“I think career progression comes from the right skills, the right attitude and being at the right place at the right time.” – Montserrat Bravo, HR Director, EMEA & APAC at Similarweb, speaks to us about developing a career in HR Leadership.
As part of our commitment to supporting candidates to develop fulfilling careers, we’ve invited some HR Leaders to share the secrets of their success.
This week, we had a great conversation with Montserrat Bravo at Similarweb, who began her career as a professional psychologist before transitioning into HR. Montserrat worked as a HR / Recruitment Manager at Ashbourne Group in London for five years before becoming a HR Officer at WorldSkills UK, where she quickly transitioned into a HR Manager, Shared Services role.
In 2015, Montserrat joined Connexity as the HR Manager, where she remained for 5.5 years. During her tenure, Connexity acquired Hitwise and promoted Montserrat to the role of HR Director, UK. In 2020, she joined her current company, Similarweb as HR Business Partner, EMEA & APAC. She transitioned into her current role as HR Director, EMEA & APAC in January 2021.
Can you tell us how you got into HR and why?
I’m originally from Mexico, and in Mexico it’s common for HR professionals to be psychologists. That’s my background, I completed my bachelors in psychology with a focus on organisational psychology, then got my first job as a HR assistant for a real estate company. After a while, I returned to academia and obtained my masters in clinical psychology. I was, and still am, very passionate about people in general, and the drivers behind their behaviour. Why do people behave the way they do? How do people experience happiness? How do the intersections of personal and professional life overlap?
I worked in education for a while as the head of a psychology department before moving to London 14 years ago. It was then that I began working as a recruitment consultant, which led to a role in HR.
Can you tell me about the key themes and challenges that you’re seeing across the HR sector?
One of our current challenges, which I think is common for companies our size, is our business grows faster than our people. This means we have to promote people faster than we would like to, so the maturity of our managers can be a challenge. Many of our managers have built careers within the company without working in other organisations and we have to support them and equip them with the skills they need to become effective leaders.
We don’t have attrition or hiring challenges right now. We have a good proposition and we’re able to attract top talent, but the question is, once we hire them, how do we grow them and give them a sense of career growth within a furiously competitive market?
Related to this is our second challenge, which is the perception of growth. Similarweb is in the tech sector and most people in this sector are part of the millennial generation. We have a combination of very talented, high potential people, who are ambitious to progress in their careers but who lack maturity to understand how growth actually takes place. As a solution, we’re trying to find the right balance by providing mechanisms and frameworks that will enable both managers and individual contributors to understand how they can get from point A to point B.
What career advice would you offer to someone either working towards a career like yours, or someone just getting started in their HR career?
I strongly believe job titles and the package attached to them are a byproduct of something else, more important. I’ve always done things because I care. I’ve followed my passion and my values, so the advice I give to others is to do the same.
I think career progression comes from the right skills, the right attitude and being at the right place at the right time. Be humble and focus on learning. Actively ask for feedback and push yourself to be self-taught as much as you can. Grab opportunities when they are in front of you, especially if they can lead to strong relationships.
If you are starting out in your career, get experience at a smaller company. This is the route I took and it allows you to learn quickly, experience different areas of HR and stretch yourself. Lastly, be open, be flexible and always try to do a good job.
Montserrat has been responsible for the EMEA & APAC regions at Similarweb since April 2020, first in her role as HR Business Partner, and then as HR Director.