Retrospective: 2020 and its 11 key takeaways

If 'you're on mute' was one of the most used phrases this year, saying that 2020 was tough and different should be the most used way to refer to this year. I admit, I am guilty of saying it too.

I remember how back in January I was planning to travel even more than I did the years before. I was just taking over a global team and got approval to get it together. I was creating my to-read list (as I do now) and challenging myself to read more this year. Everything seemed promising.

But, as the saying goes, sometimes things don't go as planned.

Here I am today, writing this retrospective, 9 months and something after Covid hit us all. And instead of complaining, I want to highlight some of the good things that happened in spite of Covid and maybe even because of it.

1. My team is split between Bucharest and Seattle. And we work with people all over the world. We were just in the forming phase at the beginning of the year. The conversations were a bit awkward as we didn't know each-other yet. The pandemic helped leveling things a bit more. The fact that we were all remote now made it easier for us to connect. We found new ways to communicate, share and empathize.
2. Our strategy had to adapt. We moved our events online. And as we did that, we were able to open our virtual doors to even more people than before, getting them closer to our brand. We ended up creating more content pieces than planned. Continued our Inside the Rocketship Podcast with season 2, started a 'Meet the leaders' series, showcased more UiPathers on our Humans of UiPath series and started presenting entire teams too. And the best thing is that people started reaching out, wanting to share their story or recommend someone else for us to interview.
3. We did more with less. We believe that you can do a lot in Employer Branding, even if you don't have a big budget. We learned to prioritize better and to be more data driven in the way we implement our strategy. And our results are even better than they were in 2019.
4. In my first year at UiPath I started working on a project that apart from being important for the company, became really dear to my heart. This year we launched our Employer Value Proposition after over a year of work. We now have a career page and a new culture video that really show the world who we are. No budget, just a lot of work, fun and several UiPathers getting involved in making it happen. And a tooon of creativity!
5. I became more and more passionate about culture and looked for ways to bring it even closer to my colleagues. We now have a dedicated slack channel, where people share photos, thoughts, internal events and talk about our culture and values. And, as a next step for our EVP, I now have a global team of people working on embedding it in each step of our employee journey.
6. I published my first Employer Branding article after months of editing and procrastinating. Turns out you can beat the impostor syndrome if you try really hard. Being a guest on a podcast was another big first this year.
7. Having friends at work can really help you get through a lot. Even through a shitty year. I am grateful for all of you and for our random meetings. They were like a breath of fresh air in a quite busy-no-time-for-breathing kind of day.
8. 2019 was crazy with a lot of travelling and work. This year was too, maybe even more so. But it also gave me time to be at home. Spend time at home with my boyfriend and our pets. Getting cozy and finding ways to keep away from boredom. I can tell you Charlie the Beagle and Mitzu the British Shorthair are happier now. The family even got extended with a stray cat brother, named Dobby. And since they also have more time on their paws, they launched their own Instagram account.
9. If you were to tell me that I would be able to cook at home as I did this year, I would have said you were crazy. But, at the beginning of this summer I realized I needed to take a bit more care of myself. So I started eating better, cooking and really started to be more mindful of how, what and when I ate. This helped me with my sleep issues too.
10. HR Hub is a big part of who I am. This year brought a lot of changes there too. We opened up to HR Professionals outside of Romania. We had time to build a great strategy base for 2021. We launched the first mentorship program for students who want to get in HR. And we're getting closer and closer of hitting the 10K members mark. I am proud and humble to be part of this project and cannot wait to see what magic we'll do in 2021.
11. Last but not least, this November I started the Employer Branding College certification program. I am happy to be able to do that with people from all around the world. And I cannot wait to tell you more about this experience next year.

This year was tough. And busy. But it was good too. I didn't travel that much - I only got to see Oslo before the quarantine blocked us. But.. I traveled through the pages of 53 books. I met and worked with even more great people. I took more care of myself. And I realized once again, how important it is to be connected to like-minded people.

In the end, it doesn't seem that bad, right?

Happy holidays! Or happy end of the year! Get some rest, recharge and let's welcome 2021.