Please describe your career path?
My career path is both academic and business related. My short-term goal is to get as much project and leadership experience as possible. This includes a combination of different workshops, training and getting certified for different things I am interested in. For example, Hartford Steam Boiler is both an insurance company and an engineering management consulting firm, so while I was working in the insurance division first, I took a couple of tests that provided me with a proficiency in liability and property insurance. I have also learned different software programs such as Access, Lotus Notes and just different training seminars on how to become a better project leader, project manager, etc. I wanted to have as much exposure in the workforce as I can before I go to graduate school. By next spring, I would like to take the GMAT and will try to get my company to pay for it. I actually did take a course last spring that HSB paid for and it was an engineering course.

In the next couple of years I will take the GMAT and focus on getting as much work experience as possible. I’m looking at getting an MBA in management technology, hopefully, if things go well, and also getting an engineering certification called a Professional Engineering certificate. Those are all my academic goals for right now, just to be in a managerial role by the time I’m 29 or 30, just to keep really liking my job.

How did you get here from Trinity?
My path was internship after internship after internship. I belong to Inroads, which is similar to HSCEP except it is a nationwide program and was originally created for minority students. Inroads has a lot of contact and connections with Fortune 500 companies and based on what you are interested in and what you want to explore further, they distribute your resume.  It also depends on what it seems like you’re going to go into in college.  For example, I knew I was going into engineering when I was in 10^th or 11^th grade, so Inroads gave my resume to Gillette and some other engineering companies.  I ended up working for Gillette as an intern for five years, two years in high school and three years in college.  I became part of the Trinity Engineering program in 10^th grade of high school. It was called MassPep, Mass Pre-Engineering Program, and I spent 6-10 weeks at Bentley College getting familiar with engineering.  I was in a laboratory environment while taking AP and honors courses in high school.  My junior year, through MassPep I got an internship at the Gillette Company doing laboratory work on the Sensor for Women razor before it came out. Because I had worked with Gillette already and Gillette is an Inroads company, when I applied to Inroads they were like, well you don’t have to go anyplace else, we’ll bring you on as an Inroader. I just did that throughout college and then the different college courses I took as well.  All those things helped me prepare for this track as well as having a good relationship with Career Services and the Director of Career Services, Lanna Hagge.

Hartford Steam Boiler was interested in reconnecting with Trinity because in the 70s and 80s almost all of senior management at HSB were Trinity College alums.  At that time however, many companies in Hartford were pulling out and many of the Trinity alums did not stay in this area.  Because they lost senior management staff members who were Trinity alums and a lot of people coming into entry level positions were not from Trinity anymore, HSB tried to reconnect with the Engineering Department at Trinity to recruit heavily.  Lanna Hagge thought of me and knew my interest in going into consulting on the engineering and technical track, passed my resume along, they liked me, they wanted to interview with me and from there I interviewed, went through final round and got the job.  I started in August and after graduation worked for Career Services for a couple of months- there’s no backpacking through Europe for me, I needed money too much.

How did Trinity prepare you for this position?  What courses or extracurriculars should students take advantage of?
Definitely, no matter whatever your track or whatever your major or minor is, I strongly suggest taking all sorts of courses that will make you well rounded. I strongly suggest you taking an Intro to Engineering course, which is just a 100 level course, it is not that difficult but it gives you the familiarity with technology. I suggest you take a Java Programming class- it looks very good to see that a student is trying to make themselves well rounded. Trinity’s distribution courses almost force you to take courses that keep you well rounded, which is a good thing that I didnt necessarily realize when I was in school.  I was like, "Oh my god, I have to take all these Liberal Arts courses. I am an Engineering major, why do I have to do that?" But now I see why, because it helped make me more of a well-versed person who was very marketable. It also helped with my communication, presentations and writing skills.  If you’re able to get through the distribution credits and through the track successfully, the Engineering track, I would say take some more Liberal Arts classes because whatever can make you a clearer communicator and improve writing skills will be helpful to you later.  There is such a shortage of people with engineering backgrounds and companies are looking for programmers or engineering people with liberal arts backgrounds and degrees.  They’re looking for people who want to learn and have the aptitude to learn because they’ll give you on-the-job-training. You don’t have to know everything in college, which I thought was the case, companies are very good about giving on-the-job-training. You don’t have to worry about "oh my god, am I going to know how to do this project exactly?" They’ll give you the training and you’ll apprentice with people that want you want to learn that type of stuff and have the aptitude to be able to do that.

Give us an overview about what Hartford Steam Boiler does?
I am working for a subsidiary of Hartford Steam Boiler. HSB is the parent company of a lot of different subsidiaries which are companies that HSB owns. HSB Inspection and Insurance Company is one of those companies that Hartford Steam Boiler Group owns. HSB is predominately an equipment breakdown insurance provider, which is anything that utilizes power in a company, your air conditioning systems, your electrical systems, your telephone systems, you would like to insure that. Companies give property insurance, but they do not give that insurance for all the equipment that runs on electricity, power equipment and that’s what HSB does so that’s why we’re called a "reinsurer". Because you may have your insurance with The Hartford for property insurance, but to get that insurance on all the technology equipment, your lab equipment for example, you would get reinsurance through HSB.  That is the reason why HSB also has a huge Engineering Management and Consulting branch, because in order to insure power equipment, we have to know about the equipment. You need to know about the equipment to be able to provide consulting services. The reason why they’ve started giving insurance because that is a financial guarantee: we say you’re not going to have failures, it’s not going to explode or blow up, and that’s why we give insurance, it’s a financial guarantee behind it.

I work for a subsidiary called Integrated Processes Technologies, IPT. IPT’s core competencies are facilities management and facilities maintenance. For example, one of our accounts is Blockbuster and if a Blockbuster gets a window broken because of some loitering or something like that, they contact one of our customer service centers, and because we have a nationwide network of service providers, we would dispatch someone to fix the window.  We help huge chains keep their facilities up and keep their equipment up and that’s what we do and Small Business Lifeline is the division of IPT.  IPT is a strictly internet-based company and this is HSB’s first initiative at e-business, e-commerce. I’ve been on the team for eight months and what IPT does on the chain level for example Blockbuster, The Limited, Pizzeria Uno, those are our accounts, we’re bringing to the small business and to the independent business owner because they were having trouble servicing small business, independent businesses. They do it so well on the chain level so we thought to bring this expertise and core competencies to the small business owner which is an untapped market for revenue.   Our site is businesslifeline.com.  You can become a member of Small Business Lifeline, give us an annual fee and anytime you have an equipment problem, you log onto the site and file the request for service over business life lin, which goes into our databases that finds a service provider in your area based on the type of problem.   When I go to grad school or if I ever go into another company, this is just going to be the most marketable thing I’ve worked on since graduating from school, period. Cause I was like one of the first people on the team and e-commerce is still new, still very hot, everybody is trying to use it as distribution stream.

What kind of lifestyle could someone expect in this field?
We are working on a partnership with American Express. They have this thing called Home Protection Plan which they give to people who are in residences like apartments and mobile homes where they do the same thing but for the individual. The reason why we’re talking to them is that they don’t do the same thing for small business and American Express has a huge small business owner clientele. That’s what a marketing person does and that’s not something that a technology person does. It would be a good lifestyle because it’s new, it’s fresh, it’s interesting and it’s challenging. Your lifestyle would not be challenging, in Small Business Lifeline, it’s not 9-5, I work between 55-60 hours/week and it’s the same with any start up company. It’s about rolling up those sleeves and being chief, cook and bottle washer. I’ve done everything from programming the system to going to Florida to represent SBL for a tradeshow to putting stamps on envelopes for a mailing. I’m doing a little bit of everything. When you become a part of a start-up company you have to expect to do that so you won’t have a defined role, they need help on so much stuff you really can’t be like, " oh, I’m sorry, I don’t do administrative work." You just have to realize it just has to be done. Expect long hours, but also expect to get a real feeling of satisfaction when you get your first member, when you look at the statistics on the site and see that three people from California looked and browsed on the site.

What traits and skills are you looking for in a new employee?
We are looking for people at Small Business Lifeline. My role as project manager, E-solutions Integrater, is almost fourfold. I train the customer service representatives for live calls.  This is a web business so we’re going to get emergencies, we’re going to get questions and I train customer service reps to handle that.   I manage the webmasters so whenever there are bugs in the site they get fixed. I look at all the bugs in the site, set the priority what needs to be when and ensure the webmasters are focused on that.  I also do some light programming, not really heavy stuff like those contracted webmasters are doing. I also do testing. When they finish a job I test it in the system. I manage the internal business processes this is whatever we give to a client in terms of product.  In terms of a service delivery process, we have an internal process set up and structured so we can continue to give to the client successfully to ensure their satisfaction.  What I do is manage the what needs to be done in the customer service center in terms of change implementation.  I am also the program manager which means I am the one who oversees the relationship between the service providers in our network and the Small Business Lifeline.  I am a kind of a marketing person as well,because I like being around people and stuff like that. I go to these trade shows around the country and I help promote SBL, talk about it to people and get memberships.

As far as what we are looking for at SBL, we need somebody who’s organized and very positive.  Positivity is very important when you’re in a start-up company because it can often be very frustrating in terms of limited resources, work load, and in terms of getting things done, so we need people with positive attitudes. We need people who have good communication skills, work very well with people. We need people who are able to have the potential, you won’t have it right when you’re coming out of school but have the potential to manage different efforts.  For example, you have me, who’s part of the technology team, then there is somebody who is doing business processes, someone else is doing the legal aspects of the site, someone else who is making sure the partnerships happen like with AMEX, Yahoo Small Business. We need somebody who can communicate between all those people, make sure everything is going well and that everybody’s doing what they need to be doing. Somebody who can give, help us keep direction and help make sure things are going right. Somebody who has the potential to be an overall project manager, project leader. Computer skills are very important. I’m not talking about crazy programming skills, even though we do need webmasters, we do need people who are technical.  We need somebody who knows Microsoft Office and Lotus Notes pretty well. Somebody who has the willingness to learn, get their feet wet, don’t mind spending long hours but also don’t mind being rewarded for that too. You’d definitely be appreciated and acknowledged.

What a typical day like?
I come in at around 9 o’clock, 8:45, 9. For the insurance industry that would be considered late- people are usually here at 8:00am and leave usually at 4:30.   I would come in at around 9 o’clock. There’s always messages on my machine, my voicemail, check my voicemail, check cc-mail -  that’s the major source of internal business and sharing of information.  Based on my cc-mail I’ll probably have 3 or 4 requests that need immediate attention which is in addition to the stuff that I had from the day before that needs to be taken care of.  I then go in to check if our site is up and running, that there’s no bugs that would prevent someone from joining as a member. I check the work station.  The work station is a software program that is used in the customer service center to see if there are any outstanding requests for service, questions, specialist anything like that.  I make sure everything in the pipeline is moving well.  I am in the process of working on the new vendor strategy.  There’s going to be some areas where IPT doesn’t even have service producer coverage so we have to get new service providers in that area. For example, the people who fix antique dishwashers creates a whole strategy and development plan.  I probably have meetings with any of the things I’m involved with.  In the afternoon I pick up on my emails that I am getting throughout the day, the cc-mail, and stuff I had to do the day before. Sometimes I have to do customer service training.  In most customer service centers, the retention is really low so we constantly have new people. Around 5:30-6:00. I am finishing up paperwork and stuff like that. I have administrative stuff that I have to do too. Then that brings me to 7:30 to 8, I wrap up at that time and get ready to go. If it’s Thursday I’m going to Happy Hour, if Monday through Wednesday I’m also involved in a couple of social organizations outside work too.

What do you like most about your job?
I’m pretty impressed with the fact that I manage people and people report to me and I can make a decision on things that affect the business. The fact that I’m not going to be, for all intents and purposes, an entry level person forever here has been very promising to me.  I get a lot of exposure to senior management on an one on one basis very early on.  This type of project has been very promising . The fact that I’m in e-commerce, e-business it’s very new, it’s very exciting, people are interested in it. Those are the things I love about my job.

What do you like least about your position?
I do a lot more work than I’m recognized for.  Acknowledgement from my supervisor and public acknowledgement is a big thing for me.  Many times acknowledgement is given to the most senior person, but it doesn’t matriculate throughout the whole group.  An excellent manager is one who gives credit and acknowledgment and kudos to the people supporting that person and the people who make it happen.  Many times I’ve gone unacknowledged for some of the hard work I’ve put in, long hours. My company gave me a cell phone because I’m on call 24 hours a day for the call center.  Things like that and documents that I’ve produced, proposed plans for stuff, I wish I was acknowledged a lot more for this.  Young people come into the workforce where they are scrutinized under a microscope by everybody, people don’t know if you’re an intern, people don’t know if this is a co-op, they just don’t know so recognition is very important.

Even of you are working in a company that’s business casual, because you’re new, come to work dressed business formal or you know, corporate every day. Why? Because perception is everything and what people see, they internalize and they make pre-judgements on it and they make assumptions on it.  It’s very crucial in this part of my career for it to be known that I’m about something, that I’m confident and that I’m about executing and getting the job done.  I wish that it would be more verbalized that that’s what I’m about, because I don’t think a young person should have to wear badges on their shirt and should have to tell people. It should be upper management that’s responsible for doing it and that’s going to be hard for any person who does really well based on acknowledgement and positive feedback.  My boss has said it occasionally but it’s different, I’m not a kid anymore. You need to talk to your boss about what is important to you.   They’re still human, they’re still learning, no matter how old you get, you still have the ability and opportunity to learn. You know most managers will encourage and like to listen to feedback. If you’re having a problem with something your manager or supervisor does you can talk to them about it, you can let them know.  I am the kind of person that needs to know that I’m doing a good job and my boss thinks I'm doing well. 

What is a typical promotion track?
Every April we have performance appraisals, which is an evaluation of your performance.  It gives you feedback on your strengths, things you’ve worked on, all the positives but then it gives things you need to focus and improve. It’s a very comprehensive report about how you’ve affected your projects, how you’ve affected the workplace, your group, your interpersonal skills, working on a team, executing projects, setting priorities, time management, all those type of issues are addressed in the performance appraisal.  What many managers will do is set up a first draft, talk to you about it, ask for your feedback, etc.  This doesn't happen everywhere, but it’s happened with me.  If the manager says something that I am, but I really don’t think that’s right, I just say 'can you provide me with an example for that?'  If you don’t agree with it and you talk it out and the manager realizes, maybe they’re seeing something incorrectly, sometimes they’ll change it, sometimes they won’t. Based on whatever the result of the performance appraisal is, you get a merit increase, which is a certain percentage of your salary. When I got into the workplace I was full speed ahead for such a long time. I’m still very motivated now, but I made sure to pay close attention to doing very well in the work force as soon as I got in because I knew that I was going to be under scrutiny as a new person. I just busted my hump and based on that I ended up getting the maximum salary increase percentage that HSB offered in 1998. Basically all companies have a standard performance type evaluation and then you get a merit increase so that’s for the salary wise. The promotion wise, in my company they have, I talked about "cc-mail". They have everybody’s cc-mail bulletins and different groups provide different informational emails. This is the way you can find out about openings around the company and different job opportunities in the different subsidiaries of HSB Group. You can also go to HR, I recommend going to somebody you trust in HR, they always keep stuff confidential, HR is supposed to under all circumstances. They can help you build a career track, for promotions. They’ll tell you what someone coming in with your experience, your age, what that means in terms of climbing up in the ladder.

So the promotions are self motivated?
Sometimes things fall on people’s laps but I will say it is who you know most of the time and not what you know, that is going to be important in any company. You have to have the skills to back it up and it’s about your own self-initiative. Your parents aren’t here to make sure you get that promotion or make sure that grade is right. You have to take interest in yourself. Hopefully if you have a good manager who cares about you and your development, they’ll make sure to look out for things too and look out for your career development but you have to take that initiative on yourself and want that ambition for yourself.

How long on each project before you start looking for another?
Traditionally with the College Hire program you are on a project for six months and then you rotate, which can go longer or shorter.  I was in for nine months because things kept coming up, but I did quite a few projects during that nine month time span.  Traditionally it is six months. I really encourage anyone to get into a rotational type program.  It gives you the opportunity to see so much of the company and not have to make a decision right when you get there. You may hate the first rotation that you get which I did not, I absolutely loved it, but you may hate the first rotation you get assigned to but you have the opportunity to research other openings.  Other projects can be worked on and then based upon the rotations you’ve experienced you can decide if you want to accept a job there full time or if there’s another position open. Go on some kind of college hire track, most companies have a special program for college hires.

What kind of resources should we use to identify leads and what kind of trade journals to stay on top of current trends would you recommend?
I really like the last question because actually it is something I’m researching myself. Since my job description is everywhere in terms of what I do, right now I have an interest in knowing for my industry which would probably be e-business, e-commerce, what most people are making that are doing the same types of things I’m doing. When you find an answer, let me know because I don’t know and I’ve spoken to human resources about it and they don’t have the information.

Always stay current, do not let your resume get more that a year behind. I have not updated my resume since I graduated and you need to do that because you learn so many different things in the workforce. You pick up so many new skills. Your dream job could come up and the dream job is not going to wait for you to put your resume together. You want to be able to send it right away.  Every two months update your resume so you don’t forget some crucial, instrumental things you’ve learned on the job. I would say have a relationship with a headhunter, keep a good relationship with Career Services after school because at Trinity the Alumni Network is excellent, more that 80% of all Trinity College graduates end up getting their jobs through some kind of Alumni contact, network, connection. Keeping your resume up to date and a trade journal or something, find a book that has a list of job descriptions, job titles and what the current going salary is in that industry.

Any final advice?
Take advantage of the mock interviews that Career Services provides you. Take advantage of the fact that you can interview with alums that are in the workforce and have interviewed people for jobs before. Get their feedback about what they’re looking for, I mean that comes with the mock interviews because I’ve done it.  I’ve been the alum who’s interviewed somebody and written up an evaluation.  Most alums care, they take the time and write up what your strengths are and what your weaknesses are, and what you should focus on.  You should really pay attention to them, because they’re only doing it because they want to help you. 

I would definitely take advantage of having a Career Advisor make sure your resume is up to par and on point. Make sure they look at cover letters before you send them out making sure you spend a lot of time up there- this is just for people who haven’t got a job as yet, I’m about to go through the steps and making sure you know about, whether it’s through emails or coming in and looking at the faxes, stay current with that. When you do get calls on interviews, always dress professionally, I don’t care how business casual it is, always dress professional, it’s better to be overdressed than underdressed. Always dress professionally, always be polite, shake people’s hands and don’t lie on your resume about your experiences. Be honest, be sincere and don’t tell an interviewer things you think they want to hear.  You should always sell yourself, everybody knows that, you are your only true sales woman/man.   Don’t tell them what they want to hear because if you get a job offer and you take that job and then you don’t like it, that’s your fault. I understand being hard up for a job, but don’t take something you’re going to be miserable at.

Always, always, always, after an interview write a thank you note, in your handwriting. If you have the sloppiest handwriting, you write one letter an hour to make sure that you have written it nice and clearly. Invest in stationary that says your name.  I know college students are broke and have no money, but invest in something that says your name, that says you’re a professional-type person. If it’s on computer paper, it says you wrote the thank you but it’s so official, it’s not warm, it doesn’t decipher you from anyone else. If I interviewed five candidates and you sent me something on personalized stationary that says your name on it, you would stick out of those five. Let me give you an example. If somebody who probably typed the envelope and is going to send a thank you letter. When you open your mailbox at Trinity, do you open bills first or do you open personal letter first? So that’s why you should write it personally.  

And then after the thank you. Always be prepared for the interview. Try to get a copy of the financial report that the company sends. Make sure you know what that company does. I had to interview somebody who made it through to the final rounds of the college hire program at HSB.  I was selected as one of the college hires to go out and kind of learn more about them, feel them out. I asked them what they thought about HSB’s products and offerings.  Why did this person say, you know I really don’t even know what HSB does- imagine that. I was so mad at that and I will remember that person for the rest of my life.

Come prepared. Know some of their products. You don’t have to know everything down to the T in terms of how much it costs but you look intelligent and that you’ve prepared and make sure you take your time speaking. Be clear and concise. Be personable in the interview. That’s what I can offer, and send that thank you note and wait for them to reply. That’s the best you can do!