Reka's Escape Story: From consumer products, to education startup

“I have a lot more glisten in my eyes when I talk about my current job”

Reka is currently working as a Research and Evaluation Manager at Oak National Academy, one of the Top 100 Escape organisations. She told us her story of going from working in one of the largest FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) multinationals to a small online education startup that was set up during the pandemic.

Could you tell us about your previous career, and how you got into it?

Throughout my studies I was always good at maths, and as a fairly straightforward choice I ended up with a Masters in Finance. However, I never particularly enjoyed Accounting, M&A, Controlling and for that matter any of those subjects that we covered. I am really curious by nature, love to read and learn, and I stumbled upon consumer and market research, a field where you can combine numbers with a deeper understanding of the ‘why’ behind those figures.

After university I started working at one of the largest consumer goods companies, in their consumer research department. At the start of my career I remember travelling to Moscow for a research project, and I was observing a focus group through the glass window when I thought that I can’t believe that I am getting paid to do this and I hope that I can do this forever! Well, I can’t say how ‘forever’ this will be, but I am still doing research, and I still love it. Basically as part of my job I need to learn more about people, what drives their behaviours, what they think, like and want - it never gets boring as there is always something new to find out.

What do you do now in the startup world?

After university, probably everyone is just really happy to bag a job and start being financially independent, at least I was. I only became more intentional about my career path a couple of years later, with a promotion and a second assignment behind my back. I think that is when many of my peers started asking these soul-searching questions: Is this what I would like to do for the next 30 years? Could I see myself in the position of my managers? Is my work actually making this place a bit better? 

I came across OnPurpose, which is a year-long leadership programme that helps mid-career professionals get started in purpose-driven organisations. During the programme, I worked on two full-time six-month consulting projects at King’s College London and FutureLearn. This is where I learnt that I did not need to change everything about work to find a better fit. If you break any job down into three elements: the skills that you use + the type and size of the organisation + the sector, I realised that I only had to change the latter two, after all I became a researcher for a reason.

Education is something I truly care about, and I have a lot more glisten in my eyes when I talk about my current job, leading research and evaluation at Oak National Academy. It was set up during the pandemic to ensure the continuity of learning while schools were closed - at our peak day we had 2.5 million pupils accessing our lessons! I am really proud of our contributions and I truly enjoy being part of a smaller organisation. We are around 40 people currently, where everyone knows everyone and your ideas are not stifled by complex processes. Actually, quite the opposite - I had to set up our approach to user research from scratch, having been the first researcher when I got hired.

What was the most difficult thing about making a change?

I did not anticipate how hard the first year in London would be, as suddenly everything changed, I basically pulled the rug out of my feet. I went from working in a rather glamorous job in Switzerland to a rather moderate salary during the first year. Although I had lived in the UK during my studies, never in London, and the sheer size of the city with the constant noise and happenings could get really overwhelming. Although it was easy to meet new people, I found that it was not that easy to form deeper connections - everything was in constant flux.

On the flip side, so many different lives can be lived in London - as I was reminded when a banker friend invited me to an ‘all you can eat’ seafood dinner that cost my food budget for the week! I really threw myself into all London could offer, tried new hobbies, did lots of volunteering and organised various hikes to the countryside. Also got into some rather surreal situations, such as when I had to give a talk to a hundred 18-year-olds at work about plagiarism. Without trying to sound cheesy, these years definitely shaped who I am today.

What would you say to someone reading this who is not sure what they want to do, or knows but doesn't think they can do it? 

There are just so many resources out there to figure out your next career move! My favourite book on this topic is Designing your life by Bill Burnett. It involves lots of writing and thinking - it’s not your usual self-help book. It also talks about piloting ideas, which I absolutely recommend. Before I left my corporate job we actually started a presentation skills course for kids with my friends and I was teaching myself. This just showed me the stark contrast between my day-to-day job and this ‘passion project’, and it gave the final kick to change jobs.

I also took part in Escape the City’s weekend bootcamp that was rightly titled ‘Get Unstuck’, and it really helped to ideate with others about what paths to pursue. During the OnPurpose year we were encouraged to reach out to people whose jobs we found interesting. Whenever I mention this to others they show some scepticism about this, but many people I reached out to agreed to meet. These chats did not necessarily lead to a new job, but you can always learn something interesting from everyone, and you would be surprised how open and generous people are to talk about their experiences. 

Last but not least, what Covid taught me most is not to plan too far ahead. You just need to figure out the next immediate step and more opportunities will appear from there. 

Are you looking for more inspirational and motivational real-life stories? Check out the rest of our series of 'Escape stories' on our blog!