Carlina Marani

You have been working for Accenture for a while, can you tell us more about your position and the organization?
“Accenture is a consultancy company. They also have various fields of expertise within consultancy. Before I was hired, these fields mainly operated independently of each other. Accenture had the desire to increase the connection between the different industries. But realized that they had too little sales capacity for the large complex deals. This includes the job of a market maker. Accenture wants to increase turnover, which mainly comes from the larger deals. So that's what I focus on with my role. I do this for the Asiam region (Africa, South-East Asia, India, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East).”

You are now a market maker, but what will your career be like in the future started?
“I studied Italian language and literature in Leiden. After my studies I decided, if I had studied the language, I also wanted to discover how the country worked. Then I moved to Italy, where I lived in Milan for five years. In Milan I actually ended up in the sales world. There I fulfilled sales and consultancy functions for all kinds of different companies, but mainly within the chemical sector. In Italy it was very difficult to take steps and get ahead as a foreign woman. That is one of the reasons I returned to the Netherlands. In the meantime, I had developed an interest in PCs. This enabled me to assemble and disassemble my PC, which led me to look into the IT sector. Then I ended up at Dell, where my career in the IT world actually started.

I then worked for quite a few IT companies, such as Microsoft, InterAccess (now SLTN), also a business partner of IBM. After InterAcces I ended up working for IBM for ten years in all kinds of different positions. Started with software sales and progressed to my worldwide position as director. Then Elles came across my path…”

How did that process with Elles and Women in Sales go for you?
“Initially, Sabine did a reach out LinkedIn. It was for a job that was not at my level and it was in the Netherlands. At first I reacted a bit irritated and said that the position was totally below my level. Hats off to Sabine, because she convinced me to call each other anyway. During that phone call I told more about my profile and wishes. In particular, that I had been looking for a long time if I could go abroad with a specific preference; dubai. Sabine said that Elles had a call with Accenture in Dubai and that I should give her a call if I would find this interesting. I didn't want Accenture Netherlands, but I was open to Dubai. In addition, I was already in a global position at the time and wanted to keep it that way. Then I had a call with Elles. She took my resume right into the process. After that I had a first conversation fairly quickly. Many conversations later, I took a week off in May to deal with the last conversations, so that I didn't have to do that next to my current job. At the end of May I signed the contract and canceled at IBM. The removal container was already at my door, even before I had completed my background check, references and everything that still had to be done.”

Perhaps a bit cliché, but what does your future look like?
“I honestly have no idea, but I think that's also a useful career tip. I know that the HR director of IBM once said, “your career path is not one linear line”. What I hope is that I will be very happy at Accenture Dubai for the next ten years, just as I was happy at IBM for ten years. And also that I might be able to take a few more steps. I also hope to stay in Dubai for the next eight years so that my daughter can finish school here. But mainly that my family and I continue to have a good time. Suppose it doesn't work at Accenture, then I don't see that as a problem either, because as I said, my career is not a linear line. Perhaps I was meant to move to Dubai, but that I would soon end up with another company or that I would stay in this position for the next eight years. We're all going to see it and I'm going to do my very best to make this a success. Ten years ago I could not have imagined that I would now be here as a senior director at Accenture Dubai.”