At Revolut, coming from a reputable name is no guarantee of success. CEO Nik Storonsky previously coined the term “career harvesters” to describe his least desirable employees, but what are they, and how can you avoid becoming one?
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Speaking on the HD in HD podcast last month, Storonsky said career harvesters are people who have a “great CV; they can sell the CV, but they cannot really deliver” in practice. Storonsky said he’s looking for people who are “self-guided,” but there’s more to it than just that.
In a Reddit AMA over the weekend, Revolut’s global head of product, Dmitry Zlokazov, gave a series of tips for thriving in Revolut’s culture. Some tips were obvious; Zlokazov said Revolut people need to be “entrepreneurial” with “strong business acumen.”
Zlokazov also advocated for “strong empathy” towards customers and having good “UX taste” if you’re in the fintech‘s product team. He said that, at Revolut, there’s a “high appetite for products to improve people’s lives.”
Attitude isn’t everything; Zlokazov said you need to be “hands on, technical” and “smart.” He says there’s a “high concentration of brilliant and resolute people” working for the company.
Just because career harvesters come from big-name companies, however, doesn’t mean that big names on your CV are bad. For Revolut’s ‘operating principal‘ roles, close advisors to Storonsky himself, applicants are required to have “experience in a top-tier investment bank/PE, strategy consultancy, or fast-growing technology company.”
Storonsky himself is a banking alum, spending stints as a trader at both Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse. He claimed on the podcast that his first bonus as a trader was “definitely close to half a million,” almost ten times the average bonus of a bulge bracket analyst in 2025. Evidently, not all bank employees are equal.
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