Today we're celebrating the 1 year anniversary of our Business Development Rep., Kayla! Exactly one year ago today Kayla blessed us with her presence and has been an integral member of our team ever since.
So, we asked her, "Why Klear Systems?" Here's what she had to say:
I was raised never staying in one place for too long. By the time I was 18, I had lived in eight cities across four states and had attended more schools than I can even remember.
Needless to say, consistency was never something I became very familiar with in my life. That lack of consistency translated into my work life after I moved to California at 18 and worked countless jobs in various industries to make ends meet and pay for college. A lot of this ‘job hopping’ was because I hustled a lot in my teens and early twenties just to get by, but I also never had found a place that I could see myself at forever. Luckily, my nomadic perspective on ‘home’ and ‘career’ paralleled well with the developing Millennial stereotype, so I slipped under the radar of looking too non-committal.
This cycle of going back and forth between jobs and careers continued for years until Klear Systems came along. Timing, like all things in life, was everything. I had just gone through a property disposition as an apartment manager and leveraged my severance package and free time to do some extended travel. Through the months of traveling and simultaneously looking for my next corporate victim, I realized finally what I wanted in a career that went beyond the generic ‘I want to make an impact’.
Of course I wanted to make an impact, but so does everyone else. The thing beyond this that I wanted was freedom.
Freedom in a career goes beyond the number of PTO days per year. Freedom, to me, means the autonomy and empowerment to make your path within the company or that job your own. It means that your supervisors and co-workers not only encourage you to harness big ideas, but they cheer you on while you run with them. Freedom is being trusted to take ownership of your role and the responsibilities of it. Freedom in a career means that you define the job--the job doesn’t define you.
Although I was unemployed for months and living much more frugally than I had been used to, I didn’t settle until I found an opportunity that gave me this freedom. I applied for over 200 positions, attended multiple career fairs, and did countless hours of research on companies (shout out to Glassdoor!). I was offered several positions, but turned them all down because I knew they weren’t right for me and I wasn’t right for them in return.
It wasn’t until one of my friends, Ashley, recommended that I apply to Klear Systems. While we talked about the company and the job that was available, I heard the passion and love she had for the company and the people in it. I was already hooked since Ashley is my only life-long friend and one of the few ‘constants’ I’ve known so I trusted her judgement, but once I had my first interview with Sam and Frank, the managing partners, I knew I had struck gold. Even though I struggled even remembering what ‘ERP’ stood for through the interview, I quickly sensed that this was the company I was meant to grow with and the team I was meant to contribute to.
Luckily, the feeling was mutual.
Looking back at the past year I've been with Klear Systems, I know I’ve found something that I can now call ‘constant’ in my life. I can say that with confidence because Klear Systems delivers something that most companies out there can only promise--freedom.
We love you, Kayla, and we're so excited to have you on our team!
Congrats to 1 year and cheer's to many more!
Interested in joining our team? We're a group of intelligent individuals who thoroughly enjoy professional sports, foodie foods, and the occasional office hangouts. We can't wait to meet you!
