Her Story
About Holly
Holly Hagerman is a receptionist and administrative assistant at a power construction company, where she has spent the past six years serving as the face of the organization. In this role, she greets visitors, handles packages and phone calls, provides information to project coordinators, managers, and executives, and oversees daily office operations to allow her colleagues to focus on their core responsibilities. Prior to her current position, Hagerman worked for 16 years as an accounting assistant at a structural engineering firm in downtown Columbus, Ohio, managing invoicing and billing, and she also held roles as a medical secretary and at another power construction company. She graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in performing arts. Hagerman is actively involved with Habitat for Humanity through her current company. She credits her professional drive to being raised by two working parents and emphasizes values of integrity, focus, accountability, and giving full effort in all tasks. Hagerman advises maintaining a desire to grow, accepting constructive criticism, and prioritizing attitude and teamwork over purely technical skills when mentoring young women entering the field.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Holly
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think just being raised by two working parents, knowing that I have the desire to work and to accomplish and be able to support myself. So I would say that that definitely plays a very big role. Accomplish something and feel fulfilled by it.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I would say the best career advice I have ever received is to never lose the desire to grow. And always accept criticism to improve upon any of your job skills. So if someone is coming to me and giving me advice, or someone is saying, hey, we think you can improve on this, it's to be humble enough to know that I can do an even better job, and to take that advice and use it to make myself better, rather than to just be upset that I'm being criticized.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Your resume is important. But one thing that I've noticed being out in the workforce is that if you are showing a desire to learn, if you are showing a personality that can be a good fit on a team, or even show aspects of becoming a leader, they're more than likely going to hire you on that than they are on the technical skills. Technical skills can be taught, attitudes cannot.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
My field in general is a pretty male-dominated field. There are some amazing women, and I've gotten to work with some really amazing women in this field. Challenges are just staying up on the information, trying to be as helpful as I can by making sure I have the most up-to-date information to give to the people that I work with.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think you have to have integrity. Stay focused and give 110% with what you're doing. You definitely want to own the job that you're doing. You want to take accountability, and you want to do it to the best of your abilities.
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