What is the most useful piece of career advice you got as a student, and who gave it to you?
Never let your hobbies become a job. It becomes less fun and less passionate and will burn you out on something you once loved.
Given to me by my high school English teacher.
What is the biggest challenge you had to overcome to get to where you are now professionally? How did you overcome it?
In high school I had a learning disability when it came to comprehension and math due to the fact that I was dyslexic. I have had to find tricks to teach myself to overcome the way I read things in order to read them correctly and retain them.
In layperson terms, what do you actually do at work?
I answer phones, help customers with their bills, disconnect their accounts, change programming, add discounts, take payments by phone, set up cell phones, and help customers with services they already have.
When you were a student, did you do anything outside of school to build skills or get knowledge that has helped your career?
I did. I worked summers as a hospital volunteer all through my teen years so that I could gain medical knowledge and also ensure that was the career choice I wanted to make. It also gave me a chance to work in different parts of the hospital so that I was able to see different aspects of the field.
Did anyone ever oppose your career plans when you were young or push you in a direction you did not want to go?
No absolutely not. My mother was a nurse so she adored the fact of me wanting to go into the medical field. She did tell me that the Geriatric field I wanted to go into was going to be hard but she did not try to push me in any other direction.
What is the one piece of career advice you wish someone gave you when you were younger?
Go straight to college right out of high school. Do not take a break. It was harder to get back into the swing of things after being out for a while. It also makes it a lot easier to go ahead and get that degree over with.
How did you pick your career? Did you know all along?
I love to take care of people which is why I got into the medical field. I got into Geriatrics because I wanted to be the loving person there at end of life when a lot of seniors are forgotten and have become somewhat of a bother to their families and they have no one there for them. I wanted to be that someone so at least they knew they were not alone and someone cares.
