When Corey Murphy felt the urge to see the world, he was lucky that he was both able to take an opportunity farther afield and be welcomed home to Ireland by eShopWorld.
You can’t predict when you’ll be bitten by the travel bug. Something as innocuous as a brief city break abroad could inspire an intense desire to move farther afield.
Yet one thing that can hold you back is the worry that your exotic travels could leave a glaring gap in your CV. That perceived conflict between career ambition and travel dreams can either put people off going abroad or leave them stuck between two stools, wanting one but feeling compelled by the other.
What if you could have both, though? Fortunately, that was the case for Corey Murphy, an e-commerce operations manager at eShopWorld. When the opportunity came about to move to Melbourne, the right combination of circumstances arose that he could go and later be welcomed back by eShopWorld.
We spoke to Murphy about his travels and about what drew him to eShopWorld.
Where are you from?
I was born and raised in Carlow. I went to university in NUI Galway and spent most of my professional career in Dublin. The net effect? I am from Carlow but I do not sound like a person from Carlow.
When did you decide to emigrate and why?
I decided to emigrate at the end of 2015. I had the good fortune in my previous company to work in Rome, Italy. It was then I got bitten by the travel bug and saw work as an opportunity to explore the world. Within the same company, another opportunity presented itself to move to its Australian operations. Being 26, and having nothing tying my partner or I to Ireland, we took the plunge and moved ‘down under’.
Where did you emigrate to and for how long were you gone?
We moved to Melbourne, Australia, and spent two brilliant years exploring all it had to offer. I would not hesitate to recommend Melbourne as a city to visit or live. It is easy to see why it is consistently voted the most liveable city in the world.
What made you want to to come back?
We were not actively looking or wanting to move back initially. Being honest, eShopWorld was the biggest factor for deciding to come back to Ireland.
A previous inspirational boss moved to eShopWorld a few years ago. When that happened, I always kept an eye on the company performance and their massive success story. I never had to look far for positive coverage (it was ranked No 1 in the Deloitte Fast 50 three years in a row). For a number of years before coming to eShopWorld, it always appealed to me as a company and it was a place I could see myself working.
Additionally, the role was a perfect career step for myself. The opportunity to come into a young, fast-growing, high-potential company, and having the opportunity to build and expand on existing teams, was too good not to take. I absolutely love people development, creating cultures, setting and executing strategic direction, and putting our customers first.
How did your current role come about?
I think my current role came about through Silicon Republic actually. From time to time on my commute home from work, I would Google eShopWorld news and see what was out there. I was reading an article and stumbled upon Life at eShopWorld, which was accompanied by a link to current job openings.
After initial chats with the head of HR and CFO, I got a really good feel for the company and signed the contract.
What work do you do?
In e-commerce operation, we monitor shopper conversion and look after our payment and fraud operations. We operate at the point where a potential order becomes a real order by successfully processing payments.
No matter what product you sell, if you cannot process a payment, you are goosed.
From working in this space, no two days are the same. Between managing payment vendors, solving for local banking options across the world, protecting our customers’ payment data, managing multimillion-euro budgets, engaging product teams to deliver exciting features and staying ahead of the fraudsters out there, it is always a whirlwind of excitement.
‘I think my current role came about through Silicon Republic actually…I was reading an article and stumbled upon Life at eShopWorld’
– COREY MURPHY, ESHOPWORLD
What do you like most about your job?
What I like most about my job is that we are in a pivotal position to put our customers first and provide them with a seamless checkout experience. The opportunity to collaborate with and drive value for some of the world’s most iconic brands is unique.
Finally, being in an environment that allows for continued growth both personally and professionally, working with awesome people, and solving payment and fraud conundrums on a daily basis – it’s hard not to come to work engaged and looking to do your best work.
How did eShopWorld make it easier for you to move back?
They were open and transparent throughout the process and very accommodating to our situation.
How did your time working abroad make you better suited for your job, if at all?
It exposed me to working on a global scale, which is what we do here at eShopWorld. Australia is a key market for us and, fortunately, I can bring local knowledge to the table.
Working abroad and taking the opportunities that presented allowed me to move from an analyst role to managing multiple teams. It gave me experiences that I may not have experienced had I stayed in Ireland.
It also opened me up to new ways of thinking and engaging with people. This has been the biggest learning for me as a lot of role is collaborating with internal and external stakeholders.
What is the best thing about being back in Ireland?
Am I allowed to say the weather? Just kidding. For me, it is the opportunity to be present with family and friends for the big and small moments in life as opposed to having to engage through a screen or wake up to never-ending WhatsApp threads.
