MICHAL CHMIEL Role: HR Director Area: Human resources Employer: ORLEN Unipetrol; former: Orange Polska, Telekomuniacja Polska What can I help my mentee with? overall soft-skills development show what life after studies looks like advise on what to do while studying to make the person interesting for the employer show what it means to manage people    LinkedIn profil

Despite the fact that Michal is an IT graduate from Warsaw University of Technology, he has been working in HR all his life. His first job after graduation was supposed to be a data analyst for the HR department of a telecommunications company, but within a very short time he took over more and more of the HR manager's agenda. During a career of about 14 years in telecom companies, he worked his way up to a director position. 

He has now been HR Director at ORLEN Unipetrol for 9 years, with about 5000 people under his management from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Germany. His responsibility is to take care of the overall HR agenda - from recruitment to departure of employees, payroll and accountability to external institutions such as tax office, social and health insurance etc.

Despite his successful career in HR, Michal does not forget his passion for IT. "I still miss this field, maybe I will return to it one day. I admire students of technical universities because I know how demanding studying there is. I respect all those who complete their studies at technical universities."

As part of his mentoring, he would like to give his mentees an outline of what life outside of school is like. "I think the end of studies means mainly that you start to look after yourself. Everything starts to become more complicated and life may not look as beautiful as the student years." He is happy to share his experiences, show that you can work your way up from a low position to the top and support his mentee in making decisions about his future.