A Day in the Life of… Tanja Arsenijevic

Who are you, what did you want to be as a child and what do you do now at UniCredit?

Hello, I’m Tanja Arsenijevic and I joined CE&EE at the beginning of 2021 as a part of the Organisation & ICT team. From a very young age, I liked to read and study a lot and for this reason my chosen profession was a librarian. This converged to a doctor, then a teacher, but I think the “adult” profession I chose somehow combines all the beautiful sides of each of those.

Today, I am proud to have been part of UniCredit Group for 14 years, starting in Serbia as a University graduate in the Contract Administration team, then switching roles in processes, methodologies, and project management activities. Winning 1^st place at the UniCredit Hackathon as a part of a great team was a turning point in my professional life leading to an exciting role as Project Manager within Operations CE&EE today.

What do you enjoy most about your job and what is the proudest moment or greatest achievement of your career?

My job is extremely exciting, considering the international perspective and insights into diverse economies in different countries across Central and Eastern Europe. This gives me the opportunity to broaden my horizons and find suitable solutions for challenges in various environments and most importantly to practice and improve my resilience as an approach in my daily work. The moment I realised I had developed resilience as a skill was when I saw all my professional efforts pay off.

And what is the hardest part?

Multitasking as a concept is something we adopted and embraced as “business as usual” but sometimes it can be frustrating. I overcome it by developing collaboration within the team and by trying to encourage everyone to “speak the same language”. This makes it easier to find prompt solutions for the many challenges we come across.

What advice would you give your younger self or somebody considering this role as a career?

Professional life is about learning from the challenges and opportunities that come our way. It is also about getting to know yourself, your virtues and improvement points and there is no better way to do that than to take risks and give your best to overcome them.

How do you balance your professional and personal life?

Each life part has its own “time” that requires full dedication and they both give me joy. I enjoy what I do, and I find pleasure in my life at work in the same way. I like to spend time exploring new fashion trends and admiring new outfits - and living in Milan is the perfect place for that.

What do you like to do to relax after a hard day at the office?

I like to spend time with my friends enjoying tasty food or visiting cultural events, but also having time to myself for reading amusing books or watching good movies after a long day.

What would your perfect day look like when you are not working?

I like to do “short escapes” over the weekend, and I enjoy travelling and visiting new places. Getting to know new cultures and new ways of life can bring so much joy to our own little world. I add some “adrenaline” to it by trying out new things every now and then – such as jumping out of a plane at 4000 metres, which was a unique life experience.

What was the last book or the last movie you loved? And why?

I find “The Conquest of Happiness” by Bertrand Russell one of those books that leaves you out of breath, being written in a wise yet easily understandable manner on the view of life from the perspective of a philosopher. It made me change my way of thinking and develop a more unconventional approach both at work and in my private life.