Hungarian woman left in crippling debt by 'friend' worked over 10 jobs and now has dream career

Moving to the UK, Krisztina worked 10 to 15 different jobs in Birmingham and surrounding areas, including as a case manager at the Jobcentre in Walsall.

Now 32, she shares her story of struggle and success, now that she is finally working in her dream career at a Birmingham tech company.

Krisztina's story

"I always felt that if I stayed in Hungary, I would not be able to fulfil my dreams as it's not a place that offers many opportunities, or chances, due to the post-war mentality, no open-mindedness and government corruption.

Whatever I tried to do, I kept on bumping into dead ends and becoming more miserable, knowing I will get nowhere if I stay.

When it came to choosing a university, the good places had thousands of over-applicants, meaning little chance for me to get in as well.

After looking at some international universities at an annual educational fair, it became evident I needed to move out of the country.

My journey then started. I moved to the UK, where I did a hospitality and events management degree, finishing with first class and even managed to complete my internship abroad in the USA for a year - all of this with self support.

My family was not in a position to assist me, unfortunately, and I didn’t expect them to.

This was my decision, therefore I accepted the consequences and that it would be a hard but rewarding journey.

My university years were far from easy.

My friends would describe me as always getting into the worst situations and coming out with the best outcome. My financial situation throughout has been a rollercoaster.

I had to work full-time as well as studying full-time, sometimes even doing two jobs to fund my placement year, as well as sending money back home every now and then.

My dad has left us with a big mortgage in Hungary, therefore my mom was trying to manage on her Hungarian minimum wage.

To then top it, my brother started having serious mental health issues and my mom other health concerns that needed regular treatment, therefore they needed to stay in the country.

I was homeless about 3 times throughout my university years but have made such good friends. With their support and my positive mindset, I always knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel, no matter what happens.

The last 10 years in the UK taught me to fight and be positive on another level.

I had to think that there is a solution to everything and did not give myself the luxury to panic or stress, as I considered that as a setback to get out of the bad situations as soon as possible. It wasn't an option.

After uni, I managed to secure a job at a one of Birmingham's biggest and most prestigious restaurants, which was in its prime at the time.

I made life long connections, including meeting my partner, and have only moved upwards.

All those years I spent working during uni has given me a huge advantage in my work life and be able to go straight into all levels of the industry when I finished.

It was not short of struggles though at all; I had my biggest financial disaster during this time where someone who I thought was a friend had got me into serious financial debt, getting chased by debt collectors, following which he just disappeared. I had a mental breakdown from this, and used my coping mechanism of sports to help me get through it. Being a former professional handball player in Hungary playing for the National 1 league, my active meditation has always been sports and anything to do with movement.

I signed up for The UK challenge - a team building event - through work, which is a serious mental and physical challenge for corporate businesses, and have been selected to be in the 12-member team representing the company. Training for this competition has incredibly helped me get out of this rut and rebuild my mental health, incorporating yoga and meditations in my training routine that I've never done before.

The mindfulness techniques became integrated into my current daily life when I was facing lots of challenges again, and is something I can always rely on - not looking at things too deeply.

The 2020 Covid pandemic hits. As I had two back to back burnouts already from hospitality, I thought it might be time for a change.

Hospitality and events were crushed by the lockdown and I thought "is this really what I want to continue with?"

It started becoming a more difficult industry to be in, and is not a sustainable lifestyle or income support.

For this reason I discovered that I will give marketing a go, which has been a huge fear of mine forever. I thought if not now, I will never conquer this.

I did not waste my time during lockdown.

I ran every single day for two months (I'm not joking), and with that raised money for charity to support the NHS.

I studied for, and completed, my driver's licence, did two marketing courses back to back, and joined the civil service in Walsall as a case manager for Universal Credit.

This role was something very unexpected but such a learning curve in my outlook and experience.

I dealt with completely different people compared to the high profile clientèles I served at fancy restaurants.

I was, at times, helping people who wanted to end their life, and doing whatever I could to help them in the benefit system. It was truly eye-opening and put everything I've done so far into perspective.

After applying for marketing roles for a year and a half, I managed to secure a role at a tech firm in the marketing department where I currently still am, also received a promotion after being there for just under a year.

My efforts and drive to continue to grow and to always keep learning will continue and I just want to remind people of this: If you try to keep positive, thinking that the positive outcome is the only one possible, things will indeed get better as you are not allowing any space for the negative option to occur, it just isn't a possibility in your future outlook.

This is what got me through the hardest of times, even if I had to cry my heart out, forcing myself to think this, it then became reality. The dark times will always pass and there is sunshine on the other side."