Jo Donohue

How did you get into your current job/field?

I was travelling on a working holiday visa in Scotland when I landed a temporary office admin job at an IT recruitment agency. Before long, I was given the opportunity to learn about recruitment. The owner of the agency had a good friend who owned an IT recruitment agency in Australia. Scotland was the last country I lived in after two and a half years of living and working overseas. So, when it was time to head home to Australia, the connections were made. I had an interview as soon as I got home, got the job, moved to Sydney where it was based, and started working for the agency.

Although I enjoyed the parts of recruitment where I felt I was helping people find their ideal jobs, I didn’t enjoy viewing people as KPIs to earn a commission. So, I decided to leave external agency recruitment and look for an internal recruitment position. During that job search, I interviewed for an HR Administrator role at Apple. This position also involved supporting the Recruitment Manager, so I am confident that my recruitment experience helped me get my 'foot in the door'.

It was during my seven years at Apple that I learned all about People & Culture and began my career.

What's a fun fact about you that people may not know?

I recently 'hung up my gloves', but I was an outdoor boot camp instructor for the past six years. Last year, I also set up a parkrun in my local community, which has been very successful, with between 80 and 100 people participating each week.

What is your favorite project you've worked on at Octopus Deploy so far?

I love all things systems, so any project where I can learn how systems work and how I can use them to make everyone’s jobs a little bit easier makes me happy.

Do you have any hobbies outside of work?

My indoor hobby is reading books, which I have recently fallen in love with this year. My outdoor hobbies include running, walking, and hiking with friends.