Interview with Goodjob Co-founder: Nastya Kharytonova

Hi there! We would like to introduce you Anastasiya Kharytonova ???? – co-founder and CPO at goodjob . Nastya told us how she combines her full-time job at Google with her own projects, how goodjob was created and what she does to recharge, destress and manage her war-life balance?

Tell us about your routine these days. How are things going?

Do I need to be honest with this one? (laughing). I don’t really have a routine right now, especially for the last 6 months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I used to have a routine and it usually consisted of drinking matcha, reading, practicing yoga, and getting up at 7 a.m., and after all this, I tried getting into my day. By the way, the routine didn’t have to be a sequence of all these practices in the morning, it just had to have something that would give me energy and keep a habit going. As you can imagine, all those habits and routines ended with the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Actually, my summer this year was very intense. In addition to? goodjob , I also created a project called Untold Ukraine. Most of my time was spent on work and trips from one place to another, so I almost always fell asleep with my phone next to me. But lately, for the first time in my life, I allowed myself to sleep in the morning as much as I need. I even started asking myself why I was forcing myself to get up at 7 in the morning. Was the ritual itself more important than actually getting enough sleep? So yeah, right now my main routine is good sleep and sport. Even though I travel a lot I always have my yoga suit in my bag, so I can always drop for the yoga class or cycling, or barre or bootcamp, wherever I am. It gives me energy and helps moderate stress.

How you manage to combine so many tasks and projects (work at Google, blog, goodjob, your own projects)?

That’s a good question…(thinking). Overall an active lifestyle gives me energy - I recharge my batteries from being active and doing many things. It's my fuel. Also, I guess I’m also fortunate because since the beginning of the war,?I had a chance to transfer from my regular marketing related role to a special fellowship program in Google.org, focused on technical projects for Ukraine.?In that regard, I didn’t have to switch between business-related tasks and non-profit work. Therefore, the last 6 months my full focus is on helping my country and Ukrainians. This possibility, to have one direction and to be not unfocused on multiple directions at the same time, gives me freedom and ease. Additionally, I always search for synergy between my projects and my network, as it helps to find different touch points, solutions, and partnerships for? goodjob . Regarding my project Untold Ukraine… It is on hold temporary, as we are thinking about what to revolutionize it into, as it won’t be just an event story anymore. And my blog…(sighs). Well, every Ukrainian knows how unbearably tough it is to even post on social media, when your feed is now a mix of news about missile attacks and photos of matcha or concerts. Your brain just goes into overdrive, trying to process it all. I don't quite know what to publish now, because I really want to talk about Ukraine, so that people in Europe and the whole world know about what’s happening back at home. I still haven’t figured out how to combine those two things: the ongoing war and the ongoing life around it. I guess now the lives of Ukrainians are a mix of both.?

Can you describe the day when the idea of goodjob was born?

I would say that goodjob’s creation took a few days, but I can recall one crucial moment. At the beginning of the war, I was helping Ukrainians find accommodation all across the world and very quickly I understood, that people looking for a new home are also looking for a new job. I also realized that Ukrainians are simply crazy in a good way?(laughing), because they had not yet had time to move and settle down, as they had already started looking for a new job. Therefore, intuitively, I understood that it is possible, but rationally it seemed unbelievable - who would start looking for a job so quickly in a situation, when you don't know what to do and where to stay? That's why I thought that I should help with these searches in advance, but in the end, it turned out not in advance, but perfectly on time.

What happened then?

Then magic happened: on the second week of the war,?Dana ( Dana Okomaniuk )?texted me and asked what can we do together to unite our forces, at the same time we were discussing this with Sophie?( Sophie Beketova ). By the way, since all of us are on different time zones (Dana?in Japan,?Sophie?in USA, and me in Ireland), all of us are awake at the same time only for two hours a day, can you imagine?(laughing)??So during those few hours precious hours, we agreed on the concept and the name of the project and then, while I was sleeping in Dublin, Sophie and Dana created a Telegram channel so after I woke up, we had already started posting. That’s how everything started: we were looking for vacancies, writing useful articles, and doing everything on our own at first.?Later so many people contacted us in order to offer help or even offer to become a volunteer at? goodjob .

CPO at Goodjob- who is this person?

That sounds quite fancy, to be honest?(laughing). I feel more like a founder, even though each of us has our well-defined role. But when you start your own project or company, you are in octopus mode anyway. We were doing different processes at the same time, from the very beginning we were doing everything on our own. Later? goodjob ?started growing as an organization and we started working with people, who offered incredible insights and extremely valuable support.

There is a 3H theory which describes that?a minimum viable team should include a hustler, hacker, and hipster. Who are you from this list?

To read more about this theory on Forbes Tech:?link

I would describe myself as more of a hipster, but likewise I love doing partnerships and I am good with this. However, due to my engineering background and understanding of how to work with developers and designers, I could be a hacker as well. So I'll just stop at the definition of a founder because I combine various features. I'm exhilarated by being a founder, because this is something about creation from scratch, and I’m in love with creating. I'm interested in various processes, I can find my own approach to everything, so I'm somewhere at the intersection of things. That, in my opinion, is something that every founder does—combine multiple management styles and skills at once.

What makes Goodjob the most special to you?

For me personally, is the rocket speed in personal development. Also, the way how we formed an outstanding team. Despite the fact that this is a completely volunteer project, everyone is very involved and passionate about goodjob. It makes me very happy, that? goodjob ?provides an opportunity for our team to develop, because everyone can try themselves in different roles and then add this experience to their CV and grow as professionals. Recently, we’ve conducted user research on our mentoring program and one of our mentees said, that goodjob is a platform that allows us to compete on the international level and be closer to what is happening in the world. It's not like Ukrainians are not worth the international level, I think that our program actually helps them realize that they are equally strong professionals as those coming from abroad. We just give them that confidence and customized methods, approaches and networking tips, that help them step up and compete at higher levels than they did before.

Imagine yourself in three years. What picture do you see? What should change (if any)?

In three years, I really want? goodjob to be an ecosystem, that will be used as an innovative approach to both hiring and job searching, catering to both candidates and employers. I feel like? goodjob ?is about helping companies and candidates get to know each other better, even before a candidate presses the “apply” button. With regards to myself - I see myself doing less operational work and having more headspace to be able to focus on vision and concepts more.

?? This interview was conducted by our volunteer? Anastasiia Hmyria

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