November 19, 2025 • 51 mins
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In this conversation, Angie Stacey shares her inspiring journey from being a dental office manager to her current roles at Brunswick, highlighting her late entry into college, the challenges of balancing family and education, and her growth in the HR field. She emphasizes the importance of self-advocacy, setting boundaries, and pursuing fulfillment in both personal and professional life.
Website: https://www.reroutedpod.comEmail: nick@reroutedpod.comInstagram: @rerouted_podLinkedIn: Rerouted
Takeaways
Angie transitioned from a dental office manager to HR roles at Brunswick.
She started her college education later in life after being laid off.
Balancing family responsibilities with education was a significant challenge.
Angie graduated with a 3.9 GPA while raising a child and working.
She learned the importance of self-advocacy in her career.
Angie emphasizes that money isn't everything in choosing a career.
She encourages others to seek fulfillment in their work and life.
Curiosity is a key trait for successful interns.
Setting boundaries and learning to say no is crucial for well-being.
Angie's journey reflects the importance of support from family and mentors.
Keywords
career journey, HR, education, work-life balance, personal growth, internships, dental hygiene, Brunswick, self-advocacy, life lessons
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Overview of Brunswick Corporation
01:14 Angie's Early Career Journey
04:30 Transitioning to College and Dental Hygiene
08:26 Challenges and Triumphs in Dental Hygiene School
11:53 Starting a Career in Dental Hygiene
15:49 Navigating Changes in the Dental Office
17:47 The Impact of COVID-19 on Dental Hygiene
21:40 Transitioning to Brunswick Corporation
23:07 Exploring New Opportunities in HR and Education
25:27 Navigating Career Development and Education
28:55 Reflecting on Past Challenges and Support Systems
30:29 Transferring Skills from Dentistry to HR
32:38 Learning to Say No and Setting Boundaries
34:34 Validation in Career Transitions
36:29 Advocating for Yourself in the Workplace
39:08 Looking Back: Would You Change Your Path?
41:42 Keys to Success for Interns
45:49 The Competitive Landscape of Intern Recruitment
48:40 Final Thoughts on Fulfillment and Career Satisfaction
50:47 Empowering Your Career Journey
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
No one is responsible for your career in your life except you.
I'm not saying people don't careabout you, but unless you're
telling somebody that, that's not their responsibility.
Welcome back to Rerouted, where we explore unique career paths
to give you the tools you need to create the life you want.
On today's episode, I talked with Angie Stacy, HR coordinator
(00:20):
at Brunswick. We talk about Angie's entry into
college, later in life as a new mother, her early career in
transition from a dental office manager to working in HR and
taking charge of your own careereven when it seems impossible.
Let's get into it. Angie, thank you so much for
helping out with me today. It's great to have you.
Welcome. I'm glad, I'm glad to be here.
So let's dive right into it. Could you give me a brief
(00:42):
overview of what you do right now?
Sure. So I work at Brunswick
Corporation, so we are the leader in marine recreation.
So we're a boating company, but actually focus a lot on
technology, AI, all that fun stuff that's coming about.
So currently I have three positions here at Brunswick.
(01:06):
I do university recruiting so I recruit at UI, UC for engineers,
computer science. Then I also have finance interns
and a rotational program in finance that is for early, early
talent that is based out of our corporate office.
(01:27):
Along with that, I help our Navico PD and E, which is our
power system, power products andelectronics division of
Brunswick with their HR. And then I also do
administrative work for here at the lab on campus of UAUC.
OK, you've got a busy plate then.
(01:48):
Yes, yes, I do all. Right.
Well, OK then. So could you tell me a little
bit about what you did after yougraduated high school?
Sure. So when I graduated high school,
I actually graduated early from high school.
My parents got divorced my junior year.
So I moved with my mother my senior year and decided that
(02:12):
going from a class of about 40 people that I had known my whole
life to about 150 and knowing about four people in the whole
school was a little stressful. So went into the counselor's
office and asked, is there any way for me to graduate early?
So I took all the credits that Icould, graduated early, and then
(02:32):
started actually at a credit union as a teller when I was in
high school. Didn't have many aspirations to
go to college. None of my family has ever been
to college. I have four brothers.
Two of those brothers quit high school.
My mom quit high school, so it wasn't really really a thing for
(02:53):
our family. You just graduated high school
and you went to work. So that's what I did.
I worked full time at this credit union for about 5 years
and a couple different roles there.
Then decided to leave there. Went to AI know I can't even
(03:14):
explain it really. It was called or it was
basically a day labor. And so I would help people find
jobs mostly for like daily work or weekly work.
It wasn't really a full time kind of thing for employees.
And then they would come back and get paid for that day.
(03:35):
Decided to leave there, went to a customer service center,
stayed there for several years and then went to a place where
we sold software to schools. And what happened is, so I had
my son, he was six months old and we were told that we were
(03:58):
going to be losing our jobs. So we had about two months
notice they were sending though our our positions to the, the
corporate headquarters, which was in Arizona at that time
wasn't looking to move. You know, again, I had a six
month old so got laid off and then that kind of starts the
(04:21):
story of my college career. So again, it was a little bit
later in life for me to to startthat.
Alright, well, can you tell me about that college career a bit?
Yeah, of course. So like I said, I got laid off
so was kind of trying to figure out what I wanted to do next.
(04:43):
I had always loved teeth, literally.
I know that sounds crazy to people because, you know, not
everybody likes mouse and but I always love teeth.
And so when I was younger, thought about, oh, let's you
know, let's be an orthodontist until when you get a little bit
older in high school and you realize that, you know, being an
(05:04):
orthodontist, you would have to go to school and you would have
to go to school for a really long time.
So I'm like, yeah, I'm not wanting to do that.
So I thought I could be a dentalassistant.
So I thought about it and lookedinto it and it really just
wasn't that much better of pay or, or probably not as much pay
(05:24):
as what I was making anyways. So I thought, well, what else
can I do? And I was like, Oh, well,
there's dental hygiene, a dentalhygienist, but you have to go to
school. And I'm like, but I could just
study and I could just take a test and I could, you know, I
could do it. Well, that's not the case.
You have to go through a program, you have to take two
(05:47):
tests, and then you have to get your license.
So again, wasn't really sure where I wanted to go, but I knew
I wanted to do something else with my life and not just keep
going from job to job. Not that I was making bad, you
know, a bad living, but it just wasn't the living that I really
(06:09):
wanted to make. So I really looked into it.
You know, for a two year associate's degree, dental
hygienists make a very, very good living.
Also, you know, it's really mostly during the week.
It's not like a weekend job where like nursing, you know,
you sometimes have to work nights and stuff like that.
(06:32):
And so I really thought about it.
But before I joined school, I knew that there was an obstacle.
The obstacle was I knew I had totake biology and goes to cadaver
labs. That was not something that I
(06:53):
thought I would be able to do. So I went to Parkland College
here in Champaign. I got laid off in December,
stayed home a little bit with myson, and then that summer I
started my Gen. eds because you have to apply for dental hygiene
school. So I was able to get all of my
(07:15):
prerequisites done before I actually got into the program,
which is really nice because again, I had now a little over a
one year old. So going back to school, I would
I had a one year old. We were in the process of
building our house when I got laid off.
My husband is a Carpenter, so hewas actually literally building
(07:37):
our house. So he was working full time and
doing that on the nights and weekends.
We had been moved in with my sister-in-law and lived in her
basement. Yeah.
So if you really put your mind to it, you can really do
anything. It was a very, very hard time.
(07:58):
I definitely had to be very disciplined and when I studied,
you know, I would wait until my son went to bed.
So sometimes it was 9 or 10:00 before I was able to study.
But if you really want to do something, you will find the
time to do it. So that was really like I said
(08:19):
the start of my college career. So went through dental hygiene.
So it took me technically three years since I did my
prerequisites first got through there, got 1B, all the all the
rest were A's and there was onlyone person that got an A in the
class that I got AB in. So I was pretty proud of that.
So graduated as a 3.9 GPA. Like I said, with a child, I was
(08:43):
pretty proud of myself. So yeah.
So in that time while I was in school, actually the last month
that I was in school, I got pregnant with my daughter.
So. So that was fun.
So in order to graduate for dental hygiene, you have to do.
And at that time it was an 8 hour written test.
(09:06):
And then you also have to do a practical, which is where you
clean, actually clean somebody'steeth and somebody grates you on
that. So we, we did those and then you
wait about two months before youget those results back.
Then you have to apply for your license through the state,
whichever state you're wanting to get license in, wait for that
(09:29):
to come in before you get an actually practice.
So since I had gotten pregnant the last month of school and by
the time I got my license it wasabout August of that year.
So by that time now here I'm pregnant, I'm showing.
So I knew that I wasn't going toactually go into hygiene until
(09:49):
after I had my daughter. I knew that if I went in to
apply, even though people are not supposed to, you know,
discriminate, that I would have only been able to work a couple
months before. I would have been off for a
while. And I feel like that was
something that I should have told that I would have needed to
tell people. So, so I, my husband and I
(10:13):
talked about it and we're like, we'll just wait until after I
have the baby and then and then look for something.
So I was like, OK, so I was already in school.
It's kind of silly working. I'm still working part time and
taking care of my my, or I was, I was, again, I was pregnant,
(10:33):
taking care of my now 4 year oldand working part time.
So I'm like, I should just go ahead and keep going to school
because maybe at some point I'llwant to go back, but I don't
really know. So I started to go to Eastern
Illinois. So I thought I'll just take a
few classes. It was online.
(10:55):
I think I had to go there one time for a weekend for one of my
classes. So then my daughter came so she
was born on New Year's Eve. So I had gotten through all, you
know, that one that first semester and I'm like, OK, I
don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I can continue
on, have a baby, have a four year old and try and try to
(11:19):
work. So that was that was kind of my
end of, of Eastern Illinois University.
So actually went in for one of my dental check UPS, brought my
baby. And so it was at my dentist.
And they're like, hey, don't, didn't you go to hygiene school?
(11:40):
And I said, yeah, I actually did.
And they're like, hey, our otherhygienist is going to be on
maternity leave here pretty soon.
The dentist already knows you. You've been coming here for who
knows how many years. And he knows you're a nice
person. He, you know, he knows that he
could, other people could work with you.
So would you want to fill in forher?
(12:02):
And I was like, of course. So it was really awesome that I
got to work for my dentist who Ithought was the greatest person
ever. And that was actually the reason
I wanted to go into hygiene school is because when I would
go there, it just seemed so muchfun.
It like it didn't seem like workto me when I went there.
(12:22):
Of course it probably was to them, but everybody was chit
chatting and you know, it just seemed like a really fun office.
And so I'm like what better way for me to get started than to
get started at my dentist? That made me really want to be
that, you know, be a hygienist. So that was awesome.
So I did that. So that's called stubbing.
(12:43):
So a lot of people start out that way.
It was very congested here because most of the people that
they accepted into Parkland werein district.
So it was just saturated with people because every May knew
probably about 30 hygienists came out.
So at that time it was really difficult to find something.
(13:04):
Then I actually saw one of my friends, she from hygiene
school, I would say probably in July of that year.
And she's like, hey, what are you up to?
And I said I'm just, you know, just subbing at different
offices. And she said, well, I have been
working at A at a facility and I'm getting ready to leave to go
(13:27):
full time because all's they have is part time.
What do you think about me giving them your name?
I was like, sure. Well, so she told me who it was.
And so I had heard really good things about this, this general
office. And I was like, cool, that would
be awesome. So she gave them my name.
Within that next couple days, I went and handed in my resume
(13:50):
because again, back then it was really hard to get a position.
So I literally print, it would print out just resumes upon
resumes and just would go into different offices and, you know,
give them my resume. So they would like, hey, here I
am, you know, so I started therein August of oh gosh, 2008 and
(14:16):
started part time then, you know, kind of progress from
there, then went to full time when somebody left or we ended
up getting busier. So we added more, more full time
roles. And then about six years in, we
were just kind of having issues with with turnover at our front
(14:37):
desk and just a lot of things that weren't going quite as the
office would want. So the dentist had known that I
had been in customer service forever, so he asked me if I
would be willing to go up to thefront desk part time.
And I was like, no, no, I, I don't want to do that.
(14:59):
I went to get out of that portion of customer service.
I like my, my, my customer service that I do because it's
really, you know, focused on me and the patient.
And he's like, I just really think you would be really,
really good at it. And he's like, I know you're
really good with patients. And I was like, no, I'm sorry.
So continually throughout like about 6 to 8 months, he kept
(15:24):
kind of just nudging me and nudging me and I'm like, no, I
don't know, I don't want to. So then I don't know, I guess he
caught me on a, a different day or something.
And so I went back to my husbandand talk with and spoke with
him. You know, our kids were still
Pretty Little and being in hygiene.
(15:46):
I mean, you have to be there forthe patients.
Maybe this is better for me and a little more flexibility.
The other lady that was at the front desk, I also knew that she
would be retiring within a couple years, that I could take
over more of her roles, which isstuff that interested me also.
(16:07):
So I was like, OK, well I'll do part time at the front desk.
I'll do part time hygiene. And so then it just kept getting
more and more involved at the front desk.
And again, then this lady retired.
So my hours were like 7:00 to 2:30 or I could do 8:00 to 2:30
(16:29):
or I could do 8:30 to 2:30. It just kind of depended.
So I kind of just kind of pickedmy own schedule as long as we
had coverage and that was reallynice because there were several
years that I could take my kids to school and I can pick them up
from school. I would not been able to do that
with hygiene and I got to learn so much about insurance and
(16:50):
collections and we actually started doing medical
procedures. So I started doing like learning
medical billing. So it was just a lot.
So I pretty much did everything in that office except except
dentistry. So it was very beneficial for me
to be upfront for our office. But I will also say I did not
(17:16):
learn how to say no. The more you take on, the more
people give you. After COVID, it COVID got pretty
bad with patients and stuff. I mean, it just got to be
really, really, really crazy. So I think that kind of just
(17:39):
made me tired of of that type ofenvironment and it wasn't really
going the way that I wanted it to.
Not only that, I was not being the person that I wanted to be
at, at my office. I really wasn't.
I, I think I was very stressed out and didn't realize how to
(18:01):
say no because I felt like therewas a lot that needed to be on
my shoulders. And so at that time, I talked to
my husband and we talked throughit and I knew that I was
probably going to lose money, you know, in wages leaving
(18:22):
because you get paid so well-being a hygienist.
But money wasn't everything. My my well, my well-being mental
well-being was, was something that I needed to concentrate on.
And so I applied for here at Brunswick.
So I applied, it was for an administrative assistant job.
(18:45):
I was like, oh, I can, I can do that.
You know, I was very, very busy at the dental office, like very
busy. I would take work home, but
again, didn't know exactly know how to say no.
So applied, had several interviews and then they were we
(19:10):
do everything in kind of semesters here at the lab.
And so they were saying, you know, we probably you won't
probably won't hear anything fora while because we're winding
down this semester. Then we'll start up the new
semester because a lot of our employees here are interns.
And so I was like, OK, fine. Didn't think much more about it.
(19:32):
Actually talked with the owner of the dental office about my
struggles and how, you know, I would like things to change.
And so we were really going to start working on that.
And that was on a Friday that I,you know, kind of had to sit
down and that Monday they came back.
So this was in January and I think I applied here for like
(19:55):
September, October, they came back and said they would offer
me the position. And so I was like, Oh no, here I
am, you know, talking to the owner and I had been here, been
there for 12 years and my plan was to retire from there.
And here now I have this new opportunity.
(20:18):
So of course we, my husband and I talked talked through it.
Again, knew that I was going to lose some wages, but again,
thought that maybe this was justa new beginning.
I put in a month's notice so that I could give them some time
because there were things that Iwas the only person that knew
how to do it in the office and Ididn't want to leave them
(20:41):
without something. So I made lots of standard
operating procedures so that they could just kind of walk
through and kind of like a little handbook on everything
that I did. And then after that, so then I
started here at Brunswick the last, last day of February that
year. So that was 2022.
(21:05):
So then also helped the dental office for about 6 months after
that on kind of a side side thing just so I could help them
get get to where they needed to be.
I do know now they have three people doing the work that I
did. And so I, I do know that he
(21:28):
definitely realizes that it was,he had put a lot on me and, and
again, that some of that was on me.
I should have, I should have been able to say something, but
it's not really my personality to say no.
As you can see I have three positions here now, so.
Yeah. And then when you leave here
then there will be 3 more peoplethat fill these spots, so I
(21:50):
hope. Not, I hope not.
So that kind of leads us, like Isaid.
So then I started again. I started here in February of
2022, about a month in, realizedthat that was not enough work
for me, that I had been so busy at the dental office that being
slower, just, it wasn't going towork.
(22:11):
So I talked with my boss and he just kind of looked around at
the organization to see where I could kind of do other roles.
So started doing a little bit ofHR stuff more like
administrative HR, but anyways could get into that.
(22:32):
So it was really nice that I gotto work with our HR business
partner so she would give me some things to do.
So just kind of get a little bitinto something else, have more
time or more things to do. Then I was like, you know what,
I kind of like this stuff and I did a little bit of HR at the
dental office, but we only had 12 employees.
(22:54):
So it's a little, a little bit different than, you know, an
organization that has 15,000 employees, you know, and we're a
global company. So, you know, that's way, way,
way different, way different scope.
So I was like, oh, I kind of like some of this stuff.
I don't know, maybe I'll, maybe I'll look into, you know, going
(23:14):
back to school. Never in my mind had I ever
thought that I would go back to school.
I'm like, I think I've already done that.
It was already difficult with little, you know, a little 1 and
I just, I don't know. I just don't, I don't know.
But I'm like, there was just a nudge.
Also, the environment here in our office is and actually
(23:35):
throughout the organization is just, I don't know, it's kind of
like a buzz. And I work with a lot of
engineers. They're super duper smart.
And I'm like, you know what, I'm, I'm smart.
I could, I could do this, right?You know, I did it the first
time I had a one year old, for goodness sakes.
I can, I can pretty much do anything.
(23:57):
And so I was like, you know what, I'm going to look into it
that like again, I started here in February.
So that summer or I started obviously looking into it, but
that summer I started back at EIU.
So the program that I had been in or the degree that I had
pursued back in 2008 was gone, but there was something similar
(24:20):
to it. So it was called organizational
development. So I'm like, OK, this is
interesting. You know, it's a lot about
leadership, different types of leadership, how can you go into
leadership and kind of guide them and stuff like that.
So very, very human resources, you know, geared towards.
(24:42):
But it was also something that Iwas like, OK, it's not just HR,
it's, it's a lot of other thingsincorporated into that.
So that's what I did. So I started that.
So that would have been 2022. So I got that summer and then
Brunswick, they actually help with tuition.
So once you've been here for sixmonths, they start.
(25:04):
You can apply for them to help you with tuition.
So that fall I would have been here six months.
So I got to use the tuition for 20220.
I think that summer I took like 3 or 4 classes, fall 3 or 4
classes, and then 2023 came about so I could use tuition
again. So I was like, okay, I'll just
(25:26):
do that. So while I was at work I was
like okay, still wanna do more. So then they started giving me
the recruiting aspect for our office.
So I started working with a teamthat's called university
recruiting. So they do all the intern and
Co-op recruiting for for our organization.
And then like I said, I do assist with a rotational
(25:49):
program. Then I found out that in the
bachelor's program that I was pursuing that you could dual
credit. So if I wanted to go to wanted
to go into the master's program,which was called talent
development. So then, you know, then it kind
of goes down into more in depth about people and, and how you
(26:12):
can, you know, do training and, you know, teach them about the
leadership skills that you learned and, and really how you
can incorporate that into actualpeople.
And so I was like, OK, well, that's perfect.
That sounds, you know, definitely where I'm going.
And so I'm like, well, OK, so I could transfer nine of my
(26:34):
bachelor credits to my master's.So I graduated in 2023 with my
bachelor's and then went and continued for my master's and
graduated with that in July of 24 with my masters.
Because of the dual credits and just the way that I had it
planned out, it was only a little over a year that I could
(26:57):
do my masters in. So I'm like, why not?
I'm already in school, I've already been writing papers and
this is really something that I really AM looking forward to
doing the rest of my career. So it just goes kind of a no, a
no brainer, you know. So, yeah, so I've now, like I
said, graduated last year with my master's degree.
(27:20):
And so now I'm just trying to figure out exactly where in HRI
want to go. You know, there is the
recruiting side, there's the HR side, there's benefits, there's,
I mean, there's so many avenues that you can go into.
But it's really, really awesome that I keep in connection with
my managers cuz I have three, cuz I work for three different
(27:43):
groups. Just kind of like explaining to
them what I'm looking for, what kind of experience that I wanna
get. And they've been really good
with letting me get into different projects.
I've been in so many projects this last year that I would have
never gotten exposure to had I not, for one, asked for it.
(28:03):
And for two, being in the position that I'm in, I'm on
projects that even some HR people are not, would not be
involved in, but because I'm asking for it.
And I also have guidance of one of my managers, you know, I'm
not out here just flailing. We're in this in partnership.
(28:27):
So it's really good that, you know, she helps give me
guidance. And I mean, I've also felt that
I've contributed some to it with, with the information that
I've received with my, you know,two degrees.
So it's not, I don't feel like I'm just kind of tagging along.
I really feel that I've been able to contribute to the
(28:47):
projects that that I've been on.So.
So that is the story of my long career.
Yeah. Well, I want to bounce this back
15 or 20 years first real quick because I am wondering, I want
to know how do you look back on that period where you had your
one year old, you were just starting school and you were
going through that time where there was so much happening.
(29:07):
How do you look back on it? I look back on it and just like
I said, I'm very proud of it. It was very stressful.
Again, like I said, we were building a house.
My husband, you know, was busy doing that and and we had a a
small child. But it makes me just grateful
that I was able to do that, thatI actually had the support of my
(29:32):
husband and other people in our family.
You know, you really just can't do everything alone.
I've now been married 25 years just in October.
And none of this would have happened without his support.
I would have never gone back to school for dental hygiene.
I would have never gone back to school for my bachelor's and
(29:53):
master's had he not been on board.
And, you know, really encouraging me to be able to be
the person and, and have the career that I want to have.
So just grateful that I am able that I was able to pick or
somebody picked for me, you know, a person to be able to to
to be by my side through all of that.
(30:14):
And. Honestly, I mean, I don't feel
like I can underestimate like how impressive that is to me
that you managed to do all that.It's something where I have, I
have a lot of respect for that. So that's, I want to give you
some flowers about. That's incredible, truly.
Have there been, you mentioned the the things that you got from
your degrees that you're now bringing into the work now, were
(30:35):
there any skills that you got from like managing the dentist
office that you're pulling into your work now or what is that?
Is there any transferable thing there?
Yeah. I mean, so again, at the dental
office, patients are your customers and in HR our
employees are our customers. So it doesn't matter where you
at, you always have some type ofcustomer, whether it's somebody
(30:58):
paying you as a patient or your employees.
So I think that was one of the things that I brought into that,
again, always been in customer service, but realizing like in
the dental world, you know, these people are don't have to
choose to be here and neither dothese employees.
The employees don't have, I mean, they are choosing to be
(31:19):
here every day in the organization.
So you want to make sure that, you know, they're feeling
respected and heard and that they have opportunities that
they can advance. So, you know, I feel like I'm
getting that opportunity that I want to make sure that if I hear
of, of something where, you know, an employee is coming to
(31:40):
us saying, I just don't feel that, or I feel this way or this
has happened. And I, I'm not sure exactly
where to navigate this through that.
You know, I can be there and, and be one of their cheerleaders
to be able to do that with them too and see them through.
So I think, you know, not only at the dental office, but every,
(32:00):
you know, every position that I've been in really tells you
how important people are. I mean, they, you cannot do
things without your people. Even though there's AI and all
these things that are going to make our jobs easier, you we're
still are not going to get away from the personal aspect of
things. Yeah.
(32:22):
Well, OK, I want to know as well.
You mentioned that one of your something that you really
struggled with at the dentist office was not being able to say
no. Has there been, have there been
ways that you've learned how to say no?
Or is that something you're still at work on, something
you're never going to work on? I'm curious, is that what your?
Relationship with them has been,yeah, I'm probably always
working on it, but I have been able to really step back and
(32:47):
kind of look at all of the situations.
So not just be like, Yep, Yep, yes, yes, yes, I'll take that
on, I'll take that on. You know, really now I feel like
I'm taking on things with more meaning.
And you know, if it's, if it's not something that is going to
(33:10):
that I'm not going to be wholeheartedly in, I don't mind
to help anyone. But if it's, if it's something
like a, a short term, I don't mind helping.
But if it would be long term, and that's not really something
I want to do, I feel like now I have the confidence and the
voice to be able to say, I don'tmind assisting with this, but in
(33:31):
the long term, that's not something I want to do.
So I will, you know, come alongside with you and and help
you, but we need to figure out along term solution for that.
So I think just in growing, you know, in myself and seeing what
happened to, you know, happened to my life when I was at the
dental office, you know, I neverwant to be really that person
(33:55):
again. I, I don't feel like I was very
nice sometimes again, because ofthe stress that I was having.
I was not learning how to deal with that very well.
And I think more and more now that I've learned how to deal
with that a little bit better. And again, some of that is
because I feel like I've grown and realized that not in saying
(34:17):
yes to everything is not always good for you or, or the
organization themselves. As as you can see what you know,
what happened with the dental office.
So is there any sort of? Validation that comes with
seeing that three people were were hired to take your one job.
Is there any sort of like aha I was doing way too much.
Yes and no. I mean, I feel good that I was
(34:37):
able to, you know, to provide that for him and, you know, save
him some money, I guess I shouldsay, because he is one of the
kindest people that I know. And I still go there and I, you
know, I still think he is the best, you know, the best dentist
and, and has the best office. But it is a little bit of a
(34:58):
validation saying, you know, I think I said something, but
maybe I didn't say it the right way to where I needed some
assistance. And I was just getting really
burned out and, you know, and taking on everything that I did.
And, you know, I wish, I wish I would have sat down, I guess,
earlier in, in the situation to be able to say something, but I
(35:22):
just felt like it was all on my shoulders.
I'm really kind of bad about that.
I really like control or I used to.
And so, yeah. And I, so I just think in, in
looking back at that situation, I, I'm so grateful for
everything that I learned there,but I'm glad that I recognized
(35:43):
that I was not the person that Iwanted to be there and was able
to get out of that situation. Because again, money isn't
everything. It really, really isn't.
And, you know, I'm sure throughout my career I'll get,
I'll, you know, get back to where I was, but it just wasn't,
it just the money just wasn't worth it.
(36:03):
It doesn't matter how much I would have gotten paid there.
I still wouldn't have been that person that I wanted to be.
So OK. Looking at the other side of the
coin, I guess of the from havingtoo much responsibility, but now
looking for more responsibility.How have you gone about
advocating for yourself in Brunswick to get more
responsibility and kind of to a point where you're now, yeah,
(36:25):
you're doing more than significantly more than what
your job title says you should be doing.
Yeah, for sure. Again, I guess I just learned
with the situation that I was inat the dental office that I
really do have to advocate for myself that I guess I grew up
in, in a world where you just kind of did what you were told
(36:46):
and you just kind of went along along with it.
And if somebody needed you to dosomething, you did it.
But guess getting here at Brunswick really kind of opened
my eyes to this is huge, you know, organization and how many
(37:06):
things that they have to offer and just looking at it and being
like, oh, so there's this aspectand there's this aspect.
So really, really, really sitting down with my managers
and, you know, we have a weekly call.
I do have a manager that's here in the office, but most of my
(37:27):
other ones are remote. So having a weekly call and in
that weekly call we're talking about work.
But if I need to talk about, youknow, something about me and my
career, I'll set up another callwith them.
You know, it's not. You don't have to just wait, you
know, you know, until somebody gives you something you really
need to go out there and, and, and go after it because no one
(37:50):
is responsible for your career and your life except you.
I'm not saying people don't careabout you.
My managers are really, really good Once I, you know, once I
gave them the information that what I'm looking for, they
really helped me and, and went out and searched for stuff that
I can do. But unless you're telling
somebody that, that's not their responsibility to know that,
(38:12):
right? Like it just somebody cannot
take over your career. You have to, you have to own it.
And like I said before that I just, that wasn't really what,
what I was taught. You just kind of do what you're
you're doing, you know, and if somebody thinks you're a good
worker, they'll give you a promotion.
That's really not it, because there's a lot of good workers,
(38:34):
you know, out there. There's got lots of great
employees that know that have a lot of information.
But if you're not advocating foryourself, no, no one else really
will. So.
Your interns are lucky to have an HR person who's really feels
that way. That's a, that's AI really like
(38:55):
the way you birth that down. It makes a lot of sense.
And I think that's really valuable.
And like I said, the the, the interns that you've that you're
bringing on are, are lucky to have someone who has that voice
and has that. We appreciate that.
Who shares that? With them, I am wondering if you
had the opportunity to go back to right when you graduated high
school, would you try to pursue HR from the start?
(39:18):
That's a great question. I don't know that I would have
pursued HR from the start, but Iwould have pursued at least
going to school. I, I would have gone to school
right after, right after high school.
I, I know that I can do it now where before my confidence was
(39:41):
not good. Again, our family just didn't go
to school. So it wasn't, wasn't really a
thing. We we talked about my grades in
high school were, you know, OK, but also I probably didn't try
as much as I would have. So that's why I'm saying like,
when going to hygiene school, I wanted to do that.
(40:03):
I wanted to make sure that I wasthe best student I could be, not
only for myself, but for my one year old, for my husband.
I mean, we were making a lot of sacrifices during that time, you
know, mean only working sometimes part time, sometimes
not at all, depending on my school schedule, depending on
this per semester. Because not only in hygiene
(40:26):
school do you have to go to school, you also have to do
clinic. So, you know, that's four hours,
three days a week. And so unless I wanted to work
really late nights or weekends and sacrifice then my family
time, there was times that I wasn't able to work part time.
So my husband was, you know, thesole, sole provider for us.
(40:46):
So he and we were sacrificing a lot for me to go back to school.
So again, I don't know that I would have pursued HR directly,
but I know going back changing it, I I definitely would have
pursued something in some type of people realm.
(41:07):
So I don't know if it would havebeen HR, but but something to
do, you know, maybe even like a psychology kind of thing,
because HR is a lot of a lot of that too, because you have to
have a lot of empathy. You have to have, you know, a
lot of understanding on people'semotions and stuff like that.
So again, don't know that it would have been HR, but I know
(41:28):
that it would have been something concentrating in the
human, human aspect of, of life.So yeah, that's that's one thing
I would I definitely would change, would have changed.
OK. I want to ask you a question a
little bit as well. That's in more relationship to
your work versus your career. So I'm curious because most of
(41:50):
my audience is college age students or people fresh out of
college. I'm curious right now the job
market's in a very interesting place.
What are some things that you'veseen interns either on their
applications or when they're actually job that really makes
someone successful, especially in your position where you work
with a lot of interns? You were saying, yeah, what
makes an intern successful? Yeah.
(42:11):
So what our interns here, what we look for is definitely
projects that students have worked on.
You know, at UIUC, all of our students are super smart in
order to get in here. It's very, very competitive.
They're all taking about the, you know, the same course
(42:34):
courses, course load. So everybody is stellar, right?
So what we're looking for and especially here in research and
development is somebody that looks like they are just curious
because in order to work here, you have to be curious because
we're trying to figure out stuffthat we can do for the marine
(42:57):
industry three, 5-10 years out here.
So we're trying to guess kind ofwhat we need to be working on.
So our students need to want to be really involved in our
projects. Like we have students that are
on patents in our organization. That's how much they are
involved in the projects that wehave here at the lab.
(43:20):
So again, very, very just curious.
So is it something like they arein an RSO, you know, one of
their student organizations? We have so many student
organizations here at UIUC that you can be involved in.
And then also, are you pursuing like things outside of that?
(43:40):
Are you, you know, do you like game development?
Are you developing your own game?
Or are you, if you're a mechanical engineer, are you in
some type of group or, or do youtry to do 3D printing in it and
create something? You know, so it's really nice to
try to see from people's resume,which is always so hard, you
(44:04):
know, making sure that you're that you are putting in your
resume how you would want to be perceived.
So it's not really, I mean, we hire freshmans, we hire
sophomores, junior seniors, master's students.
So it's really not about like your schoolwork or if you've had
(44:24):
an internship. But what are you doing?
How are you taking your college courses and applying them out
into say the real world and not necessarily the real world, but
a different world than just academic.
So really important to just, youknow, show us what how you are
(44:44):
taking your college courses and expanding on those.
OK. And I think it's you have an
interesting perspective as well coming from cuz your group hires
only UIUC, right? Cuz it's like based on for the
most part. Yes, for the most part, yeah.
I mean, once in a great while wewill hire somebody outside of
UAEC. But for the most part, all of
our students, I think, I think in the three, almost four years
(45:07):
I've been here, we might have hired like 3 or 4 outside of
AEC. So not that much, OK.
Yeah. So you have an interesting
perspective because it's very much like you were saying,
people who have very similar coursework, all from the same
place kind of have the same basestats.
I'll say that. So and also for R&D, which is
not only something that's reallyexciting, but something that
(45:29):
takes a lot. And you were saying that some
students are on patents. So I mean the coolest thing.
So thank you. I would have felt like I would
have been doing a disservice to the people, so to speak if I
didn't ask you for that. Sure, because I think it is
interesting. I remember as well, the first
time we were spoken, we spoke. You mentioned the numbers that
went into applications that you guys had for open positions.
(45:50):
Would you mind sharing those real quick?
Because they kind of blew my mind a little, yeah.
For sure. So every semester we recruit.
So our, you know, our big recruiting is in the fall
because of course that's when the most career fairs are here
at UAUC. But we also do some in the
spring depending on if we have students that have, you know,
have decided to leave or graduating or whatnot.
(46:13):
So we have students throughout fall, spring, and summer
semesters. So in the fall and spring, we
only ask our students to work 8 hours in the office.
They can work up to 20 hours. And then during the summer we
have them work full time becausewe just feel like, Oh my gosh,
it is. So it is.
It's the energy here is so different.
(46:34):
During the summer, it's so much fun because, you know, you've
been here, you've kind of got toknow the organization, our
culture, the other interns, you know, been introduced to your
project. And then in the summer you just
kind of go full, full blast on on what you want to get done.
But yeah, it is very competitive, especially all in
(46:57):
Research Park. There's a lot of research and
development here, but depending on the position, always we have
some some type of software, you know, intern and for our
software interns week this last fall recruiting, we got 1800
applicants. Now some of those did not pay
(47:20):
attention to the job descriptionwhere they were not at UIUC.
So it was very easy to, you know, weed some of those out and
some that didn't meet any of that criteria.
If you're, if you were in like philosophy or something or you
know, you might not be into software when you haven't taken
(47:41):
any of those courses or anythinglike that.
We got it down to 250, but that's 250 for one position.
That's a lot, a lot of candidates.
So that's just how competitive is here.
If it says anything with machinelearning, computer vision, AI
(48:02):
software back in front end, yeah, we definitely get a lot of
lot of a lot of traction with that.
And so it's just amazing how we actually, you know, get it down
to one person each and, you know, each semester.
But we do and and we've had big success with with our
recruiting, you know, love will be starting again in, in the in
(48:25):
the spring, OK. Awesome.
Well, it's been a true pleasure talking with you.
But before we wrap up, I want toask, is there any?
Are there any last piece of advice or words of wisdom that
you'd like to share from your experience?
Yeah. I just want to make sure, again,
kind of reiterate, money isn't everything.
So make sure that you're doing something that you really like
(48:48):
to do. Also, if you put your mind to
it, you can really do anything. Like I said, having a one year
old building a house, working like it was not something that
is for the faint of heart, but Ireally, really wanted to do this
for me and my family. So again, you can put your mind,
(49:08):
if you put your mind to it, you can literally do anything and,
you know, make sure that you're,it's OK to change.
Now my husband says he doesn't know if I can go back and, and
do a PhD or anything. And I'm not sure that's
something that I want to do or another master's.
But you know, it's OK to change it.
It's OK to, you know, pursue something different, even.
(49:32):
I mean, I am not young. I am not young.
So, you know, definitely make sure that you're happy and that
you're, that you, I guess not only happy, but are fulfilled
with what you're doing. And if you're not, seek out
something, seek out something else.
It doesn't have to be a whole degree.
It doesn't have to be a whole 2°.
(49:52):
It can just be, you know, a course here and there or just
anything. I mean, I love, love, love to
read. So of course, during studying
wasn't for my 2°, I wasn't able to read as much because I just
like any and everything kind of fiction.
So what I do now is I I read andI join book clubs and that's,
(50:15):
you know, that's portion of whatmakes me happy too.
So it's all around life that youneed to look at not just not
just your work, but but everything all encompassed, you
know, make sure that you are feeling fulfilled.
And if you're not, what can you do to seek out something that
would make you fulfilled all right?
Thank you very much for ending us on those notes, Andrew.
(50:36):
It was a pleasure to talk to you.
Yeah, Thank you. Thanks for having me.
I appreciate it. Yeah, of.
Course, you're truly joy, so thank you.
I hope you have a great rest of your day.
Yeah, you. Too.
I hope you enjoyed the episode. If you have any thoughts,
feedback, guest recommend. I hope you enjoyed the episode.
If you have any thoughts, feedback, guest recommendations.
But I just want to say hi, shootme an e-mail at
(50:58):
nick@reroutedpod.com. If you like the show, leave a
review, give us a follow, like and subscribe.
You can find links to our website and socials in the
description below. I'm looking forward to seeing
you next week.
No one is responsible for your career in your life except you.
I'm not saying people don't careabout you, but unless you're
telling somebody that, that's not their responsibility.
Welcome back to Rerouted, where we explore unique career paths
to give you the tools you need to create the life you want.
On today's episode, I talked with Angie Stacy, HR coordinator
(00:20):
at Brunswick. We talk about Angie's entry into
college, later in life as a new mother, her early career in
transition from a dental office manager to working in HR and
taking charge of your own careereven when it seems impossible.
Let's get into it. Angie, thank you so much for
helping out with me today. It's great to have you.
Welcome. I'm glad, I'm glad to be here.
So let's dive right into it. Could you give me a brief
(00:42):
overview of what you do right now?
Sure. So I work at Brunswick
Corporation, so we are the leader in marine recreation.
So we're a boating company, but actually focus a lot on
technology, AI, all that fun stuff that's coming about.
So currently I have three positions here at Brunswick.
(01:06):
I do university recruiting so I recruit at UI, UC for engineers,
computer science. Then I also have finance interns
and a rotational program in finance that is for early, early
talent that is based out of our corporate office.
(01:27):
Along with that, I help our Navico PD and E, which is our
power system, power products andelectronics division of
Brunswick with their HR. And then I also do
administrative work for here at the lab on campus of UAUC.
OK, you've got a busy plate then.
(01:48):
Yes, yes, I do all. Right.
Well, OK then. So could you tell me a little
bit about what you did after yougraduated high school?
Sure. So when I graduated high school,
I actually graduated early from high school.
My parents got divorced my junior year.
So I moved with my mother my senior year and decided that
(02:12):
going from a class of about 40 people that I had known my whole
life to about 150 and knowing about four people in the whole
school was a little stressful. So went into the counselor's
office and asked, is there any way for me to graduate early?
So I took all the credits that Icould, graduated early, and then
(02:32):
started actually at a credit union as a teller when I was in
high school. Didn't have many aspirations to
go to college. None of my family has ever been
to college. I have four brothers.
Two of those brothers quit high school.
My mom quit high school, so it wasn't really really a thing for
(02:53):
our family. You just graduated high school
and you went to work. So that's what I did.
I worked full time at this credit union for about 5 years
and a couple different roles there.
Then decided to leave there. Went to AI know I can't even
(03:14):
explain it really. It was called or it was
basically a day labor. And so I would help people find
jobs mostly for like daily work or weekly work.
It wasn't really a full time kind of thing for employees.
And then they would come back and get paid for that day.
(03:35):
Decided to leave there, went to a customer service center,
stayed there for several years and then went to a place where
we sold software to schools. And what happened is, so I had
my son, he was six months old and we were told that we were
(03:58):
going to be losing our jobs. So we had about two months
notice they were sending though our our positions to the, the
corporate headquarters, which was in Arizona at that time
wasn't looking to move. You know, again, I had a six
month old so got laid off and then that kind of starts the
(04:21):
story of my college career. So again, it was a little bit
later in life for me to to startthat.
Alright, well, can you tell me about that college career a bit?
Yeah, of course. So like I said, I got laid off
so was kind of trying to figure out what I wanted to do next.
(04:43):
I had always loved teeth, literally.
I know that sounds crazy to people because, you know, not
everybody likes mouse and but I always love teeth.
And so when I was younger, thought about, oh, let's you
know, let's be an orthodontist until when you get a little bit
older in high school and you realize that, you know, being an
(05:04):
orthodontist, you would have to go to school and you would have
to go to school for a really long time.
So I'm like, yeah, I'm not wanting to do that.
So I thought I could be a dentalassistant.
So I thought about it and lookedinto it and it really just
wasn't that much better of pay or, or probably not as much pay
(05:24):
as what I was making anyways. So I thought, well, what else
can I do? And I was like, Oh, well,
there's dental hygiene, a dentalhygienist, but you have to go to
school. And I'm like, but I could just
study and I could just take a test and I could, you know, I
could do it. Well, that's not the case.
You have to go through a program, you have to take two
(05:47):
tests, and then you have to get your license.
So again, wasn't really sure where I wanted to go, but I knew
I wanted to do something else with my life and not just keep
going from job to job. Not that I was making bad, you
know, a bad living, but it just wasn't the living that I really
(06:09):
wanted to make. So I really looked into it.
You know, for a two year associate's degree, dental
hygienists make a very, very good living.
Also, you know, it's really mostly during the week.
It's not like a weekend job where like nursing, you know,
you sometimes have to work nights and stuff like that.
(06:32):
And so I really thought about it.
But before I joined school, I knew that there was an obstacle.
The obstacle was I knew I had totake biology and goes to cadaver
labs. That was not something that I
(06:53):
thought I would be able to do. So I went to Parkland College
here in Champaign. I got laid off in December,
stayed home a little bit with myson, and then that summer I
started my Gen. eds because you have to apply for dental hygiene
school. So I was able to get all of my
(07:15):
prerequisites done before I actually got into the program,
which is really nice because again, I had now a little over a
one year old. So going back to school, I would
I had a one year old. We were in the process of
building our house when I got laid off.
My husband is a Carpenter, so hewas actually literally building
(07:37):
our house. So he was working full time and
doing that on the nights and weekends.
We had been moved in with my sister-in-law and lived in her
basement. Yeah.
So if you really put your mind to it, you can really do
anything. It was a very, very hard time.
(07:58):
I definitely had to be very disciplined and when I studied,
you know, I would wait until my son went to bed.
So sometimes it was 9 or 10:00 before I was able to study.
But if you really want to do something, you will find the
time to do it. So that was really like I said
(08:19):
the start of my college career. So went through dental hygiene.
So it took me technically three years since I did my
prerequisites first got through there, got 1B, all the all the
rest were A's and there was onlyone person that got an A in the
class that I got AB in. So I was pretty proud of that.
So graduated as a 3.9 GPA. Like I said, with a child, I was
(08:43):
pretty proud of myself. So yeah.
So in that time while I was in school, actually the last month
that I was in school, I got pregnant with my daughter.
So. So that was fun.
So in order to graduate for dental hygiene, you have to do.
And at that time it was an 8 hour written test.
(09:06):
And then you also have to do a practical, which is where you
clean, actually clean somebody'steeth and somebody grates you on
that. So we, we did those and then you
wait about two months before youget those results back.
Then you have to apply for your license through the state,
whichever state you're wanting to get license in, wait for that
(09:29):
to come in before you get an actually practice.
So since I had gotten pregnant the last month of school and by
the time I got my license it wasabout August of that year.
So by that time now here I'm pregnant, I'm showing.
So I knew that I wasn't going toactually go into hygiene until
(09:49):
after I had my daughter. I knew that if I went in to
apply, even though people are not supposed to, you know,
discriminate, that I would have only been able to work a couple
months before. I would have been off for a
while. And I feel like that was
something that I should have told that I would have needed to
tell people. So, so I, my husband and I
(10:13):
talked about it and we're like, we'll just wait until after I
have the baby and then and then look for something.
So I was like, OK, so I was already in school.
It's kind of silly working. I'm still working part time and
taking care of my my, or I was, I was, again, I was pregnant,
(10:33):
taking care of my now 4 year oldand working part time.
So I'm like, I should just go ahead and keep going to school
because maybe at some point I'llwant to go back, but I don't
really know. So I started to go to Eastern
Illinois. So I thought I'll just take a
few classes. It was online.
(10:55):
I think I had to go there one time for a weekend for one of my
classes. So then my daughter came so she
was born on New Year's Eve. So I had gotten through all, you
know, that one that first semester and I'm like, OK, I
don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I can continue
on, have a baby, have a four year old and try and try to
(11:19):
work. So that was that was kind of my
end of, of Eastern Illinois University.
So actually went in for one of my dental check UPS, brought my
baby. And so it was at my dentist.
And they're like, hey, don't, didn't you go to hygiene school?
(11:40):
And I said, yeah, I actually did.
And they're like, hey, our otherhygienist is going to be on
maternity leave here pretty soon.
The dentist already knows you. You've been coming here for who
knows how many years. And he knows you're a nice
person. He, you know, he knows that he
could, other people could work with you.
So would you want to fill in forher?
(12:02):
And I was like, of course. So it was really awesome that I
got to work for my dentist who Ithought was the greatest person
ever. And that was actually the reason
I wanted to go into hygiene school is because when I would
go there, it just seemed so muchfun.
It like it didn't seem like workto me when I went there.
(12:22):
Of course it probably was to them, but everybody was chit
chatting and you know, it just seemed like a really fun office.
And so I'm like what better way for me to get started than to
get started at my dentist? That made me really want to be
that, you know, be a hygienist. So that was awesome.
So I did that. So that's called stubbing.
(12:43):
So a lot of people start out that way.
It was very congested here because most of the people that
they accepted into Parkland werein district.
So it was just saturated with people because every May knew
probably about 30 hygienists came out.
So at that time it was really difficult to find something.
(13:04):
Then I actually saw one of my friends, she from hygiene
school, I would say probably in July of that year.
And she's like, hey, what are you up to?
And I said I'm just, you know, just subbing at different
offices. And she said, well, I have been
working at A at a facility and I'm getting ready to leave to go
(13:27):
full time because all's they have is part time.
What do you think about me giving them your name?
I was like, sure. Well, so she told me who it was.
And so I had heard really good things about this, this general
office. And I was like, cool, that would
be awesome. So she gave them my name.
Within that next couple days, I went and handed in my resume
(13:50):
because again, back then it was really hard to get a position.
So I literally print, it would print out just resumes upon
resumes and just would go into different offices and, you know,
give them my resume. So they would like, hey, here I
am, you know, so I started therein August of oh gosh, 2008 and
(14:16):
started part time then, you know, kind of progress from
there, then went to full time when somebody left or we ended
up getting busier. So we added more, more full time
roles. And then about six years in, we
were just kind of having issues with with turnover at our front
(14:37):
desk and just a lot of things that weren't going quite as the
office would want. So the dentist had known that I
had been in customer service forever, so he asked me if I
would be willing to go up to thefront desk part time.
And I was like, no, no, I, I don't want to do that.
(14:59):
I went to get out of that portion of customer service.
I like my, my, my customer service that I do because it's
really, you know, focused on me and the patient.
And he's like, I just really think you would be really,
really good at it. And he's like, I know you're
really good with patients. And I was like, no, I'm sorry.
So continually throughout like about 6 to 8 months, he kept
(15:24):
kind of just nudging me and nudging me and I'm like, no, I
don't know, I don't want to. So then I don't know, I guess he
caught me on a, a different day or something.
And so I went back to my husbandand talk with and spoke with
him. You know, our kids were still
Pretty Little and being in hygiene.
(15:46):
I mean, you have to be there forthe patients.
Maybe this is better for me and a little more flexibility.
The other lady that was at the front desk, I also knew that she
would be retiring within a couple years, that I could take
over more of her roles, which isstuff that interested me also.
(16:07):
So I was like, OK, well I'll do part time at the front desk.
I'll do part time hygiene. And so then it just kept getting
more and more involved at the front desk.
And again, then this lady retired.
So my hours were like 7:00 to 2:30 or I could do 8:00 to 2:30
(16:29):
or I could do 8:30 to 2:30. It just kind of depended.
So I kind of just kind of pickedmy own schedule as long as we
had coverage and that was reallynice because there were several
years that I could take my kids to school and I can pick them up
from school. I would not been able to do that
with hygiene and I got to learn so much about insurance and
(16:50):
collections and we actually started doing medical
procedures. So I started doing like learning
medical billing. So it was just a lot.
So I pretty much did everything in that office except except
dentistry. So it was very beneficial for me
to be upfront for our office. But I will also say I did not
(17:16):
learn how to say no. The more you take on, the more
people give you. After COVID, it COVID got pretty
bad with patients and stuff. I mean, it just got to be
really, really, really crazy. So I think that kind of just
(17:39):
made me tired of of that type ofenvironment and it wasn't really
going the way that I wanted it to.
Not only that, I was not being the person that I wanted to be
at, at my office. I really wasn't.
I, I think I was very stressed out and didn't realize how to
(18:01):
say no because I felt like therewas a lot that needed to be on
my shoulders. And so at that time, I talked to
my husband and we talked throughit and I knew that I was
probably going to lose money, you know, in wages leaving
(18:22):
because you get paid so well-being a hygienist.
But money wasn't everything. My my well, my well-being mental
well-being was, was something that I needed to concentrate on.
And so I applied for here at Brunswick.
So I applied, it was for an administrative assistant job.
(18:45):
I was like, oh, I can, I can do that.
You know, I was very, very busy at the dental office, like very
busy. I would take work home, but
again, didn't know exactly know how to say no.
So applied, had several interviews and then they were we
(19:10):
do everything in kind of semesters here at the lab.
And so they were saying, you know, we probably you won't
probably won't hear anything fora while because we're winding
down this semester. Then we'll start up the new
semester because a lot of our employees here are interns.
And so I was like, OK, fine. Didn't think much more about it.
(19:32):
Actually talked with the owner of the dental office about my
struggles and how, you know, I would like things to change.
And so we were really going to start working on that.
And that was on a Friday that I,you know, kind of had to sit
down and that Monday they came back.
So this was in January and I think I applied here for like
(19:55):
September, October, they came back and said they would offer
me the position. And so I was like, Oh no, here I
am, you know, talking to the owner and I had been here, been
there for 12 years and my plan was to retire from there.
And here now I have this new opportunity.
(20:18):
So of course we, my husband and I talked talked through it.
Again, knew that I was going to lose some wages, but again,
thought that maybe this was justa new beginning.
I put in a month's notice so that I could give them some time
because there were things that Iwas the only person that knew
how to do it in the office and Ididn't want to leave them
(20:41):
without something. So I made lots of standard
operating procedures so that they could just kind of walk
through and kind of like a little handbook on everything
that I did. And then after that, so then I
started here at Brunswick the last, last day of February that
year. So that was 2022.
(21:05):
So then also helped the dental office for about 6 months after
that on kind of a side side thing just so I could help them
get get to where they needed to be.
I do know now they have three people doing the work that I
did. And so I, I do know that he
(21:28):
definitely realizes that it was,he had put a lot on me and, and
again, that some of that was on me.
I should have, I should have been able to say something, but
it's not really my personality to say no.
As you can see I have three positions here now, so.
Yeah. And then when you leave here
then there will be 3 more peoplethat fill these spots, so I
(21:50):
hope. Not, I hope not.
So that kind of leads us, like Isaid.
So then I started again. I started here in February of
2022, about a month in, realizedthat that was not enough work
for me, that I had been so busy at the dental office that being
slower, just, it wasn't going towork.
(22:11):
So I talked with my boss and he just kind of looked around at
the organization to see where I could kind of do other roles.
So started doing a little bit ofHR stuff more like
administrative HR, but anyways could get into that.
(22:32):
So it was really nice that I gotto work with our HR business
partner so she would give me some things to do.
So just kind of get a little bitinto something else, have more
time or more things to do. Then I was like, you know what,
I kind of like this stuff and I did a little bit of HR at the
dental office, but we only had 12 employees.
(22:54):
So it's a little, a little bit different than, you know, an
organization that has 15,000 employees, you know, and we're a
global company. So, you know, that's way, way,
way different, way different scope.
So I was like, oh, I kind of like some of this stuff.
I don't know, maybe I'll, maybe I'll look into, you know, going
(23:14):
back to school. Never in my mind had I ever
thought that I would go back to school.
I'm like, I think I've already done that.
It was already difficult with little, you know, a little 1 and
I just, I don't know. I just don't, I don't know.
But I'm like, there was just a nudge.
Also, the environment here in our office is and actually
(23:35):
throughout the organization is just, I don't know, it's kind of
like a buzz. And I work with a lot of
engineers. They're super duper smart.
And I'm like, you know what, I'm, I'm smart.
I could, I could do this, right?You know, I did it the first
time I had a one year old, for goodness sakes.
I can, I can pretty much do anything.
(23:57):
And so I was like, you know what, I'm going to look into it
that like again, I started here in February.
So that summer or I started obviously looking into it, but
that summer I started back at EIU.
So the program that I had been in or the degree that I had
pursued back in 2008 was gone, but there was something similar
(24:20):
to it. So it was called organizational
development. So I'm like, OK, this is
interesting. You know, it's a lot about
leadership, different types of leadership, how can you go into
leadership and kind of guide them and stuff like that.
So very, very human resources, you know, geared towards.
(24:42):
But it was also something that Iwas like, OK, it's not just HR,
it's, it's a lot of other thingsincorporated into that.
So that's what I did. So I started that.
So that would have been 2022. So I got that summer and then
Brunswick, they actually help with tuition.
So once you've been here for sixmonths, they start.
(25:04):
You can apply for them to help you with tuition.
So that fall I would have been here six months.
So I got to use the tuition for 20220.
I think that summer I took like 3 or 4 classes, fall 3 or 4
classes, and then 2023 came about so I could use tuition
again. So I was like, okay, I'll just
(25:26):
do that. So while I was at work I was
like okay, still wanna do more. So then they started giving me
the recruiting aspect for our office.
So I started working with a teamthat's called university
recruiting. So they do all the intern and
Co-op recruiting for for our organization.
And then like I said, I do assist with a rotational
(25:49):
program. Then I found out that in the
bachelor's program that I was pursuing that you could dual
credit. So if I wanted to go to wanted
to go into the master's program,which was called talent
development. So then, you know, then it kind
of goes down into more in depth about people and, and how you
(26:12):
can, you know, do training and, you know, teach them about the
leadership skills that you learned and, and really how you
can incorporate that into actualpeople.
And so I was like, OK, well, that's perfect.
That sounds, you know, definitely where I'm going.
And so I'm like, well, OK, so I could transfer nine of my
(26:34):
bachelor credits to my master's.So I graduated in 2023 with my
bachelor's and then went and continued for my master's and
graduated with that in July of 24 with my masters.
Because of the dual credits and just the way that I had it
planned out, it was only a little over a year that I could
(26:57):
do my masters in. So I'm like, why not?
I'm already in school, I've already been writing papers and
this is really something that I really AM looking forward to
doing the rest of my career. So it just goes kind of a no, a
no brainer, you know. So, yeah, so I've now, like I
said, graduated last year with my master's degree.
(27:20):
And so now I'm just trying to figure out exactly where in HRI
want to go. You know, there is the
recruiting side, there's the HR side, there's benefits, there's,
I mean, there's so many avenues that you can go into.
But it's really, really awesome that I keep in connection with
my managers cuz I have three, cuz I work for three different
(27:43):
groups. Just kind of like explaining to
them what I'm looking for, what kind of experience that I wanna
get. And they've been really good
with letting me get into different projects.
I've been in so many projects this last year that I would have
never gotten exposure to had I not, for one, asked for it.
(28:03):
And for two, being in the position that I'm in, I'm on
projects that even some HR people are not, would not be
involved in, but because I'm asking for it.
And I also have guidance of one of my managers, you know, I'm
not out here just flailing. We're in this in partnership.
(28:27):
So it's really good that, you know, she helps give me
guidance. And I mean, I've also felt that
I've contributed some to it with, with the information that
I've received with my, you know,two degrees.
So it's not, I don't feel like I'm just kind of tagging along.
I really feel that I've been able to contribute to the
(28:47):
projects that that I've been on.So.
So that is the story of my long career.
Yeah. Well, I want to bounce this back
15 or 20 years first real quick because I am wondering, I want
to know how do you look back on that period where you had your
one year old, you were just starting school and you were
going through that time where there was so much happening.
(29:07):
How do you look back on it? I look back on it and just like
I said, I'm very proud of it. It was very stressful.
Again, like I said, we were building a house.
My husband, you know, was busy doing that and and we had a a
small child. But it makes me just grateful
that I was able to do that, thatI actually had the support of my
(29:32):
husband and other people in our family.
You know, you really just can't do everything alone.
I've now been married 25 years just in October.
And none of this would have happened without his support.
I would have never gone back to school for dental hygiene.
I would have never gone back to school for my bachelor's and
(29:53):
master's had he not been on board.
And, you know, really encouraging me to be able to be
the person and, and have the career that I want to have.
So just grateful that I am able that I was able to pick or
somebody picked for me, you know, a person to be able to to
to be by my side through all of that.
(30:14):
And. Honestly, I mean, I don't feel
like I can underestimate like how impressive that is to me
that you managed to do all that.It's something where I have, I
have a lot of respect for that. So that's, I want to give you
some flowers about. That's incredible, truly.
Have there been, you mentioned the the things that you got from
your degrees that you're now bringing into the work now, were
(30:35):
there any skills that you got from like managing the dentist
office that you're pulling into your work now or what is that?
Is there any transferable thing there?
Yeah. I mean, so again, at the dental
office, patients are your customers and in HR our
employees are our customers. So it doesn't matter where you
at, you always have some type ofcustomer, whether it's somebody
(30:58):
paying you as a patient or your employees.
So I think that was one of the things that I brought into that,
again, always been in customer service, but realizing like in
the dental world, you know, these people are don't have to
choose to be here and neither dothese employees.
The employees don't have, I mean, they are choosing to be
(31:19):
here every day in the organization.
So you want to make sure that, you know, they're feeling
respected and heard and that they have opportunities that
they can advance. So, you know, I feel like I'm
getting that opportunity that I want to make sure that if I hear
of, of something where, you know, an employee is coming to
(31:40):
us saying, I just don't feel that, or I feel this way or this
has happened. And I, I'm not sure exactly
where to navigate this through that.
You know, I can be there and, and be one of their cheerleaders
to be able to do that with them too and see them through.
So I think, you know, not only at the dental office, but every,
(32:00):
you know, every position that I've been in really tells you
how important people are. I mean, they, you cannot do
things without your people. Even though there's AI and all
these things that are going to make our jobs easier, you we're
still are not going to get away from the personal aspect of
things. Yeah.
(32:22):
Well, OK, I want to know as well.
You mentioned that one of your something that you really
struggled with at the dentist office was not being able to say
no. Has there been, have there been
ways that you've learned how to say no?
Or is that something you're still at work on, something
you're never going to work on? I'm curious, is that what your?
Relationship with them has been,yeah, I'm probably always
working on it, but I have been able to really step back and
(32:47):
kind of look at all of the situations.
So not just be like, Yep, Yep, yes, yes, yes, I'll take that
on, I'll take that on. You know, really now I feel like
I'm taking on things with more meaning.
And you know, if it's, if it's not something that is going to
(33:10):
that I'm not going to be wholeheartedly in, I don't mind
to help anyone. But if it's, if it's something
like a, a short term, I don't mind helping.
But if it would be long term, and that's not really something
I want to do, I feel like now I have the confidence and the
voice to be able to say, I don'tmind assisting with this, but in
(33:31):
the long term, that's not something I want to do.
So I will, you know, come alongside with you and and help
you, but we need to figure out along term solution for that.
So I think just in growing, you know, in myself and seeing what
happened to, you know, happened to my life when I was at the
dental office, you know, I neverwant to be really that person
(33:55):
again. I, I don't feel like I was very
nice sometimes again, because ofthe stress that I was having.
I was not learning how to deal with that very well.
And I think more and more now that I've learned how to deal
with that a little bit better. And again, some of that is
because I feel like I've grown and realized that not in saying
(34:17):
yes to everything is not always good for you or, or the
organization themselves. As as you can see what you know,
what happened with the dental office.
So is there any sort of? Validation that comes with
seeing that three people were were hired to take your one job.
Is there any sort of like aha I was doing way too much.
Yes and no. I mean, I feel good that I was
(34:37):
able to, you know, to provide that for him and, you know, save
him some money, I guess I shouldsay, because he is one of the
kindest people that I know. And I still go there and I, you
know, I still think he is the best, you know, the best dentist
and, and has the best office. But it is a little bit of a
(34:58):
validation saying, you know, I think I said something, but
maybe I didn't say it the right way to where I needed some
assistance. And I was just getting really
burned out and, you know, and taking on everything that I did.
And, you know, I wish, I wish I would have sat down, I guess,
earlier in, in the situation to be able to say something, but I
(35:22):
just felt like it was all on my shoulders.
I'm really kind of bad about that.
I really like control or I used to.
And so, yeah. And I, so I just think in, in
looking back at that situation, I, I'm so grateful for
everything that I learned there,but I'm glad that I recognized
(35:43):
that I was not the person that Iwanted to be there and was able
to get out of that situation. Because again, money isn't
everything. It really, really isn't.
And, you know, I'm sure throughout my career I'll get,
I'll, you know, get back to where I was, but it just wasn't,
it just the money just wasn't worth it.
(36:03):
It doesn't matter how much I would have gotten paid there.
I still wouldn't have been that person that I wanted to be.
So OK. Looking at the other side of the
coin, I guess of the from havingtoo much responsibility, but now
looking for more responsibility.How have you gone about
advocating for yourself in Brunswick to get more
responsibility and kind of to a point where you're now, yeah,
(36:25):
you're doing more than significantly more than what
your job title says you should be doing.
Yeah, for sure. Again, I guess I just learned
with the situation that I was inat the dental office that I
really do have to advocate for myself that I guess I grew up
in, in a world where you just kind of did what you were told
(36:46):
and you just kind of went along along with it.
And if somebody needed you to dosomething, you did it.
But guess getting here at Brunswick really kind of opened
my eyes to this is huge, you know, organization and how many
(37:06):
things that they have to offer and just looking at it and being
like, oh, so there's this aspectand there's this aspect.
So really, really, really sitting down with my managers
and, you know, we have a weekly call.
I do have a manager that's here in the office, but most of my
(37:27):
other ones are remote. So having a weekly call and in
that weekly call we're talking about work.
But if I need to talk about, youknow, something about me and my
career, I'll set up another callwith them.
You know, it's not. You don't have to just wait, you
know, you know, until somebody gives you something you really
need to go out there and, and, and go after it because no one
(37:50):
is responsible for your career and your life except you.
I'm not saying people don't careabout you.
My managers are really, really good Once I, you know, once I
gave them the information that what I'm looking for, they
really helped me and, and went out and searched for stuff that
I can do. But unless you're telling
somebody that, that's not their responsibility to know that,
(38:12):
right? Like it just somebody cannot
take over your career. You have to, you have to own it.
And like I said before that I just, that wasn't really what,
what I was taught. You just kind of do what you're
you're doing, you know, and if somebody thinks you're a good
worker, they'll give you a promotion.
That's really not it, because there's a lot of good workers,
(38:34):
you know, out there. There's got lots of great
employees that know that have a lot of information.
But if you're not advocating foryourself, no, no one else really
will. So.
Your interns are lucky to have an HR person who's really feels
that way. That's a, that's AI really like
(38:55):
the way you birth that down. It makes a lot of sense.
And I think that's really valuable.
And like I said, the the, the interns that you've that you're
bringing on are, are lucky to have someone who has that voice
and has that. We appreciate that.
Who shares that? With them, I am wondering if you
had the opportunity to go back to right when you graduated high
school, would you try to pursue HR from the start?
(39:18):
That's a great question. I don't know that I would have
pursued HR from the start, but Iwould have pursued at least
going to school. I, I would have gone to school
right after, right after high school.
I, I know that I can do it now where before my confidence was
(39:41):
not good. Again, our family just didn't go
to school. So it wasn't, wasn't really a
thing. We we talked about my grades in
high school were, you know, OK, but also I probably didn't try
as much as I would have. So that's why I'm saying like,
when going to hygiene school, I wanted to do that.
(40:03):
I wanted to make sure that I wasthe best student I could be, not
only for myself, but for my one year old, for my husband.
I mean, we were making a lot of sacrifices during that time, you
know, mean only working sometimes part time, sometimes
not at all, depending on my school schedule, depending on
this per semester. Because not only in hygiene
(40:26):
school do you have to go to school, you also have to do
clinic. So, you know, that's four hours,
three days a week. And so unless I wanted to work
really late nights or weekends and sacrifice then my family
time, there was times that I wasn't able to work part time.
So my husband was, you know, thesole, sole provider for us.
(40:46):
So he and we were sacrificing a lot for me to go back to school.
So again, I don't know that I would have pursued HR directly,
but I know going back changing it, I I definitely would have
pursued something in some type of people realm.
(41:07):
So I don't know if it would havebeen HR, but but something to
do, you know, maybe even like a psychology kind of thing,
because HR is a lot of a lot of that too, because you have to
have a lot of empathy. You have to have, you know, a
lot of understanding on people'semotions and stuff like that.
So again, don't know that it would have been HR, but I know
(41:28):
that it would have been something concentrating in the
human, human aspect of, of life.So yeah, that's that's one thing
I would I definitely would change, would have changed.
OK. I want to ask you a question a
little bit as well. That's in more relationship to
your work versus your career. So I'm curious because most of
(41:50):
my audience is college age students or people fresh out of
college. I'm curious right now the job
market's in a very interesting place.
What are some things that you'veseen interns either on their
applications or when they're actually job that really makes
someone successful, especially in your position where you work
with a lot of interns? You were saying, yeah, what
makes an intern successful? Yeah.
(42:11):
So what our interns here, what we look for is definitely
projects that students have worked on.
You know, at UIUC, all of our students are super smart in
order to get in here. It's very, very competitive.
They're all taking about the, you know, the same course
(42:34):
courses, course load. So everybody is stellar, right?
So what we're looking for and especially here in research and
development is somebody that looks like they are just curious
because in order to work here, you have to be curious because
we're trying to figure out stuffthat we can do for the marine
(42:57):
industry three, 5-10 years out here.
So we're trying to guess kind ofwhat we need to be working on.
So our students need to want to be really involved in our
projects. Like we have students that are
on patents in our organization. That's how much they are
involved in the projects that wehave here at the lab.
(43:20):
So again, very, very just curious.
So is it something like they arein an RSO, you know, one of
their student organizations? We have so many student
organizations here at UIUC that you can be involved in.
And then also, are you pursuing like things outside of that?
(43:40):
Are you, you know, do you like game development?
Are you developing your own game?
Or are you, if you're a mechanical engineer, are you in
some type of group or, or do youtry to do 3D printing in it and
create something? You know, so it's really nice to
try to see from people's resume,which is always so hard, you
(44:04):
know, making sure that you're that you are putting in your
resume how you would want to be perceived.
So it's not really, I mean, we hire freshmans, we hire
sophomores, junior seniors, master's students.
So it's really not about like your schoolwork or if you've had
(44:24):
an internship. But what are you doing?
How are you taking your college courses and applying them out
into say the real world and not necessarily the real world, but
a different world than just academic.
So really important to just, youknow, show us what how you are
(44:44):
taking your college courses and expanding on those.
OK. And I think it's you have an
interesting perspective as well coming from cuz your group hires
only UIUC, right? Cuz it's like based on for the
most part. Yes, for the most part, yeah.
I mean, once in a great while wewill hire somebody outside of
UAEC. But for the most part, all of
our students, I think, I think in the three, almost four years
(45:07):
I've been here, we might have hired like 3 or 4 outside of
AEC. So not that much, OK.
Yeah. So you have an interesting
perspective because it's very much like you were saying,
people who have very similar coursework, all from the same
place kind of have the same basestats.
I'll say that. So and also for R&D, which is
not only something that's reallyexciting, but something that
(45:29):
takes a lot. And you were saying that some
students are on patents. So I mean the coolest thing.
So thank you. I would have felt like I would
have been doing a disservice to the people, so to speak if I
didn't ask you for that. Sure, because I think it is
interesting. I remember as well, the first
time we were spoken, we spoke. You mentioned the numbers that
went into applications that you guys had for open positions.
(45:50):
Would you mind sharing those real quick?
Because they kind of blew my mind a little, yeah.
For sure. So every semester we recruit.
So our, you know, our big recruiting is in the fall
because of course that's when the most career fairs are here
at UAUC. But we also do some in the
spring depending on if we have students that have, you know,
have decided to leave or graduating or whatnot.
(46:13):
So we have students throughout fall, spring, and summer
semesters. So in the fall and spring, we
only ask our students to work 8 hours in the office.
They can work up to 20 hours. And then during the summer we
have them work full time becausewe just feel like, Oh my gosh,
it is. So it is.
It's the energy here is so different.
(46:34):
During the summer, it's so much fun because, you know, you've
been here, you've kind of got toknow the organization, our
culture, the other interns, you know, been introduced to your
project. And then in the summer you just
kind of go full, full blast on on what you want to get done.
But yeah, it is very competitive, especially all in
(46:57):
Research Park. There's a lot of research and
development here, but depending on the position, always we have
some some type of software, you know, intern and for our
software interns week this last fall recruiting, we got 1800
applicants. Now some of those did not pay
(47:20):
attention to the job descriptionwhere they were not at UIUC.
So it was very easy to, you know, weed some of those out and
some that didn't meet any of that criteria.
If you're, if you were in like philosophy or something or you
know, you might not be into software when you haven't taken
(47:41):
any of those courses or anythinglike that.
We got it down to 250, but that's 250 for one position.
That's a lot, a lot of candidates.
So that's just how competitive is here.
If it says anything with machinelearning, computer vision, AI
(48:02):
software back in front end, yeah, we definitely get a lot of
lot of a lot of traction with that.
And so it's just amazing how we actually, you know, get it down
to one person each and, you know, each semester.
But we do and and we've had big success with with our
recruiting, you know, love will be starting again in, in the in
(48:25):
the spring, OK. Awesome.
Well, it's been a true pleasure talking with you.
But before we wrap up, I want toask, is there any?
Are there any last piece of advice or words of wisdom that
you'd like to share from your experience?
Yeah. I just want to make sure, again,
kind of reiterate, money isn't everything.
So make sure that you're doing something that you really like
(48:48):
to do. Also, if you put your mind to
it, you can really do anything. Like I said, having a one year
old building a house, working like it was not something that
is for the faint of heart, but Ireally, really wanted to do this
for me and my family. So again, you can put your mind,
(49:08):
if you put your mind to it, you can literally do anything and,
you know, make sure that you're,it's OK to change.
Now my husband says he doesn't know if I can go back and, and
do a PhD or anything. And I'm not sure that's
something that I want to do or another master's.
But you know, it's OK to change it.
It's OK to, you know, pursue something different, even.
(49:32):
I mean, I am not young. I am not young.
So, you know, definitely make sure that you're happy and that
you're, that you, I guess not only happy, but are fulfilled
with what you're doing. And if you're not, seek out
something, seek out something else.
It doesn't have to be a whole degree.
It doesn't have to be a whole 2°.
(49:52):
It can just be, you know, a course here and there or just
anything. I mean, I love, love, love to
read. So of course, during studying
wasn't for my 2°, I wasn't able to read as much because I just
like any and everything kind of fiction.
So what I do now is I I read andI join book clubs and that's,
(50:15):
you know, that's portion of whatmakes me happy too.
So it's all around life that youneed to look at not just not
just your work, but but everything all encompassed, you
know, make sure that you are feeling fulfilled.
And if you're not, what can you do to seek out something that
would make you fulfilled all right?
Thank you very much for ending us on those notes, Andrew.
(50:36):
It was a pleasure to talk to you.
Yeah, Thank you. Thanks for having me.
I appreciate it. Yeah, of.
Course, you're truly joy, so thank you.
I hope you have a great rest of your day.
Yeah, you. Too.
I hope you enjoyed the episode. If you have any thoughts,
feedback, guest recommend. I hope you enjoyed the episode.
If you have any thoughts, feedback, guest recommendations.
But I just want to say hi, shootme an e-mail at
(50:58):
nick@reroutedpod.com. If you like the show, leave a
review, give us a follow, like and subscribe.
You can find links to our website and socials in the
description below. I'm looking forward to seeing
you next week.
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