Movemeon spotlights are a series of articles focusing on our members’ journeys into new opportunities.
Vasyl hired several consultants and commercial professionals for the company, First Circle, via Movemeon. He then found his own career opportunity on Movemeon to join the Financial Times.
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Vasyl Davydko,
Freelance Digital Media Consultant at the Financial Times
In your own words, please tell us a bit about your career.
I’m originally from Ukraine, but I was raised in Spain and attended college in Barcelona. Working as a management consultant at McKinsey Madrid office was my first job. I was very interested in technology, so I joined Amazon, which was in the initial years of its launch in Spain. After 2 years at Amazon, I discovered a great opportunity – through Movemeon – to join First Circle, a fintech company based in Manila, Philippines. I stayed until our Series A funding and we also hired several people via Movemeon!
I later founded my own company, but after 3 years in total in Manila, Singapore and San Francisco, I moved back to Europe and started to work as an independent consultant. I ended up applying for a freelance role at the Financial Times on Movemeon.
As a user of Movemeon from both the candidate and the employer side, what do you think of our service?
When I joined First Circle, fintech based in the Philippines, I was looking for a role that provided some excitement in terms of scope and geography, but also matched my skill set.
Movemeon’s unique business model, where both roles and candidates are pre-filtered, helped me, and also many of my friends, to find these kinds of unique opportunities.
As an employer looking to hire, it is also great because the profiles of candidates on Movemeon are pre-screened, so you know you are going to get extremely high-quality applicants.
As someone freelancing during the pandemic, have you seen any trends in the market?
I had to close down my company in March, and freelancing means I can work with companies under very clearly pre-defined criteria.
In general, COVID-19 has created a lot of uncertainty. As a result, companies are hiring more freelancers: they are budget constrained and they don’t know whether they are going to need full-time employees. As candidates, many people can’t plan long-term like they usually do, neither geographical relocation is feasible in most cases, so they are choosing to freelance. It’s ‘try before you buy’ for both sides if you like.
Thinking about your consultant role at the Financial Times, could you tell us what attracted you to it?
Digital transformation of companies is one of the topics I am highly interest in. This is one of the great things about Movemeon – jobs are always interesting.
Secondly, it was the right fit in terms of my skill set with an attractive compensation scheme.
Lastly, Financial Times is an outstanding organization to have in your resume in terms of firms you have worked with, so this was a fantastic opportunity.
How would you describe the experience of finding and starting a job during the pandemic?
For me it’s actually been great. Overall, I am a very positive person, so I firmly believe that it’s a great time to be alive!
If you are an ex-consultant working in digital / media / transformation, or you are a software developer, this is actually a great time. We have to mention that many people have lost their jobs which is awful. But for these fields there has been a lot of innovation; a lot of early adoption of technology.
The way people apply for jobs – and the kinds of jobs – in these fields has changed, but for those fortunate to be in one of the fields above, the pandemic has created a different level of convenience. You can stay at home with your children or work remotely, which also creates bigger opportunities for people who are not based in core geographies. Remote has enabled a better lifestyle for many people.
Do you have any advice for others applying for freelance positions during the pandemic?
It’s very important to customise – whether it’s your CV or cover letter (or both). As a freelancer, you are expected to bring expertise, not learn on the job like a new perm hire. So your relevant experience and skills have to be at the fore.
It can also be good to manage your expectations on compensation or to do some pro bono work, just to be able to demonstrate that you have the relevant experience and expertise.
As a last bit of advice, I’d say make sure you are signed up to Movemeon’s newsletter, which can help you keep an eye on what’s going on even if you are not currently looking for a job.
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