Kathrine Meyers

I really attribute my success to my mom. I know this sounds cheesy, but she's always told me that hard work goes a long way, and she's not wrong. She was a paralegal for family law and worked with the same attorney for probably almost 30 years. She did really well in her position and was given the title of paralegal without going to school, which shows that if you're able to work hard, that's awesome. She showed me that hard work does pay off because she demonstrated her dedication and the company showed their dedication right back to her, especially when she got sick. She had cancer about 4 years ago when I was pregnant with my youngest, and they really helped her out during treatment because they didn't have a lot of insurance benefits there. They helped pay for her bills and made sure she was taken care of while going through cancer treatments. Thankfully she's still here and living and kicking with us now. She has amazing friends that really pulled through and helped my siblings and me out when we couldn't be there for her.

One of the things I always tell people when they're doing interviews is that it's not just them interviewing you, it's always you interviewing the company as well. I always tell individuals to make sure they really do their research on the company they're interviewing with to make sure it's a company they want to stick with long-term. Don't forget - they're not just interviewing you, you're interviewing them. Is it a company you want to work with? Is it someone you can see yourself long-term with? That's always been something I'm big on because obviously some companies boast about their culture being amazing, but once you get in there, it's like their culture is nothing like they explained or nothing that they portrayed. So definitely get a feel for how their culture actually is, first outside of talking with them, and then of course once you get started with them.

Definitely one piece of advice is stand your ground at times. Sometimes it can be tough out there in the work field, especially because I am in a male-dominated industry. Stand your ground - just because certain people think they're right, show them the resources and tools to see why the path you're talking about is important or what you're saying is important. Definitely stand strong and stand up for what you believe in.

One of the biggest obstacles in the trades is that it is a high turnover position, and that's just because it's a dying art. Companies are paying top dollar for a lot of technicians, and so technicians will jump ship if they're getting paid another dollar or two more an hour at another company. That's one of the toughest things - the constant turnover. It feels like you're just constantly running, almost like on a hamster wheel, just running in circles. That high turnover in this industry has been a tough obstacle.

Some of the most important values I have is definitely communication. I'm an over-communicator when it comes to working with managers or my candidates at times, so communication is a huge value. Making sure that you yourself have that skill set and building off of it is important, because that's a soft skill that's definitely important when it comes to any company you go with. That's one thing I like to teach - we do internships at Peterman and I usually help out with that. Communication is a soft skill we like to talk to them about, making sure they're comfortable talking to whomever they need to speak with. That's a skill set that my spouse and I work on daily as well, because obviously communication can be tough in a marriage, so we do that here at home too.