Jill Kelly was classroom teacher for 12 years. In August of 2022, she took a sales role as an Account Development Manager for an Ed Tech company, working remotely.
In January 2023, she left to be a Project Coordinator for a Gov Tech company. She’s been there since and loves this role! It taps into all of my favorite parts about teaching – being organized, training others, breaking things down and explaining it to others, and leading a project through from beginning to end. Join us to learn more!
Find Jill on Linkedin.
Listen to the episode in the podcast player below, or find it on Apple Podcast or Spotify.
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Episode Transcript:
Elizabeth: Well, welcome back to the Teacher Career Coach podcast. I’m very excited today to have Jill with us. Welcome, Jill.
Jill: Hi, thank you so much for having me, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth: Well, we’re so excited to get to know you today and learn all about your role as a project coordinator, but we’d love to get started by hearing a little bit about what got you into education in the first place.
Jill: So I would say as a kid, I was always the kid playing school with, you know, friends of mine. Um, and I always had to be the teacher. I just, I loved that. I just had really positive experiences growing up. and so I just wanted to kind of take that outside of the school setting and bring that home.
And I did that and it was fun for me. And then as I got older and like into high school and thinking about college, I really didn’t. know exactly what I wanted to do. I always kind of lean towards education. but I wasn’t 100 percent sure, but I think I felt kind of, I don’t know if you want to call it this pressure, but a lot of folks around me, a lot of friends were going for education.
And, um, like I said, I always knew I kind of, lean toward it. So I said, okay, let’s, let’s go for education. And, When I started it, like, as I got progressed, I should say, through college, and then eventually got it, got to student teaching. That’s where I really started to get just more passionate about it.
You know, like. Wow, this is what it would be like. I’d have my own classroom and I had such a great, um, student teaching experience, and it just made me really excited for, you know, in the future when I had my own classroom. So I don’t know that it was ever something that I was always knew I wanted to be.
I just knew I kind of leaned in that direction. And then once I started my first couple of years, that’s where I became really excited and really passionate about it.
Elizabeth: And what did you teach? What grade? How long were you in the classroom? Tell us a little bit about that environment.
Jill: So I taught for a total of 12 years. Um, I taught in North Carolina and New York. So I taught In North Carolina, I taught first grade for a year and then fourth grade for about five or six years, loved fourth grade. I loved that age. and then when I moved back to New York, I taught sixth grade. So I taught sixth grade a little bit of everything.
Um, some years it was ELA social studies, some years, some years it was math and science, but always sixth grade. And I, that was probably my favorite grade level out of all of them.
Elizabeth: Very cool. And I know it, it depends on which state you’re in, but sometimes 6th grade is the beginning of middle school, sometimes it’s 5th grade, so was it, was it middle or elementary?
Jill: It was so yeah, it was middle and the middle school where I was, um, like as you just mentioned, middle school where I was started at fifth grade, so it’s grades five through eight. So the kids I had, most of them were not new to this school, so they had been in middle school for a year, which was kind of nice because that transition year can be so hard.
Um, but yeah, it was a middle school.
Elizabeth: Oh, very cool. And then, what, about what time was it where you started to think that you might want to look into other careers and, and what happened during that transition time?
Jill: Yeah, I feel like really my last four years in the classroom. I, oh, I had. Every school year, I just would have these periods where I thought, I don’t know if I can do this forever. don’t know if I can do this forever. And I just always kind of made excuses like, well, it’s because it’s report card time.
Like once report cards are done, it’ll be good. Or, you know, um, we have, uh, finals this week, so it’s just kind of crazy. And, um, so I always kind of made an excuse for why it was so crazy and just kind of talked to myself. Out of it. but it always kind of came up in the back of my mind. Like, I don’t know how long I can do this.
And I certainly couldn’t picture myself doing it for the rest of my life. you know, started having kids and I was noticing kind of the difference between, you know, putting my all into the school day with my students, whom I loved, but then coming home, just feeling kind of drained. Like I didn’t have much more to give because I, you know, you’re on all day as a teacher and it’s draining and there’s a lot to do.
And the work never really stops. There’s always something you can be doing. And, finally my last. So I just kind of thought, you know, I had to do something, but I had no idea what that was, because all I knew was education. That’s all I went to college for, you know, with grad school. And so I just kind of thought, you Well, I’m a teacher.
I’m in a school. I don’t really know what my options are.
Elizabeth: And then at that point, had you found the teacher career coach at that point?
Jill: So, the Teacher Career Coach, I, uh, I had kind of clicked around, found it, and kind of poked through, but I hadn’t, um, purchased the course or anything. But I would look at all of, like, Daphne’s resources, you know, everything that I could at least. and then I really started, um, that’s when I purchased the Career Coach course was last year.
When I was looking to transition out of my sales role to the project coordinator role. That’s when I got more, I don’t know if you want to use the word serious, but that’s where I kind of knew like, okay, I know more of like the track I want to go and what I want to do every day. And I’m so glad I did because those resources were just, were just amazing and just kind of changed my whole course in like interviewing and eventually getting another, another position.
Elizabeth: Oh, I love to hear that. And especially that you Got into the course after you had already transitioned to then support you even further to move to a different role.
Jill: Yes. Yeah. I wish I knew about it earlier or kind of went through with like purchasing the course and everything like that. but it all worked out. So,
Elizabeth: And so it sounds like I’d love to hear a little bit about, how you got your foot in the door, because it sounds like you started, in sales and did some sales and account management. then you ended up transitioning to a project coordinator. So how did you make that initial transition? And then why did you pick sales?
How, how did that flow?
Jill: so when I started looking, um, I really had no idea where to start. I really just started with a Google search of, you know, what jobs can former teachers have. And just to kind of get an idea, because being a teacher, you’re very much in your own bubble. And I had never thought about What life would be like or what my career could be like outside of teaching.
and so it really just started with a Google search, just started seeing what everyone said and sales was a role that, came about a couple of times just saying, you know, teachers have all these soft skills. And, um, As you know, teachers are always multitasking and, um, you know, we do all these things every day in our classroom and they can really translate into, into sales.
And so, um, I started looking into that, and just started searching for ed tech companies. Um, and just went from there. I kept my own spreadsheet of where I’m applying and all of that. But I really do feel like, I don’t know. I was just kind of taking a shot in the dark. Like I. You know, my resume was all teaching, uh, credentials, all teaching jargon.
So like I looked up how to kind of tweak that language and how to, um, you know, so it would apply to any industry in any other role. And then the cover letter, the same time, I didn’t really know how to, you know, how what to include there because again, all the cover letters I have always written were for teaching.
And so I focused like on my soft skills there in the cover letter. I really though didn’t have much of a strategy. It was more just like, let me search what’s out there. Let me apply instead of really focusing on like one or two roles or one or two areas. I was kind of all over the place, like sales, you know, curriculum, writing, things like that.
But I never really tweaked my resume or cover letter to fit, you know, those different roles, because I just, at the time just didn’t, just didn’t know.
Elizabeth: And it sounds like you got your foot in the door with sales at an edtech company
Jill: Yes.
Elizabeth: a great experience. To then have transition. So you’re, you’re gaining all this knowledge and then you have time at this point to kind of figure out, do you want to narrow it down to something else or do you want to stick with sales?
So tell us a little bit about, um, how you picked project coordinator and how you kind of narrowed down and got that career clarity.
Jill: Yeah. So I, you know, I was fortunate enough to work at a tech company, um, as a sales development representative with a great team of mostly other former educators, which was, which was amazing. And, um, you know, I learned so much that year about sales and, you know, making the cold calls and all of that, which at first was terrifying because that was just completely out of my comfort zone.
But I learned so much about myself that year. And I think it really just gave me the confidence to keep pushing forward to find, okay, well, if sales isn’t for me in the longterm, like, what is it that you want to do? And so at that point, I had just researched a little bit more about, um, Just other positions outside of sales.
And I kept seeing, um, things come up about, customer onboarding specialists and project coordinator roles. And that’s essentially what I do as a project coordinator is onboard the new clients, teach them the software, and then kind of transition them over to our client success team. So, um, I just knew I wanted to get out of that sales role.
and so yeah, the project coordinator role really spoke to me. because I was still teaching. I was just teaching a group of adults rather than kids. you know, it was fully remote. So I was able to work from home, which gave me more time at home with my kids and I could put them on the bus and get them off the bus, which was, which was huge.
and then, yeah, just the idea of, okay, I have my curriculum, so to speak, you know, my training material. And I can tweak it as I would, you know, as a teacher and, um, I’m still teaching. And so I, that whole part of it, just, that’s what I loved most was taking content and making it my own. So I’m still able to do that.
It’s just a different setting.
Elizabeth: Oh, that’s so exciting. And I love to the little bit about work life balance where you can have your kids and see them to the bus. And, you know, when they get home and have that there as well. Because I’m sure that it might be different than from when you were in the classroom full time.
Jill: Yes. Oh my gosh. It’s been, it’s just been so great. Like just those little things, like getting them off the bus in the afternoon or, you know, being able to put them on the bus. Um, you know, where for a couple of years I missed their first day of school getting on the bus because I was in the classroom. So those little things have just, changed dramatically and it’s been great.
Jill: sure.
Elizabeth: love to learn about what you do as a project coordinator. You kind of briefly summarize it a bit, but would you be able to walk us through a day in the life of what you do and kind of give us a quick summary?
Jill: So, um, what happens is once a client purchases our software, they’re handed over to our project coordinator team to teach them the software. So I will get assigned a new client. Um, we set up our first initial meeting and I just ask them lots of discovery questions, get to know them a bit. And then we set our timeline and there’s five training sessions we do together.
Um, so I have on my end what I’m going to cover in each session, and then I kind of make that guide or that curriculum, if you will, kind of make it my own. so I have these meetings with the client, um, you know, online, walk them through the training, walk them through the software, make sure they understand, um, how to use it.
And then that the whole process with me, I’m usually working with clients about like seven to eight weeks, something like that. And then at the end of our implementation, that’s where they transition over to who will be their long term point of contact. So the client success team. Um, so then I kind of transition them over to them and then I just keep getting new projects, you know, coming in all the time.
Um, and so all of the clients I work with are all at different points in their projects. So I’m, I’m just starting with. Um, you know, someone I’m about to wrap up with. So I love that because I’m meeting lots of different people, um, and I’m with them long enough that I feel like I can develop that, you know, that rapport with them, um, and get to know them a little bit.
So I’ve really, really enjoyed that. Yes.
Elizabeth: it sounds like time management is probably A large part of this too, cause you’ve got like all these different deadlines, clients are at different places.
Jill: It’s. It’s a lot. It’s, it’s, you have to be organized. You have to be really good at time blocking, you know, on your calendar. I do a lot of color coding of like what session I’m having, when reminders in your calendar of send this follow up email, check in with this, you know, this client. There’s a lot of that and, um, a lot, you know, can be lost if you’re not documenting as you go.
yeah, then I would definitely be struggling. So I just make sure that after My sessions, I have my follow up, you know, kind of checklist I follow. But yeah, you have to be on top of that, especially with so many moving parts and, you know, clients coming in and clients leaving.
Elizabeth: I’m glad you mentioned that because my next question was, um, what are the skills that you need to do this job? And you know, time management organization, would you add anything to that list?
Jill: I would say those are definitely two big ones. I would also say just similar to being a teacher, just kind of being flexible. you know, if you’re on a training and something doesn’t work as it should, you have to kind of roll with it and say, Oh, that’s not working right now. We’ll have to revisit that.
Um, you know, or if you come to a session and a client wants to see something first before you typically show it. you know, so you always have to, like, have your plan in place, have your agenda, but then also be willing to go. Just be flexible and work around it. and then I would just also say just presentation, you know, being able to, um, I build in as much visually as I can, although I’m showing the software.
So a lot of it is visual, but I think, just kind of stopping every so often, kind of following up, okay, what questions do you have for me on this chunk? You know, because if you’re presenting for an hour, you don’t want to wait till the end to ask questions. So just kind of naturally building in that time, to kind of reflect on those chunks that you’ve kind of shown them along the way just really giving them that time to ask those questions.
And. I would also just say, you know, just your communication. So your, communication like this during training, but then also written your, you’re writing a lot of emails. Sometimes, you know, if I don’t see if I see a client in person or not in person, but, um, you know, on Microsoft teams or zoom or whatever it is.
In the interim, we’re emailing back and forth. You know, sometimes we have phone calls. So just making sure that you’re able to clearly and effectively communicate with the client in a lot of different ways to make sure that, you know, what you’re doing for them is working for them and working for their team.
Yeah,
Elizabeth: And then did your sales position support you in any way in this transition? Did it, uh, what kind of skills from that did you bring over, if any?
Jill: I think, I think one, it showed that yes, I was a teacher for 12 years, but hey, I was also successful in this other role outside of teaching completely different. So I feel like that that said a lot, just that I was I was in that role for about a year. and I was successful at it. And so I was able to show that I had already made that transition successfully.
and I think that role in particular in the sales role that I was in, I would say it really helped me with communication. Um, definitely built my confidence, which then helped in my interviewing and then in my presentations that I’m doing now in my trainings, and time management, I think it really did help with that as well.
Like when I was in that sales role, you had to make a certain amount of calls every single day, you know, send out a certain amount of emails. Um, and then, you know, really dedicate certain time to each territory you were calling. So you really did have to block out your calendar and, when you were calling which day and what, which, um, account executive you were working with that day, just to kind of make sure you were, you know, calling all the territories and everybody was getting the same amount of, of energy and time.
Elizabeth: Very cool. And then, um, to become a project coordinator, was there any specific sort of upscaling or certificate that you had to get in your situation, or do you know of any?
Jill: So I didn’t, um, specifically for this position, I did research and it looks like there are a lot of project management sort of certifications you can get, which I’m looking into, you know, for the future. and so this role will eventually hopefully get me to that project management role or project manager role for now, though, I’m really happy doing what I’m doing, but, um, I know for project management, there’s a lot of certifications you, you can go after.
So I think in the future, I’ll look, I’ll look into those. But for this specific position, there wasn’t really, um, Well, I guess you could call it upscaling just and just that I researched a lot, like what a project coordinators do, what a customer onboarding specialists do and what are their strengths. So in preparation, like for my interviews and things like that, I really did my research, um, just so I could really speak to exactly what project coordinators do and how it related to teaching.
Elizabeth: And then you mentioned this a bit about project management. Can you talk a little bit about what growth looks like for you? And then at the company you’re at, what does it look like, um, just for the future
Jill: Yeah. So my company, um, Right now, we have a team of a couple of us project coordinator team. It’s a pretty small team. Um, Eventually, we’ll have possibly some roles built in where you have, you know, different levels like project coordinator one project coordinator to so just some different levels built in that way.
Um, as of now, there’s no project manager role at my company, but I know, um, you know, this company is growing and kind of rapidly making those those shifts and those adjustments as needed. and when I look at roles at other companies, some of those roles are called project managers. But it’s very similar to what I do as a project coordinator.
So I think, you know, it just varies from company to company. you know, they all seem to have their own name for a position, but essentially a lot of those roles or those responsibilities overlap. and so as far as growth at my company, I’m not quite sure yet. but I’m just. Kind of I’ve been there for almost a year now.
And so I’m really just kind of taking in all this that I’m learning and very much still learning every single day. and yeah, I’m just I’m really enjoying it there.
Elizabeth: and you mentioned, um, level one, level two. So it’s nice that. There are some like clear defined positions where, where you can move into and I’m sure as well that varies, you know, company to company,
Jill: Right? Yeah. No, it’s definitely nice to know. Like, okay, so if I do this for a couple of years and I enjoy it, what else is out there for me, you know, and. Um, you know, our company also has kind of like a sister company and so there’s been some transitions, like some people coming from that company to this one or from my company to that one.
And so just based on the conversations I’ve had with folks, it sounds like. You know, if there is something else you are interested in, you know, it’s possible that you maybe you go to the other company and you can try a different role. So I think it’s so important to just establish yourself and just prove what you can do and, you know, show what a hard worker you are.
And then that is going to speak volumes no matter what. department or whatever other role you want to get into. I think if you’ve shown what you can do and shown your commitment, um, that’s really going to help you, you know, kind of branch out and go to another department if you want to.
Elizabeth: I agree to showing not telling, you know, show by your actions
Jill: Exactly. Exactly.
Elizabeth: and I’m very curious. So you started in EdTech. And now you’re in GovTech, so I’d love to learn a bit, you know, because teachers, we hear a lot about EdTech, we work with educational softwares in the classroom, so tell us a little bit about your experience with both, and then if you could dive in a little bit into the GovTech, because I’m sure teachers might be interested and curious, you know, how do we branch into that industry?
Jill: So I think when I was first leaving the classroom, and I think this is true for probably a lot of teachers transitioning out of the classroom, We think, okay, well, if I’m going to a different role, I need some sort of like comfort. And for me, that was, well, the ed tech world. So I’m not in the classroom, but I’m still working with teachers.
I’m still working with schools and students. Like what I do is still going to affect, um, you know, their every day. And so ed tech was just that natural kind of transition. and what I found though, too, and what I even found in the last year or so, that world has become so competitive now, not saying that, oh, you know, you can’t apply for a job in the ed tech role, but I think it’s just become so almost flooded with, teachers looking to leave the classroom and obviously ed tech is becoming I mean, I don’t know this for sure, but I’m going to guess it’s probably like the number one sought after, you know, area for, um, teachers leaving.
and so I thought for a while, well, Ed tech is all I can do because I’m already going for a new role, but Hey, at least I’m still in education. And it was only recently, probably in the last year that I started to realize. EdTech is not all, you know, the end all be all. There’s there is other opportunities.
There’s another, um, there’s so many different realms you could go into. And so I was a little nervous about making that transition from EdTech to GovTech because I have no experience in the government world. but at the same time, I thought, well, this is a great time to learn something new and if anything, it’s only going to help me to kind of broaden my experience outside of education.
so I’m learning a lot with the government officials that I, that I train now. you know, definitely different, but I also am working with some school districts in some, in, um, in some cases as well. So, you know, I think it’s just, it’s been really great to just expand And brought in outside of edtech and just know you don’t have to go into edtech.
Like, there are a lot of other industries out there, and I think it’s only going to it’s only going to help you not hurt you to try those out.
Elizabeth: That’s very helpful to hear. with government tech or GovTech, would you go to your city or state’s website? Is that where you find these positions? These, know, through
Jill: Yes. So this one in particular, I happen to work with, um, a friend of mine, a colleague that I worked with in the first ed tech company I worked for outside of teaching. She and I stayed in touch and, When I was looking to leave sales and I was just kind of thinking, okay, whoever I worked with, you know, what are they doing now?
Do they like it? What would they recommend? And so I was kind of reaching out to all my past colleagues that I had worked with and I reached out to her and she was at this company. She had been there for a couple of months and she really enjoyed it. So I got to ask her. What’s it like? What’s the culture?
Like, do you like your role? Like, she’s not a project coordinator. She’s in the sales role there, but, um, it was really nice just kind of being able to ask her, like, how is it you’re on the inside, you know? and she had a lot of positive things to say and. She said, Hey, you know, here are a couple of open roles and I looked at them, there were a couple in sales and then I saw this project coordinator role and I read the description and, um, and I just everything I was like, yes, I want to do this.
Yes. I want to do that. and so I was super excited. So. If it weren’t for her, I don’t know that I necessarily would have even found this role, you know, just listed online. So I think it really does help to, to network and you never know who you’re talking to, like how that’s going to come back, you know, um, you know, like years down the line.
So I think it’s just so important to network and just, and just keep your contacts close because you just never know where, where your life’s going to take you. And when you might, you know, kind of need to lean on somebody else or when, you know, just being in contact with someone is really going to help you out and vice versa.
So, just really glad I stayed in touch with her and that we connected, and that we’re both still at the company and we’re both really happy. So,
Elizabeth: And I love hearing your networking approach when you, you know, got in touch with this woman who worked there because you are coming through it with curiosity. Um, I, that’s a, that’s a great way, you know, so if you are networking, Asking someone about what they’re doing in their position, how they like it. I know it’s tempting to kind of send out those messages saying, I just applied, you know? So I think that’s helpful too, to come from that place of curiosity where, where you’re learning too, if you would like to be in this role
Jill: Mm hmm. Exactly. So I felt like I had to take advantage of that because, you know, when you’re applying to a job, if you don’t know anybody in the company, you can do all the research you want, but it’s just so different when you’re talking to somebody who’s already, you know, they’re internal, they’ve been in there.
because when you’re interviewing, you can ask all the right questions, but you just really don’t know sometimes until you’re in it. Um, and so I felt so lucky to be able to talk to her and just kind of pick her brain a little bit, um, about, about the company and how it was going for her.
Elizabeth: That’s such a great way
Jill: Yeah,
Elizabeth: network.
Jill: Yep.
Elizabeth: And then this might be a specific question, but I, I just remembered it. One of our teachers in the community is leaving teaching, but they’re a little nervous about retirement, the pension. So this being a government agency, what, what did the retirement. package look like?
Is it something where you’re teaching retirement translates, or is it like a totally new 401k?
Jill: So it’s totally new. so that part of it, yeah, it was a little scary just knowing, you know, kind of the years I’ve put in, um, and everything, but my 403B transfers over to the 401k. Even with like salary, I stayed about where I was with teaching, went up a little bit. Um, with my other role though, the sales role, I did take a little dip in a salary because And, you know, that was some of the conversation I had to have with my husband and we just decided that ultimately if it was going to drastically improve our life and my work life balance and all of that and, and just give me back more time at home, and let me enjoy my Sundays without spending all day’s lesson planning.
We were, we said, you know what, like it’s worth this dip if you, then you start there and then you try to work your way back up. So I think that’s something to, to keep in mind for teachers looking to leave is, you know, you’re going to want to, obviously you’re going to take into consideration, um, you know, insurance and your salary and all of that.
But if you can financially take a little bit of a dip and then, you know, you can always work your way back up. I think just to kind of keep that in mind, leaving teaching doesn’t immediately mean, oh, I’m gonna, you know, be making 10, 15, 20,000 more dollars. It might, um, but it, it might take some time to kind of, to work your way up there.
So we just kind of weighed everything and then. It just made the most sense for us to, to leave teaching and because everything else was just, it was just so taxing on me and our family. And so that salary dip initially was definitely worth leaving.
Elizabeth: I appreciate you sharing that with us. And then you, you mentioned just now a little bit about work life balance. So what are some of the specific things, um, that are different from teaching to your new role in terms of that flexibility and balance?
Jill: Yeah, I think the biggest thing is just more control over my schedule. So, you know, you obviously have your eight to four or nine to five, where you’re going to be meeting with clients. But it’s a lot more flexible in terms of, you know, if I have a doctor’s appointment in the middle of the day, I can go to that doctor’s appointment for that hour, whatever it is, and come back and I can work before that and I can work after.
And in teaching it was, well, you have to take a half day and you have to find a sub and you have to write your sub plans. And so it sounds so minor, but if you are in education or you ever have been, you know, you know that that’s, that’s a big deal. So that’s been really nice just being able to like, Oh, I have a doctor’s appointment.
I can only just block it off my calendar. So I can’t make meet with a client for that, those two hours, but that’s okay. And so you’re able to, you know, you have that flexibility with appointments. and you’re able when you’re training or when you’re scheduling those training sessions. You’re doing it based on your calendar.
So yes, you have to be available, but you have control over that calendar, which is really nice. Um, so like I block out the first part of Monday morning, so for no meetings, just for me to catch up on like the admin work for the week. So that’s really nice to be able to do that. And then I have colleagues who block off Friday afternoons to do that.
So that’s really nice to just kind of have that control. and then again, just the ability to kind of. You know, go upstairs, put my kid on the bus and come back. It’s just, it’s really, really nice.
Elizabeth: Oh, that’s, that makes me happy. That’s
Jill: Yeah.
Elizabeth: hear.
Jill: It’s really, really nice.
Elizabeth: And I’m very excited for everyone to listen because we’ve had a lot of interest in project coordinator, um, positions and just, you know, to learn more about them. we love to kind of, uh, wrap these up by hearing, what did you learn about yourself during this process from changing careers?
takeaways?
Jill: I think I surprised myself. I would never in a million years think I would take a sales role for, for example, but, and I was scared to death of it initially, but I’m, I really learned that, you know, doing something outside of your comfort zone is the only way. It’s the only way to grow. And I feel like that.
just really, um, built the confidence in myself to know, like, wow, I never thought I’d be making these cold calls, but I did it. Um, and then that just builds your confidence for the future and other roles that you’re looking for. So I think just, it builds your confidence and just trying something out of your comfort zone that you never thought you would do.
but then also just kind of staying the course and like, if you. Put in the time, you know, for interview prep, especially, um, you know, doing your research and really looking at roles and thinking, do I want to do this every day? Like, would this make me happy? And really just looking at the roles and being picky, you know, looking at, if you don’t want to make cold calls or, you know, or be on sales calls, rule out sales, but really find something that.
speaks to you that you’re going to want to do every day. And I think just staying the course with that and putting in the time, it will pay off. It’s not going to be overnight and it’s such a rollercoaster of emotion. but just sticking with it, you’ll eventually, all of that hard work will pay off.
Elizabeth: Thank you for sharing that. And I love the risk metaphor as well. Like you said, got to take risks
Jill: Yeah, you have to, right? Right. And teaching is so, I don’t know, for me, like I got into it too, because it’s, I don’t want to use that word safe, but predictable. You go in, I’m going to be a teacher and maybe I’ll change grade levels. It’s kind of scary to go out there and not know of any of these roles, some of these roles I’ve never even heard of.
So that part is scary. But, but like you said, I think it’s important to take that risk.
Elizabeth: And I just love the part, you know, where you went into sales and we’re very nervous and acknowledge that you were nervous and then that helped prepare you for your next role. So I like just hearing that, you know, keeping an open mind about. opportunities out there and maybe looking in places that you don’t think you might go, but it could be a great fit.
Something outside of the, the traditional realm.
Jill: Exactly. And everything is look at it as a stepping stone. Like you don’t have to look at that first job you take out outside of teaching as your forever. We go into teaching thinking it’s our forever job. But just looking at these roles, maybe you’re not a hundred percent jazzed about it, but it’s a stepping stone to in the right direction.
Elizabeth: Well, Jill, thank you so much for spending your afternoon with us. I’m so excited for the teacher community to listen and learn all about being a project coordinator. So I can’t wait to kind of follow your journey as you continue on in the government tech world.
Jill: Yeah. Thank you so much. This was fun. Thanks for having me.
