Emily Hullderman, CPIM

I attribute my success to the people and managers who believed in me, even when I didn't believe in myself. They know who they are. I can think of two of them right off the top of my head to this day that believed in me, believed in my expertise, wanted to know my opinions, and let me go out and lead without holding me back. They allowed me to think for myself, they allowed me to fix problems without calling them, and they trusted in me. That's huge, and it takes you really far. They are the ones that stand up for you, they're the ones who will reach out when you need something job-wise, they're the ones there going, if you need anything, you just give me a call. Those managers is what makes people who they are, and that's why I take so much pride in helping people under me, because there's been people who take pride in managing myself. We lack that in business nowadays. We lack the leadership, and when people do do that, you can see people who want to grow significantly.

The best career advice I ever received was, first, don't wear your heart on your sleeve, because I would always originally take things personally, and you just can't do that in this business. But I also firmly believe in taking care of your employees, and you'll get it back tenfold. If you want to look at my LinkedIn, I'm extremely proud of the recommendations and the stuff at the very bottom. I've always loved having a team, and I've always created an environment where my team can come speak to me about anything. It's definitely one of the things that helped me grow, but I've also helped other people grow. I take pride in ensuring that the people who work for me actually enjoy working for me and enjoy their job. I think that is hardcore one of the things anyone, anywhere can do - if you ensure that your people feel like they are appreciated and needed, you're gonna get so much back out of them, more than money could ever buy.

I will say, being in oil and gas when women first started being in it, I was happy that Schlumberger at that time was really pushing women joining. In fact, I was one of the very first to join in the area that I joined in West Virginia. There was only five of us, I believe, at the time total, and there's hundreds working there. I think the biggest thing is keep your head up. The struggles are real, the struggles are still there, but keep powering through. That's all you can do right now - keep powering through them, and keep your head up. And my biggest thing, again, is take pride in the people who appreciate you, take pride in the change that you've made. The haters? They're just jealous. I had a man come to me once and tell me, well, I have a degree in this, and I go, I also have a degree in this. So, good for you, buddy. You probably should look up the people you're talking to before you come and try to belittle them.

I hate to say this, but honestly, the biggest challenge is the fact that we are still overlooked as women. I've seen where two people can apply, a male or a female, and the female's never called back, and the male is, and the female actually has more work history, better work history, and the education. Sadly, it's still there. A lot of people don't want to admit that, but it is. I also feel like the candidates we have available to work for us - the workforce has changed. A lot of people who currently are looking for jobs don't want to work. That's part of our problem with the company I'm consulting for. They take zero pride in their work. Whereas back in the day, a lot of people owned their work and took it as if it was their own. The mindset has definitely changed to 'Well, that's not mine. That's not my problem,' which leads to massive failures in the daily work ethics and daily work. I also see a hurdle in that people are no longer creating specific tasks or specific SOPs for jobs. Nowadays, if it's not stated in their job outline, then they're not gonna do it. No one takes leadership. No one just decides on their own. They always have to email, text, call - 'What do I do here?' No one can think on their own and create actions on their own. When I was 18, I would go to my manager and say, can we do this, this, and this? She's like, sure, knock yourself out. Now they'll stand back there in the corner and do nothing. That's the biggest hurdle right now - the workforce.

I definitely value the work-life balance that is starting to become more common, because when I worked in oil and gas, that didn't exist. You're on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I'm kind of still in that field, because you have to be - it runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, they've become more lenient on allowing you to work from home, work remotely, come into the office for other things, and that really helps inspire employees working at 2 AM. That completely changes things. Also, again, I value having good employees. I value the employees that work for me. I value their education. I value that they get promoted. Warren Whitlow, one of my managers at CPI, he texts me all the time and says, I'm so grateful for everything that you taught me. He now is a distribution manager for a pharmaceutical company. I take so much pride in that, more than I ever have in a job.