Ivan Smiljković

After competing university, I had no work experience and as did most of my peers, I also thought it would be very difficult for me to find employment. At that time, not many were interested in hiring fresh graduates without any employment experience.

However, all of this changed when I joined the team at ProCredit Bank in 2007. Here I found myself among many other colleagues who, just as I had, had started their careers from scratch, without any prior experience. We all learned how to do our jobs from our seasoned colleagues. The knowledge and skills I had obtained at university greatly assisted me and, as a result, I was able to understand what was expected of me by much simpler and easier means, helping me to advance in my career.

I started my career working on credit risk analyses but quickly realised that I needed a more dynamic environment, which is why I moved to a position that would give me more direct access to SMEs operating in Nis and the surrounding region. Thanks to my efforts, good results, but also to the fact that my superior had recognised all of this, in 2011 I was promoted to Branch Manager and quickly afterwards to the Head of the SME Dept. From 2015 onward, I have been a member of the Executive Board, responsible for work conducted with SMEs, IT Sector management, as well as leading and implementing the most up-to-date banking services.

It is my belief that choosing the right university and faculty is one of the most crucial decisions in life. This choice not only affects where and how a person will live, it also affects how satisfied that life will be and how happy. This is why it is important to not to take this choice lightly, because the path of least resistance is not always the best path.

It is important to spend your entire life learning, to always be open to new knowledge and professional experience because this is the only way that your life and work will be able to keep up with the times in which we are now living.

If you wish to share your story with us, send us an e-mail to the following address alumni@eknfak.ni.ac.rs and we will contact you