Empowering Future Leaders: How one application helped her discover herself - The story of Eirini

Eirini Laspidou had a clear picture of how she wanted her career to begin. 

A Chemical Engineering graduate from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, she wasn’t looking for just any opportunity. She wanted to contribute from day one. To learn by doing. To work alongside people who had something real to teach her. When she found the Empowering Future Leaders Graduate Program, the decision was easy. “It was everything I had hoped for in a first job.” 

She applied. What came next, she didn’t see coming. The selection process wasn’t a test of what she knew. It was a test of how she functioned under pressure, in teams, with incomplete information, and the clock running. Every stage raised the stakes. Every email that said you’re through made her want it more. 

The Assessment Center was where everything came into focus. For the first time, she watched herself operate in conditions that couldn’t be rehearsed or revised. She discovered how she made decisions when there was no time to overthink. How she held her ground in a group when the outcome depended on everyone. How she stayed composed when it mattered the most. 

She had always assumed that pressure exposes our limits. It turns out, it can just as easily expose our strengths. “I learned to trust myself more, and to stay calm even when the pressure was on.” 

Erini found out she’d been selected while sitting in her room. Just a quiet moment that suddenly meant everything. Excitement came first. Then, almost immediately, impatience. To start. To walk through the door. To finally begin. “I felt like this opportunity came at exactly the right time.” 

She now works at the Industrial Facilities in Thessaloniki, contributing to the daily operations of one of the largest energy groups in Southeast Europe. Real projects. Experienced colleagues. The kind of foundation that shapes not just a CV, but a career. 

When she looks back, it’s not the role she thinks about first. It’s the moment before all of it. An ordinary afternoon. An open tab. A button she almost talked herself out of pressing. 

Her advice to anyone at that moment right now? “Just go for it.” 

Not a motivational cliché. Just the honest words of someone grateful. She didn’t wait for the perfect moment, because the moment that changed everything was the one she created by taking the first step. 

This article was originally published on kathimerini.gr on 10 June 2026.