Bojana Đurđević started her career at Delhaize Serbia – a brand of the Ahold Delhaize family – in the juice bar of the Maxi store in Belgrade’s biggest shopping mall. Four years later, she is working as a coach at the supermarket chain’s training center. “To this day, I’m grateful for the person who saw me and believed I could do more than sell shakes and smoothies. If you’re motivated and work hard, you can go very far in this company.”
Bojana sees her journey as the perfect example of the types of opportunities that are offered to associates at Delhaize Serbia. She never finished her college degree – “Love sent me in a different direction,” she says – but that didn’t stop her from making strides in the company. “I had fun working at the juice bar. I particularly enjoyed interacting with the customers, chit-chatting with them and hearing their stories while I prepared their smoothies and shakes. But I won’t lie, when someone from the company mentioned that I should be promoted to make the most of my capabilities, I was very happy and thankful.”
Bojana was promoted to the role of Coach at one of the company’s three training centers in Serbia. All the centers have the same clear-cut goal: to ensure that all the new colleagues joining Delhaize Serbia’s stores get the best training possible. After all, they are the ones interacting directly with the thousands of customers. “The most important message I want to communicate to new colleagues is that they should always be positive and polite and have smiles on their faces. There’s a Serbian expression that roughly translates to: ‘A kind word can open golden gates’. It means that a smile or kind comment can make a huge difference to people. Alongside being friendly, I want our store associates to know the answers to all of the questions they’re asked by customers. Obviously it’s impossible to know every answer, but as long as you make the effort to find out for next time, I’m happy.”
Bojana and a team of other coaches lay the foundation for a positive attitude during the five-day training program that all new store associates attend. During this time, new hires receive a lot of practical guidance and are given plenty of information about their job and the store in general.
"One of the things I love most about my work is the daily interaction with all the different people who join our company. Just like when I was working in the juice bar, I enjoy the conversations with them. I find that people open up to me easily and share quite a lot with me. After five days together, some even see me as a friend.”
Of course, there’s a flip side to everything, and the part of her job that Bojana enjoys the most is also the part she finds most challenging. “Because each person is so different, I need to approach everyone differently too. I try to transfer my enthusiasm and energy to everyone, literally trying to pour my positivity into them. When I see them going home with smiles on their faces, I know I’ve done a good job.”
Hard work and motivation are being recognized and rewarded here
Other than trying to spark curiosity and positivity in every new associate, Bojana has an even more important goal: “I want to make sure that every new colleague knows that this company offers so many opportunities. There are lots of roles you can take on and places you can go. I use myself as an example and describe how my career has developed and how I personally have grown since I started at the juice bar.
Hard work and motivation are recognized and rewarded here. And it all starts here in the training center, where I introduce our new colleagues to our ‘family’. I really feel like I’m making an impact on how they view their work, our customers and the company.”
When Bojana’s workday ends, her other ‘job’ awaits her at home. “I have two kids: a son, Stefan, who is nine, and a daughter, Stefana, who is seven years old. Managing their busy lives is almost a bigger responsibility than my duties at work. After school they have sports training, music lessons, playdates, and more – they participate in lots of extracurricular activities. My husband, Dejan, is a well-known Serbian illusionist who performs all over the world, which means I’m often on my own. Luckily, my mother-in-law generally steps in to help when he’s traveling. I tend to have very little time to think about work when I’m home. I’m one of those moms who says she sometimes finds days in the office less hectic than days at home,” Bojana says, laughing.
Name: Bojana Đurđević (1989)
Started working at Delhaize Serbia: September 2020
Living with: My husband, Dejan, and our two children, Stefan and Stefana
Hobbies: Swimming, listening to music and spending time with my family
Wake me up in the middle of the night for: A Toblerone chocolate bar or Nutella and banana
Favorite holiday destination: I love traveling in general – the destination doesn’t really matter. In winter I like to go skiing, while I prefer being near the sea in summer. I enjoy visiting cities, too
Life-changing event: I lost my dad when I was 11 months old. Growing up without a father changed and shaped me in many ways – I guess it made me more mature. And of course, becoming a mother was the biggest life-changer of them all
Biggest source of inspiration: When I was younger, my mother was definitely my biggest source of inspiration. How we managed to find our way through life together was inspiring. Today, my kids are the ones pushing me to be and do better every day
Best advice I’ve ever received: ‘All you need to achieve things in life is the will. There’s a Serbian saying that expresses the belief that bad health is the only obstacle that can get in your way in life. If you’re healthy, there’s nothing stopping you from realizing your goals, as long as you’re motivated and dedicated
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