjoy is when you’re getting ready for bed on Sunday and you are genuinely looking forward to a fresh new week to get things done. I am in a fortunate position where I enjoy the job that I do, and the people that I work with. I am learning, growing and enjoying the journey with my team. This for me has been the highlight over the past 12 months. And for that I am grateful.
🚀 How have you grown in your role?
My biggest area of growth has been transitioning from agency recruitment, working with 4–5 clients at a time and responsible for tech profiles, to in-house recruitment, where I am responsible for Product and Design recruitment of just one company. This was a big shock for me at the start, but with the support of my lead (shoutout to Ross Inman!) and my team, it has overall been a smooth transition.
I’ve really benefited from weekly 1–1’s and discovering my strengths and weaknesses, and strategizing together how to further enhance my skills in this role. Being in an environment where it is ok to fail — as long as you learn from it — has also been refreshing. This allowed me to also grow on a personal level by gaining more confidence in myself and what I can achieve.
📖 What’s one thing you wish you knew before you joined?
How much impact our work has on people who use Preply to learn languages. Being a language learner myself, I understand the value languages hold. It opens up a whole new world and conversations with people who you could never speak to before. You get to see the world in a whole new light. Using the Preply platform further highlighted this for me as my Spanish level increased drastically.
Now, being in a position where I directly contribute to hiring the right people who further enhance Preply and positively impact the lives of people is very rewarding. This was something I wish I understood in more depth before I joined. But regardless, it is something that adds sunshine to my work day and acts as motivation to go beyond my targets.
🌎 How would you describe Preply in three words?
I feel like I can’t describe Preply in 3 words, but with 3 phrases, I can! (Rules are meant to be broken, right?).
💙 Great people
💙 Awesome product
💙 Positive impact
Our Talent Acquisition team is still growing and we are looking for more members to help us bring great talent on board and provide them with excellent candidate experience. So if you’ve enjoyed getting to know Ash and would like to join the team, check out our open vacancies here!
