How Petra Cibulkova won a trip to Dreamforce as the Dreamhire

In Dreamhire by Ben Duncombe1 Comment

Talent Hub recently returned from an incredible week in San Francisco for Dreamforce and we were glad to be able to enjoy the experience with Petra Cibulkova who had won flights, accommodation and a Dreamforce ticket when she became the first Talent Hub Dreamhire winner.

We spoke to Petra to discuss how she won, what Dreamhire meant to her and what advice she would have for next years Dreamhire winner.

 

Tell us about your Salesforce career to date and how you became the first Talent Hub Dreamhire?

Around 5 years ago I secured a role as Project Coordinator with a company that was building their own platform on Salesforce. I was involved in all the ongoing system developments but also administering the system and supporting users.

When I started the role it was all very new to me, I didn’t have an IT background and until that point I had never even heard of Salesforce. Little did I know that gaining this exposure to Salesforce would move me to a completely new career direction full of possibilities!

6 months ago I decided to explore new career opportunities, somewhere I could further develop my Salesforce skills. I initially lacked a little confidence in my Salesforce capability as my last employer had heavily customised their solution meaning that I had some catching up to do on the standard Salesforce functionality.

Talent Hub helped me to get my current job at Ivy College (Scentia) and it has been a great journey so far! I have learnt so much in the past 6 months and I feel very proud to work for an award winning company that strives for innovation and excellence and have such a cool culture!

The new job got even better when I found out that by securing the role through Talent Hub, there was a chance that I could win a trip to Dreamforce! Thankfully my manager was happy with my performance, meaning my name was in the draw and then I was lucky that my name was drawn out of the hat!

 

Did you ever expect that you would attend Dreamforce one day?

I had always heard great things about Dreamforce but I only know a few people who have attended previously so it had always seemed unlikely that I would go. I know it is a bit of an investment to travel there from Australia, but now that I have been I would definitely encourage employers who use Salesforce to send their staff if they can because it’s totally worth it.

 

When you found out about Talent Hub’s Dreamhire competition, did you ever think that you would win?

I didn’t really put too much hope into it to be honest. I didn’t want to be disappointed so I just waited to see.

 

How did you find out that you had won and how did you feel?

I was having lunch with my partner and I remembered that the draw was due to take place that day at 12 or 12.30. So I just looked at my phone just past 1pm and when there was no call I said “Oh well, I didn’t win, maybe next time.”

Then 5 minutes later my phone rang and I was told I had won! Of course I was very happy and super excited!

 

What were you most excited about in the build up to Dreamforce?

Up until only a few weeks before the event I didn’t really know what sessions there would be or what to look out for. But I did know that Tony Robbins was going to speak there and I definitely didn’t want to miss that!

When the agenda builder was released in the U.S time zone, I woke up 4am to book some sessions early before they get booked out! There were so many sessions that it was very hard to choose. I wanted to do literally everything (which of course was impossible, unfortunately).

I was also very excited as this was going to be my first visit to the United States. It was great that Talent Hub also made it possible for me to land a few days earlier so I could enjoy a bit of the city too! So thanks for that Talent Hub!

 

What was your biggest highlight from being the Dreamhire and attending Dreamforce?

It was not only an incredible professional experience but also a personal one.

One of my biggest highlights was attending Tony Robbins’ session. It was almost 4 hours of great energy, inspiration, motivation and even emotions as he shared some powerful messages with us.

I have also realized that the Salesforce world is so much bigger than I imagined and it felt great to be part of such a fantastic community that is conscious and contributes to a better world. Salesforce sets a great example to other companies and inspires many of them to give back through their 1:1:1 model (donating 1% product, 1% of equity, 1% of employee time), creating the right culture where equality and trust is one of their core values and they also know how to have fun!

I am very grateful that becoming Talent Hub’s Dreamhire gave me this wonderful opportunity to experience this.

 

How do you feel that winning Dreamhire and attending Dreamforce will benefit your career?

I feel very inspired and excited. I saw the great things that so many companies do with Salesforce, learnt about many interesting products that could possibly benefit the company I work for so I can’t wait to go through my notes and start to explore and learn more about what’s out there.

Of course I took away many useful admin tips & tricks and I am also going to start preparing myself for the admin certification which is one of my next goals. Now I have lots of useful information and resources, so no more excuses!

 

What advice would you have for next year’s Dreamhire winner?

First of all, it can be you! It is possible!

And when you do win make the most of it! Prepare yourself, be organized. It is quite an overwhelming experience so you need to be clear about what you want to take out of it. Follow chatter groups dedicated to Dreamforce as these are full of useful information and tips.

When you do plan your agenda, bookmark everything that interests you. Your plans will change, so you will save time searching what other sessions you might want to attend instead.

Also, try to get out of your comfort zone if you are not very talkative or social person. There are some great people to meet, to learn from and share.

But most of all – have fun! Actually, it’s very hard not to.

 

If you would like to be in with a chance of winning flights, accomodation and a ticket to Dreamforce 17 then check out https://talent-hub.com.au/dreamhire/ or call Ben Duncombe on 0405 838 965.

 

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