Transferable Skills
My professional career started off when I moved from the University of Minnesota – Duluth to Bloomington, Illinois. In Duluth, MN I was studying Outdoor Education to become the lead rock climbing instructor for NOLS. I moved down to Illinois after I realized that leadership skills are valuable in any industry, and that my forte is in the IT industry. I received placement at the Boy’s and Girl’s Club, where I coordinated activities for Children between the ages of 10-14. I was responsible for developing day activities, and managing a staff of six to carry out these activities. I did this throughout the summer until I successfully won the bid for a consulting job with a medium sized Glass Company firm.
At Glass Specialty, I was responsible for setting up a corporate database using Windows 98. I coordinated Wide and Local Area Network operations from corporate headquarters, implemented a SQL telecommunications server, and used IEEE standards to maximize efficiency for the network. Although I did not have a degree or certifications, I assisted the Database Administrator for applying TCP/IP protocol, bridges, routers, and switches to reduce lag by over 25%.
As this position was only a four month contract, I also held a position as an assistant manager at Casey’s General Store during the final two months of my contract. I trained store employees, and updated training manuals to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of staff performance. I was also responsible for bookkeeping, accounting, and inventory control. By using the methodologies learned from the second busiest store in the state I was able to increase efficiency by over 33%.
I moved out to Colorado on May 5, 2005. I was hired as an Office Assistant through a security company at Catepillar, Inc. the following day. I applied customer service support for local and international clients, and assisted in the implementation of security protocol by conducting independent tasks throughout the facility that saved the client $32,000 per year. I also used Microsoft Office and Lotus Notes pro for data collection and analysis on the corporate database.
In November, I was hired on at IBM to work Tier 2 Deskside support for Cisco Systems. I obtained a project management role responsible for coordination of activities, events, and rewards for a team of 50 members. In addition, I provide technical Global Services Support with a top First Call Resolution Rate of 70%. I also am responsible with employee training, setting up new terminals, migration from POP to Exchange accounts, and implementation of top level security through a global enterprise. My advanced networking skills using SAP, VPN, and TCP/IP diagnostics assist me for remote and WAN access troubleshooting. In addition, I apply my experience with Active Directory, Telnet, and SSH standards that I have been taught through Cisco Academy at DeVry.
I am now a business owner of OptiTrex LLC, a website optimization Company, OMNI Marketing, a full service Internet Marketing Company, Real Estate Referral Network, and several small businesses such as an Alternative Power Store (www.altpowerenergy.com). I employ project management skills to coordinate a six person team to raise client’s websites to the top of their demographic areas in all major search engines, such as Google, MSN, and Yahoo. I am building an SQL database using Access for employees to log into for documentation of resources, data collection, and redundancy checking. Using guerilla marketing strategies, this database uses redundancy checking to validate which sites have been requested. Security standards are also implemented to only give selected access for all members, and records accounting and financial records through Quicken Books Professional and Excel. My vision is to revolutionize and globalize search engine optimization by using strategic leverage disciplines to successfully bring client web sites to the top of their market.
The personal attributes that I posses are leadership, integrity, independence, confidence, and ambition. Any job that I undertake should require me to have most, if not all, of these attributes in order for it to be satisfying. Not every job requires ambition, but it’s such an important driving force that really helps get things done in order to get ahead. I have a very strong belief in myself that I can do anything I set my mind to, which is a very powerful thing to be able to say. The qualities I posses are important not only in the business world, but in life in general.
The work I performed at Casey’s General Store would be considered valuable work experience in a new career. I gained managerial, training, and efficiency skills, all of which can be carried forward to my desired position of IT Manager. Efficiency is crucial in the IT industry. Anyone can be given the position of manager, but it takes a leader to really do the job well. I learned how to properly delegate work at Casey’s General Store, which is a task all managers must deal with from day to day.
My friends have described me as having organization skills, intelligence, and charisma. I can use the organization skills to keep projects in line. The intelligence I posses will be used in every situation in the workplace. My charisma will keep people close to me, and ensures that they will do what I ask with minimal effort on my part. My enthusiasm for life, and what I want out of life, really seems to affect people in every aspect of my life.
My colleagues have described me as d ependable, reliable and conscientious, because I can be trusted to see tasks through to the end. Colleagues value my logical, analytical thinking style and my lively contribution to debates and discussions. I have been described as fair-minded and objective, even though I sometimes express my views in a rather direct, or somewhat critical, manner. Moreover, less assertive colleagues may, on occasion, mistake my straight-forward, matter-of-fact interpersonal style with wrongly being perceived to be somewhat overpowering, and opinionated. I have also been described as being decisive, confident and direct, my friends and colleagues seldom wonder where I stand with them.
In summary, I have portrayed flexibility in many completely different careers to this date in my career path. My successful transition, and ability to adjust to diverse environments, gives me a dynamic edge within any endeavor I pursue. The attributes I posses of leadership, confidence, integrity, and ambition do not just potentially make me a valuable employee; they ensure that I am a valuable employee.