In recent months, EP has welcomed many new faces to the team. This comes as our industry rebounds; the core group that worked so hard and evolved the company during difficult times desperately needed to expand to keep up with our growth.
Despite the hiring challenges in the current market, we are so excited to have found the latest additions to our team, but it led us to think about…how did everyone get here? Not just what relevant experience do they bring to the team, but where did everyone get their start and what did they learn from it?
Most of our team started work early in high school (some before) with jobs ranging from dish washers to lifeguards. Several of our team got their start in grocery stores, stocking shelves, which proved itself to be a very valuable job over the last few years.
One grocery store stocker was Nate Boutang, currently EP’s Multi-Media Producer. His post-school career started in mobile marketing and with that he was able to travel the country pre-GPS so his map skills are solid to this day! (And cheers to Nate for being a good sport sharing this picture!)
Our team also liked to get hands on with some very physical jobs. Creative Director, Casey Baron, got his start siding houses at 16, followed by a summer roofing and then framing houses. While he said it helped him later in life as he took on some home renovation projects, we think he may also have sparked his eventual career which has involved designing a lot of physical spaces for tradeshows, retail and experiential marketing!
And he wasn’t the only one learning some serious skills…Graphic Production Manager Eric Stang may have started out as a dishwasher, but moved on to building beds, tables, nightstands and even dog beds for a custom log furniture maker!
Some of our team were honing their customer service skills at an early age. Director of Client Services Kathryn Sprinkle believes she learned a lot of confidence and decision making at her first job as a lifeguard. However, her most interesting job was teaching English as a Second Language to business professionals in Santiago Chile. “I created lesson plans based on the students’ interests and really got to know them well.” Sounds to us a lot like her work with our EP clients…
Of course, if we judge jobs based on the stories we have to tell afterwards, we may want to chat with Designer / Detailer Eric Kildal. As an Asset Production specialist for a certain well-known retailer, he walked the store in street clothes, looking for shoplifters and collecting some good stories to share later!
Just under half of our EP family did not originally study for their current positions.
Statistics vary, but most agree that large numbers of people take jobs in a different field than they studied or evolve their careers based on new skills, on the job training and changes in their areas of interest. Our team is no different and we love that everyone comes to the team with different backgrounds, knowledge and areas of expertise.