EduEvo: Welcome Marijana to the EduEvolution world. We are glad to have you here. Can you please make an introduction about yourself to us.

 

Ms. Marijana Petrović: Hello, first let me say I am very happy to be here and I am super exited to be part of this project. Let me start from where it all began. I am from Belgrade, Serbia where I have done my studies and started my career in marketing and I can very much say marketing was love at first sight for me. I came to the advertising agency as an intern knowing nothing about it and ended up staying for six amazing years. That has led me to an opportunity to move to Dubai where I am currently living and working for the past almost eight years. It was a big change on all fronts for me but was definitely a path for more life and professional learning.

 

EduEvo: You are a Marketing Manager at McLaren in Dubai, so tell us more about the mission of your company and her employees? What are the company goals?

 

Ms. Marijana Petrović: As McLaren Dubai we are part of a larger UAE based company – Al Nabooda Group that is one and only distributor for McLaren in Dubai & Northern Emirates and a sole partner of McLaren Automotive in the Dubai & Northern Emirates. We are committed to representing McLaren values in all aspects of business and on the other hand as a distributer we are very revenue and profit oriented. The main goal is to combine these two and create a diverse and agile environment where all the teams can work as one towards the same goal.

 

EduEvo: How did you start a career in this company in particular? Can you remember some experience from the very beginning of your starting working for them? Did you have a stage freight, nervousness, any fear from failure? Do you remember any turning point/a game changer which was the most significant for your work and success? How did you cope with stress and how do you handle stressful situations nowadays?

 

Ms. Marijana Petrović: Starting my career with McLaren Dubai is a very interesting story as a call for an interview came at the moment when I was about to move out from to Dubai after seven years. As you are assuming this was what brought me back. I had for sure nervousness as I was entering a different segment of the automotive industry (I was previously working for Toyota) that I have never worked before and had a lot to learn and take in first few months, even after twelve years of experience in marketing. It was a learning curve for me and a very valuable one. Over the years I have learned that stress is caused by the pressure you put on yourself mixed with the fear of a failure. Now once you learn that you can actually impact these it becomes easier to manage it. The big role in fighting the stress and stressful situations is definitely people you are surrounded by and you work with every day. If you have the support and help of the team sky is the limit.

 

EduEvo: How did you start your career in Dubai?

 

Ms. Marijana Petrović: It was one of those unexpected opportunities that happen once or maybe few times in life. I was working in advertising agency in Belgrade and our client was a big real estate developer from UAE that was building a huge mixed-use development in our city. After completing the launch of the project and marketing campaign I was asked to move to the marketing team in Dubai. Being a great opportunity as it was I have accepted it started my journey in the Middle East.

 

EduEvo: What can you tell us about the life in Dubai? How is difficult for a foreigner to start a working career there?

 

Ms. Marijana Petrović: Dubai is a very foreigners friendly place probably the easiest one to settle in. Not many people know but only 20% of the Dubai and UAE population overall are the locals all the rest are the expats. The system is very organized to take you in and for you to adjust at earliest. Company will take care of your visa and documents and your is to start exploring your new job opportunity and the city itself that has a lot to offer. I like to say that Dubai is somewhere between east and the west, wherein very open for a Middle East country and still has its own charm and heritage. Here you will find people from all over the world and you will probably hear over 10 different languages spoken in your office. It will teach you a lot about different cultures, people, tolerance and your own routs. In Dubai you will never feel as a foreigner because 80% of the people you are surrounded by are also expats same as you are.

 

EduEvo: In what way did this company help you achieve the success you have now?

Ms. Marijana Petrović: It has helped me grow and learn in a way that I have gain deep knowledge about the brand and the whole luxury automotive segment by being involved in projects not only marketing related but also sales, products pricing and supply chain that are key holders of an automotive company. Anther and most important part of it are people and colleagues that are the constant support without which none of the above can be achieved.

 

EduEvo: What are your future goals?

 

Ms. Marijana Petrović: I am a passionate learner and I would like to eventually move to another industry and have a similar journey as I have had with automotive. In marketing switching industries is not common as people tend to stay in one and move around the brands. Since I have advertising agency experience we are used to switch from one client and industry to another so I am lacking those unexpected journeys.

 

EduEvo: What do you consider the biggest challenge in the business-running, but also in the educational system of the times we live in?

 

Ms. Marijana Petrović: I believe at the moment we live in the uncertainty is one of the biggest challenge business owners and educational systems can face. We have seen how in a split of a second the whole world can stop and I don’t think anyone will forget that, as in these are the things no one can influence or change.

 

EduEvo: On the basis of your experience, how do you assess the current education quality?

 

Ms. Marijana Petrović: It depends on the part of the world and definitely of the institution and way of learning, but from what I could see and witness I believe it is on a much better level than it ever was as I think we are all starting to realize that you do not need to be physically present to learn and that learning is a 360 process it involves, classes, learning, praxis and developing interpersonal and people skills.

 

EduEvo: What do you think about online business-running?

 

Ms. Marijana Petrović: I think that soon enough business that will not be run online will stop to exist, again this whole situation has showed us how much online business have eased our lives during lockdowns and main objective of every run business is to solve a certain problem.

 

EduEvo: What do you consider the biggest flaw/issue of an educational system of 21 st century, and what might be its main quality/advantage?

 

Ms. Marijana Petrović: As much as it has made it easier for everyone to realize that online learning is the future I still believe that human interaction is very important and we should not move from it completely. This is also an advantage as you can be anywhere in the world and learn about anything you imagine. Another advantage is vocational praxis and praxis in general that were not that common earlier.

 

EduEvo: What do you expect from a perfect candidate and vice versa?

 

Ms. Marijana Petrović: You need to set expectations based on the role you are hiring and professional level and if you have set these right you know exactly what you are looking for. I trust that perfect candidate need to have a drive and passion for the position you are hiring apart from the competence needed for the position.

 

EduEvo: What do you find the most important with the candidate, what is that makes the final judgment with the selection? What is the joint quality you think they all have? Is it important how do you reach out to them and where do they come from, in what manner?

 

Ms. Marijana Petrović: I believe in – you hire the attitude not skills, skill you can teach and attitude you cannot. Here where education comes as very important part of everyone’s lives as this is the first professional interaction you will have and where you will learn how to deal with responsibilities, interact with colleagues and professors. If certain interpersonal skills are not thought or developed at that period it can hardly be changed after. So final judgement goes for the positive, hardworking and people’s attitude. As I mentioned many times its people that your surround yourself with that make the biggest impact.

 

EduEvo: In which way the companies and our educational system could achieve a better cooperation and build a joint future for the young together?

 

Ms. Marijana Petrović: As mentioned I think its crucial for the companies and our educational system to have better cooperation as this is the unique way we will be developing talents and professionals. The cooperation needs to be more of a partnership and knowledge exchange. Vocational praxis and guest lecturers would need to be the core of these partnerships.

 

EduEvo: What kind of advice would you give the youngsters being at the very beginning of their professional career? Did you have a role model which you looked up to for the certain aims you have set to achieve?

 

Ms. Marijana Petrović: My main advice would be – love what you do because you will be doing that for the most of the time of your life so choose wisely, be passionate, driven, never stop learning and growing and most importantly have fun. Those are the advises I have taken from my role model who was my first manager and at the same time owner and founder of the advertising agency I have started my career in. If you manage to follow these sky is the limit for you!