Vera, a Senior Manager in Client Success for Enterprise clients, shares her career journey, her promotion during maternity leave, and the support she received during this time. Read her advice to working parents and the essential skills she’s developed during parenthood.
Before joining Indeed, I worked in a multinational enterprise for an energy supply company in the UK and Germany and also held a leading role in an advertising agency.
I was very excited to join Indeed in a client success role and become part of the tech industry. When I joined, Indeed in Düsseldorf, Germany it was still in a startup state.
Throughout my seven-year career journey at Indeed, I’ve had several promotional opportunities. After two years, I became a Manager; three years later I interviewed for and was promoted to a Senior Manager position while pregnant and just two weeks before my delivery!
I returned to work part-time eight months later and then transitioned to full-time. Seeing Indeed and the teams grow throughout my time here has been exciting. In addition to my daily responsibilities, I’m also an intersectional ambassador for EMEA’s Parents and Caregivers Inclusion Business Resource Group (IBRG).
How did your manager and Indeed support your promotion?
It was very ambiguous for me to apply as I knew I would be absent for some time after giving birth and did not want to come across as inconsiderate. I spoke with my director, and he encouraged me to apply and not focus on circumstances other than my skillset and experience that I would use for this role.
We discussed the opportunities and risks and agreed that the overall risk in taking this role was low; nothing to lose; even if I wasn’t considered, I should still show my interest and gain contact with the Senior Leadership team.
I decided to apply because I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and had a proven record of success. At home, I discussed the role with my partner regarding new responsibilities and additional stress; he was very supportive.
The interview process included three rounds and an assessment. The last round was with the Vice President of Sales for the Germany, Austria, Switzerland (DACH) market and the VP of Client Success at that time for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), Southeast Asia (SEA), India & Australia & New Zealand (ANZ).
I was open about my situation during this interview, and my interviewers reassured me that this would not be a disadvantage. Just before giving birth, I received positive feedback that my promotion was successful.
What skills do you bring/did you develop as a working parent?
The essential skills I developed as a working parent are prioritization, focus, time management, and solution efficiency.
Everything must be planned beforehand to handle two jobs — at Indeed and at home. It’s important to delegate in these environments and to have a clear overview of the most important tasks. There is no time for nonsense, and this redefines your priorities in life and work.
By learning more about my child, I also get to know myself better and develop even more empathy for everyone around me. For me, it produced a clearer shift towards the people I work with and better leadership and relationships – to focus on the big picture rather than operational perfection.
What career advice would you give to working parents?
Be conscious about your strengths and have a clear plan of what you want to achieve; accept that you cannot be perfect in all areas of life.
Rather point out what you are strong in and why it’s important, don’t be afraid to take the next step, and never think parenthood is a disadvantage. Instead, parenthood develops you personally and represents an asset of additional skill sets you can bring to the table at work.
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