For Anna Kelly, Qualitest People Success Manager in the UK, meeting new people is a source of joy. She believes herself to be a worrier with a habit of ruminating. However, these traits help her be compassionate and assist her in building connections, which in turn spurs on her to achieve something and motivates her to improve.

Areas of expertise

Anna’s area of expertise is Resource Management, which has also been her field since she graduated nine years ago.

In 2017, when she became a part of Qualitest, her expertise was limited to managing global demand for the enterprise practice for a smaller talent pool of ninety spread across the US, UK and India.

However, gradually, both her role and expertise were modified. Presently, she is managing a larger talent pool of 400 across all sectors in UK.

Her expertise also includes understanding how people are passionate about specific roles and figuring out a way to deploy people into roles that they are excited about, thereby supporting their career growth and progression.

A career in IT & the Qualitest journey

Her career in IT started from an interesting story where she had to shift to Business Communications classes from IT due to lack of teachers. However, she later joined a large IT consultancy as a Resourcing and Recruitment Coordinator.

She says, “I didn’t intentionally choose a career in IT. I actually applied for the role thinking it was within the HR department!”

 

However, eventually, her interest in the role increased as she got to know more about the role.

“I continued to learn and grow within Resource Management and have now worked in 3 IT Consultancies in the resourcing function,” she adds.

 

Even though she joined Experior in 2014 as the Resourcing Administrator, she became a part of Qualitest after the Experior acquisition in 2017. Till then, she was already the Resource Manager at Experior.

However, her new role was to oversee resource management in the US, UK and Offshore. Later in 2019, her career at Qualitest further progressed when she got an opportunity to manage resourcing for Qualitest UK.

“I was involved in helping to shape the Global People Success function, which was launched in 2021,” says Anna.

 

Advice to the future Qualitesters

Anna suggests aspiring Qualitesters to connect with people outside their team and ask for support when needed.


She further adds, “There are various career paths you could take within Qualitest and as the business grows, think about where you would like to take your career and how QT’s growth can help you achieve this.”
Anna also has some pieces of advice for personal growth. She says, “In this new world of working from home, make sure you take time to focus on yourself. I utilize https://whenthetensiongoes.com/ when things are feeling a bit overwhelming.”

 

Women History Month and Women in Tech

Anna is extremely optimistic about the journey of women in tech.

“It’s fantastic to see a spotlight on Women and how far the world has come in a short space of time,” remarked Anna.

 

In addition, she believes that it is important to share stories of brave and inspiring women for future generations to learn from and continue to be inspired and motivated.

“Women in tech is a good movement. The tech industry is male dominated, so it is encouraging to see and celebrate women in this field and create a supportive network,” asserts Anna.

 

Anna speaks very highly about the women leaders she has had the chance to work with.

“I have had the pleasure of working and learning from some fantastic woman leaders throughout my career. I have had three female managers during my career in IT. I looked up to each of these women as mentors and I am grateful to them for helping me achieve what I have and take my career to where I am today,” she says.

 

Anna also draws inspiration from Einav Lavi, Qualitest CPTO.


“Having recently moved to sit under P&T in the QT structure, I have been able to work more closely with our CPTO, who I look up to as a female leader,” she says.
In conclusion, she opines, “All of these women have taught me to challenge myself and strive to achieve, but also the importance of taking time for yourself, and your family.”

Life beyond work

Anna loves traveling, getting to know new cultures and trying out new things, including food and unique cuisines. In addition, she has a passion for amateur dramatics and enjoys long walks paired with a pub lunch.

Like many others, Anna has also developed a lockdown hobby in the last two years: gardening. As she has recently got married, she values the quality time she spends with her partner.

“Serial” and “The Teacher’s Pet” are two of her favorite crime podcasts. She also likes other podcasts where she learns about things, one of which is ‘Stuff you should know.’