Company: Xerox Canada Ltd.

Position: National Sales Instructor

Employed: 9 years

Degree: Carleton University, Bachelor of Arts: Mass Communication; Schulich School of Business, Masters Certificate in Adult Training & Development

What drew you to your current field?
The urge to travel drew me into teaching after university, and then the pull for more income took me to sales. Now I'm a sales trainer and it's the perfect mix of my two professional passions'teaching and sales.

How did you find your current position?
When I joined Xerox, I was enamoured by the gifted facilitators who trained me as a new rep. They shared their stories of success and lessons learned the hard way. They asked questions that made me consider how I wanted to sell and what type of mark I wanted to leave behind in the accounts I sold to. I was inspired. It was an ah-ha moment! I knew I had found the role that I would work towards.

Tell us a bit about your responsibilities:
There are three fundamental aspects of the work I do: I develop, deliver, and manage training programs for sales representatives.

What is the most challenging aspect of your position?
Balancing training deliveries, content development, and overseeing a program, all the while keeping in mind what is most relevant for the learner. You're constantly trying to balance the needs of the learner against what the corporate direction is'and keep both sides happy. Adding one more stakeholder to that equation: the end client. My training content should shape Xerox Canada's customer experience. A sales person should come to my sessions and take away something they will share with their client. The messages need to be clear, compelling, and aligned with the interests of sales, the corporation, and the client. There are a lot of stakeholders whose needs must be met.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?
The opportunity to stand in front of an engaged group of people who see our class and the discussion coming out of it as important to their success is so rewarding. There's an energy transfer in a room like that; It's addictive and empowering for everyone. Getting positive feedback, such as sales people saying my training gave them new insights into doing a job they thought they had down pat, charges me up! Developing the skills of sales people puts more money in their pockets, creates a win for their client, and in the end, our company wins with them. It's the feeling of being on a winning team.

What skills have you learned through your work experience?
Where do I begin! A range of skills are required to create, support, and reinforce knowledge transfer and reinforcement fortification. Some of the highlights include curriculum development and project management, where you pull off a smooth learning event for 30+ learners that requires a lot of details and logistics. At times, you can feel like an event coordinator in this role.

Is there one accomplishment you are most proud of to date?
With each new role I take with Xerox, I observe for the first month or two and look for a process or program that's not working as well as it could. I then make it my mission to completely reconstruct it. I've done this with the medium for our new hire training to our feedback methodologies.

What are your future career aspirations?
I'll either aspire to run our Xerox's learning and & development organization or begin my own consulting business.

What advice do you have for students looking to land their first job?
Separate aspiration from inspiration. Don't choose your first career role based on what you'd LIKE to be. For example, I'd like to be better at math so I'm going to take a role in Finance'that's backwards and unproductive. Instead choose a job that's aligned with your strengths.
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