If you ask any longstanding pack member what role they filled when they were hired into Bluewolf, chances are it isn’t the role they’re in now. We nurture professional growth here, and it’s evidenced by all of our employees who started in one position, realized where they wanted their path to take them, and followed that path to fruition. 

One such employee is Sydney Dinoto. Sydney started as a sourcer on the recruiting team, moved into an internal operations & project manager role on the recruiting team, and from there saw her own potential as a consultant on our managed services team. With the support of her previous team, she interviewed for a Sr. Business Analyst role, got the job and was promoted to Consultant earlier this year. Over the course of four years, Sydney has filled four positions here and has never been happier with her career. 

Below is my interview with Sydney for the first installment of our Tales from the Pack blog series. 

Leanne: Hi Sydney! My name is Leanne, nice to meet you. Just kidding you got me a job here, we go way back. How’s your work day going? 

Sydney: My work day is going really well. My boss’ wife is about to have her baby on Thursday! So we’re planning for his absence, he’s taking some time off for the arrival, and then will be taking off the month of December. So we’re planning our projects around that and making sure we have the appropriate resources for when he’s gone. It’s exciting! 

Also today there has been a lot of forward motion and movement on some of my projects. It’s been a really good day! 

Leanne: That’s fantastic! What does your day-to-day look like as a consultant typically? 

Sydney: I spend some of my day on calls, updating clients, working with vendors. Bust most of my day consists of two key pieces. One is project management, which includes scoping, gathering requirements, and pushing things forward to make sure my projects go smoothly. But the other piece is hands on and more technical - I work on the configuration of Salesforce, or sometimes work directly with developers to relay requirements or test new pieces of functionality. 

Leanne: Awesome, that seems a lot different than the role you were in before. When did you first realize you wanted to be a consultant and what drew you to that role? 

Sydney: In my internal operations role, I was involved in a Vana ATS project and acted as the representative from the talent acquisition team to make sure all needs were being met. I really enjoyed that and knew it was something I wanted to explore. I also spent a lot of time with the internal GSD team learning the more technical side of Salesforce. 

Additionally, I asked people on the Beyond side how they liked their job— the overwhelming response of “I love my job” made it a no brainer. 

Leanne: So in addition to the good advice from the people you asked, how did Bluewolf help facilitate that transition? 

Sydney: When I was making the move, I really felt that I had been involved in all facets of the talent acquisition team and was ready to challenge myself and try something new. My boss at the time knew I was interested in consulting, so when a position opened up she encouraged me to go for it and helped prep me for the process. 

At other companies, people might be scared to say they’re “done” with their current role. I think those companies are missing out on truly engaged employees with longevity, and those individuals might be missing out on professional growth and a change of pace that I was lucky enough to take advantage of. To me that’s really indicative of the value Bluewolf places on the individual. 

Leanne: What was the scariest part of moving over from an internal team to a client facing role?

Sydney: The scariest part was— everything haha. The hardest adjustment was that I was no longer working with our internal team where I knew the Bluewolf “DNA”. I was stepping into a role where I needed to interface with different client teams with different cultures and different expectations. I knew it would take time to get feel for other teams and to understand their ways of working. 

Leanne: Is that still hard? 

Sydney: It’s not, because I’ve been lucky enough to have a lot of continuity in terms of who my clients are. When I do work on a new project or client team, I feel that my experience up to this point has given me the tools I need to determine who they are and what they need from me. 

Leanne: So we’ve talked a lot about your professional growth. How has that professional growth contributed to your personal growth outside the walls of Bluewolf? 

Sydney: I really think that Bluewolf helped me become more adaptable in new situations. Because I need to be ready for anything that happens during a client project at work, I feel more prepared for curveballs in my life as well. 

Leanne: That makes sense. Thanks so much for your time today!  What are your plans for after work?

Sydney: I have three cats— my roommates and I decided to give them all a bath in one night. So that’s what we’re doing. It should be terrifying and exciting and I hope I make it to work tomorrow. 

Interested in working somewhere that celebrates and facilitates the personal growth of employees? Meet more of our pack members and view our open positions. (Cats not required.) Check back bi-weekly for more stories on what it’s like to work at Bluewolf. 

Attending Dreamforce? We’d love to meet you there.