From International Studies to HR: ‘I use my skills every day’
Ana Oleart came to The Hague from Barcelona to study for her bachelor's degree in International Studies. After completing no fewer than two master's degrees at Leiden University, she now works in the HR department of a large hotel chain.
‘I first studied International Relations in Spain for a year, but that programme wasn’t as internationally orientated as I hoped’, says Ana. 'I'm much more interested in languages and cultures. That's why I started looking for a degree programme that offered more opportunities in that area.'
She soon found her way to International Studies. ‘I really liked the multidisciplinary nature of the programme, as well as the fact that all the lectures were in English, which gave me the opportunity to meet people from all over the world.’
Studying during the coronavirus pandemic
In 2019, she moved countries in high spirits to start her bachelor's degree, but six months later, she found herself in lockdown at home, just like the rest of the world. ‘I think my class was still lucky,’ she reflects. ‘We had done the HOP week and got to know our tutorial groups in person. By the time the first lockdown started, I had a group of people around me that I could rely on. That's also the beauty of such an international study programme: you're all in the same boat. Everyone is far away from their parents, family, and friends. That's precisely why I was able to make many good friends, with whom I watched movies or had game nights when the world opened up again, for example.’
Ana also threw herself into her lectures. ‘I did as much reading as possible and attended as many lectures as I could,’ she says. She enjoyed studying so much that after completing her master's in International Relations, she started a further master's in Media Studies. ‘That was the most enjoyable programme I've ever done, because the focus was so strongly on culture. At first, I was afraid that I might have a gap in my knowledge, but it was actually really nice to see how many things came back to me.’
From internship to job
This made it easier for her to combine her studies with first an internship and later a job at the CitizenM hotel chain, where she joined the recruitment team. ‘My people skills were very important there,’ she says. ‘For example, I learned to conduct conversations in a very personal way.’
After completing her second master's degree in 2024, she was quickly promoted within the HR department. ‘I am now a Junior People System Specialist,’ she says. ‘It's a mouthful, but it means that I am part of the HR team that focuses on systems and analysis. It's our job to make sure our employee systems are running properly.’
Useful skills
She admits that her work is quite different from her studies: ‘In terms of content, it doesn't have much to do with the lectures I took back then, but when I have to spend a few hours filtering the right information from an Excel sheet, it comes in handy that I learned to sift through all kinds of sources.’ She is also grateful for the group projects. 'They gave me experience working in a team, which comes in handy when I have to sit down with stakeholders.'
For now, Ana is satisfied with the life she has built in the Netherlands. ‘I have my friends here, I met my partner here. I'm a member of the volleyball club. Maybe in five or ten years, I'll want to go back to Spain. Maybe by then I'll want to write a novel, which has been my big dream for a long time, but for now, I'm enjoying the fact that I've just graduated and started a new job.’