Eleanor Harowicz

When you were a student, did you do anything outside of school to build skills or get knowledge that has helped your career?

Yes! Something my parents drilled into me when I was young was "don't let school get in the way of getting an education," which seems counterintuitive. What they meant by this was that there is way more to learn outside of the classroom that will be more formative than the curriculum inside the classroom. My father constantly tells the story of his volunteer experience with the American Red Cross and his hands on experience at the Three Mile Island disaster. This experience was more educational to him than any classroom could ever be, and it's not the only thing he did outside of school. So what did I do? In high school I worked at Bit By Bit Equestrian Center running summer camps, and after a year the owner asked me to run a horse show series. I ran 10 shows over that summer, which included creating schedules, ordering prizes, hiring judges and officials, and managing the events. I learned a ton about leadership, project management and event management. In college I sought out internships over the summers for real life experience: I had an internship with the US Equestrian Team Foundation where I helped them organize the trip to the Dominican Republic for the Pan American Games in 2003. I created the information books for the teams who were travelling with everything they needed to know for the trip - when horses needed to enter quarantine, flight information for humans and horses, customs information, accommodations information for humans and horses in the DR, their itinerary while they were in the DR, return information, etc., etc. I had to coordinate with professional athletes and their staff for two teams (Show Jumping and Dressage). Organizational skills, communication skills, writing skills, basic this-is-how-you-behave-in-an-office skills? Check, check, check, and check. I also had an internship with Lutron Electronics where I was responsible for contract review for a relatively new department that was experiencing exponential sales growth, which also led to purchasing problems. I had to ensure that the contract specifications were correct, and when the purchasing issues became problematic, I had to contact customers (business and consumer) to communicate the delays and work to resolve the problems. I learned how to communicate bad news to the customer in a professional manner and think through how to solve a problem. "Don't make a company problem a customer problem" was the mantra for Lutron, and I still quote that to this day in my work. I also read books. Real books. Books that weren't assigned by a teacher. Your language and vocabulary will improve the more you read, and it doesn't matter what you read. Just read. Seek out opportunities to get involved and take on projects. Do a few things well rather than a thousand things poorly. You will likely start out on a volunteer mission or internship with very little responsibility, but if you demonstrate responsibility and reliability and then ask to be more involved, the learning opportunities will come your way.

What is the one piece of career advice you wish someone gave you when you were younger?

There are two pieces of advice I wish I'd had when I was just starting my professional career. First I wish someone had truly told me how to ask for help when I was struggling. I was working for Dun & Bradstreet when my husband and I got married. He deployed and was gone for a year. When he returned, I moved out to live with him in Kansas, and D&B let me work remotely. I was not successful at all. The isolation of working from home in a brand new city was overwhelming. My husband was home mostly because of his leave after the deployment, and I could not stay motivated to make sales calls all day. I missed my sales target for 2 months, and in the 3rd month I quit. I should've asked for help well before it came to that. If I could have rebounded from that failure, I probably would be farther along in my career, but I thought I could replace that income easily in a worksite based role in Kansas... Which leads me to the second piece of advice I wish I'd had when I was younger - I wish someone had told me that a step down isn't necessarily a step back. After I'd quit D&B and was looking for work in Kansas, I interviewed with Aflac and was offered the job at $45k/year. I turned it down because that meant a $20k/year pay cut. I was sure I could find another job at the same pay, but I didn't. I ended up working for minimum wage at various entry level, dead end jobs with periods of unemployment from 2010 to 2015 as we moved around with my husband's military career. I spent 5 years being truly frustrated and discouraged with my career. I felt like I wasn't worth more than a minimum wage job and like I would never succeed in my career. I did end up finally getting a break in my career, but I can't help but wonder how much farther along I could be had I just been a bit wiser in my younger years.

How did you pick your career? Did you know all along?

If you would have told me in high school (or even college) that this is what I would be doing, I would have laughed at you. I truly hated math and statistics until I was in college for my second degree and figured out how to use the formulas in excel. Once I figured out what I could accomplish by understanding the math behind it, then I was hooked. But even then, I did not set out with Business Operations Manager as a career destination. I really stumbled into the call center operations field by just having to take a job, any job, and then learning all I could and growing. Opportunity can come from the most unlikely places, and for me it came from desperation in my job search. My husband had been stationed at Ft. Drum, and I was collecting unemployment while waiting on US Army Child, Youth and School Services to accept my transfer from Ft. Sill to Ft. Drum. The transfer request was taking forever, and my unemployment benefits were running out in less than a month when I decided that I just had to find ANYTHING to have some income coming in. So I walked into the call center in Watertown that would hire you as long as you had a pulse (I jest, but basically), and started working the following week. One thing led to another, led to another, and here I am 7 years later!

When did you get your first Big Break? How did you get it? How did it go?

I could point to starting at Verizon as a "big break" but in reality that big break was only possible because of the series of small breaks I got along my career path. Because of all the special projects I'd had a hand in throughout my career, I was able to have the experience that Verizon was looking for and then go nail the interview. I think that's a similar experience to what most people have had. I had done the work with my LinkedIn profile for years; I kept my profile up to date, thoughtfully shared content and shared accomplishments over time. Then when I decided to turn my recruiting settings to on, everything was there and a recruiter reached out with a job opening. Had I not had the project experience or not kept my profile updated with accomplishments, that opportunity would never have happened. So start the work as soon as you can, and then after a while, you'll be "an overnight success."

How did you start building your network?

I relied on LinkedIn heavily. I found old bosses or old co-workers and added them (include a note with your invitation). If I interviewed with a hiring manager, I added them to my network. I add people that I work with, interview, mentor or otherwise come across professionally as I go. Networking does not happen overnight, and it's very difficult to build a network by trying to add random connections. It takes time and effort.

What is the most useful piece of career advice you got as a student, and who gave it to you?

It wasn't as a student, but just after I had graduated and was starting my first "grown up" job. One of my regular customers at the restaurant where I worked gave me the best advice. He said that I should aim to have 10 years of experience, not 1 year of experience 10 times. What he meant by that was that I needed to not be complacent in my career. Even if I wasn't moving up the career ladder, I should be able to point to an improvement on skills, increase in responsibilities, etc to demonstrate an actual increase in experience instead of just a passage of time.

Did anyone ever oppose your career plans when you were young or push you in a direction you did not want to go?

Yes and no. My parents were very supportive of my initial career aspirations as a student, which was to be a professional horsewoman. However, whenever I talked to other professionals, there was always the "yes, go for it, but..." In the end, I did not pursue that career as a profession because of the honest discussions with other professionals who were candid about the financial prospects and work. I do still enjoy horses as a hobby, but I have my professional life to support that hobby.

What is the biggest challenge you had to overcome to get to where you are now professionally? How did you overcome it?

Being a military spouse is the biggest challenge I had to overcome. Before the pandemic, military spouses experienced unemployment rates around 24% because of the constant moving to new areas and small local economies near duty stations. To compound matters, there is rampant discrimination against military spouses in those military towns because of the perception that the spouse won't stick around. I actually had a hiring manager ask me as soon as I sat down "how long are you here for?" It makes it very difficult to gain any career progression because the military spouse just ends up taking any job they can find. So the resume looks like a bunch of entry level jobs and not a lot of upward trajectory. So I had to find a way to explain what I did to gain experience at those entry level jobs. I made sure to volunteer for special projects and take on extra responsibility, and then my resume showed those accomplishments - not just the job description for that entry level job. Honestly, I barely touched on the actual duties/responsibilities for those types of jobs and only showcased the "above and beyond" work I did.