Over the next several weeks Women in Identity will proudly shine the spotlight on #WomenofDeloitte. Specifically, four women, Luiza, Emilie, Esther, and Kavitha, all working at different levels within the organization. Through each of their stories they hope to inspire new women to join the digital identity practice and create eminence among those who already are.
This week we hear from Luiza Florea, a Manager,@Deloitte Denmark. Luiza reveals that she didn't let fear stop her from following a new path that she soon discovered was better aligned with her skills and what she wanted to do in the future.
Question: What was a turning point in your career?
My name is Luiza and I work as a manager in Deloitte Denmark within the field of Digital Identity.
A major turning point in my career was when I started working at Deloitte, almost 4 years ago.
I had been working in my previous company for more than 3 years at the time, which had also been my first “serious” job. I started working as an SAP consultant, and then transitioned to working as a hands-on specialist within Identity. For a long time, I was very happy about this job since the work was challenging and interesting and the development curve was very steep. I had also made many friends and had a large network of skilled colleagues which I could always reach out to and ask for help. It was probably a mix between feeling very happy and being young and naïve – but I could easily picture myself working there forever.
After a few years, I started feeling unhappy about being there. I don’t think the company had changed that much over the 3 years, but I had changed, and I felt like the opportunities available were no longer aligned with what I needed. Although I could have continued working as a specialist, I felt like I needed to evolve in a different direction, though I was not entirely sure what that was. This caused a tremendous amount of internal struggle because I felt very strongly attached to the previous company I worked for, especially my colleagues. I could not imagine ever finding a better workplace.
Even after signing the contract with Deloitte, a much larger and prestigious company, I was still feeling very sad and anxious about this change, while constantly wondering if it was the right thing to do. Finally, the last day of work came after a few weeks which felt like a year… and as I had anticipated, it was extremely hard to say goodbye to so many good colleagues and to everything that was familiar and jump into the unknown.
But luckily, Deloitte proved to be just what I needed. The technical skills that I had acquired in my previous job were the ideal foundation for taking on more business-oriented roles within the identity field. It soon became clearer to me that this new career path was better aligned with my skills and what I wanted to do in the future. I worked on many exciting projects and there was never a shortage of challenges to help me learn and develop. My Deloitte colleagues were extremely competent, welcoming and fun – and I quickly felt at home here. I would never have known this, if I had let the fear of change prevent me from taking on this new opportunity. And I would not have developed so much if I had stayed in a place where I wasn’t thriving.
I am very happy for how things turned out and if I were to give a newcomer within identity some advice, I would say to listen to your gut feeling, dare to take risks and trust that you will be OK, despite your fear telling you otherwise.