My Verizon Journey!

My Verizon Journey has been nothing but a blast!

In the next month, I will be hitting my 15-month mark since coming on board as an intern and I could not be happier with my decision to come aboard Verizon.

Where did my journey start??What did I do along the way?

My journey towards my career with Verizon started 23 years ago when I enlisted in the United States Air Force out of Pittsburgh, PA. I graduated from Basic Military Training in San Antonio, TX, and eventually progressed into the Air Transportation career field. Soon after arriving at my first duty station at McGuire AFB, NJ; I was pulled into a newer concept unit called the 621st Air Mobility Operation Group (AMOG) where the focus became rapid global mobility as we trained to support the SOF forces in establishing forward operating bases.

During the Bright Star exercise in Cairo, Egypt in 2001, our unit found out about the twin towers being hit, which saddened us all and very quickly we were thrust into conflict among the first military members to enter Afghanistan in the coming weeks and were part of the team that established Kandahar Airfield with the 26th Marines MEU and 101st Rakkasans. During the next five years, I would be a part of seven other bare-base deployments. During my time in that unit, I was blessed with the opportunity to meet and be coined by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Richard Meyer while also being named the Star Performer Airman of the year in 2003 for the 621st AMOG in addition to receiving the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Valor.

Through the years I developed expertise in air logistical cargo and passenger movement having traveled internationally to roughly 36 different countries as part of numerous CENTAF and NATO missions, conducting Joint Inspections of hazardous cargo, munitions, troop movements, and airdrop missions via nine different aircraft types ranging from CH-47 Helicopters to C-5 Galaxies, with international forces. As a subject matter expert in bare base operations support and Engine Run Offloads (ERO), I supervised and trained teams in rapid mobility response, HAZMAT inspections, Ramp protocol, aircraft load planning, and air base ground defense while also supporting the 1st Infantry, 2nd Infantry, and 10th Mountain Divisions in IRAQ during their deployments. Being from a small town in western Pennsylvania I never could have predicted that I would one day be selected to travel with the Marine 1 Presidential helicopter support team on President Bush’s Poland and Kosovo trips in 2003 & 2004, facilitating the offload and onload of all the presidential support equipment and secret service employees.

In between the deployments were specialized missions where we assisted forces scattered throughout Europe and North Africa, exposing me to different languages, cultures, religions, ways of thinking, and historical landmarks. Some of my fondest memories were of seeing the pyramids of Egypt, climbing the steps of the Ziggurat in Iraq, walking the historical sights of Warsaw, Poland, and viewing the sights of the infamous concentrations camps where I learned of the atrocities more in-depth and found a greater respect for the struggle of the people of that time as well as traversing the crescent canyon of Petra in Jordan where Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was partially filmed. I found Prestwick Scotland and the Rhein region of Germany to be especially beautiful and the people warm and welcoming. From the beaches of Rota, Spain to the streets of Turkey, I was blessed to meet and work alongside many of the natives of all these places, all by the age of 24.

In 2006, I moved on to Fort Bragg as part of the 3rd Aerial Port Squadron where I increased my operations knowledge by supporting the 82nd Airborne, Joint Special Operations Command, and the Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) school in their real-world deployment schedule and C-130 jump training exercises on the green ramp. During this time, I also served as one of the base Unit Deployment Managers, training multiple departments on deployment package preparation via military aircraft as well as overseeing annual employee training requirements and weapons training.

Toward the end of my tour in North Carolina, I felt I needed more. I felt stagnated and while the Air Transportation field at times was engaging, I often felt bored with it as I was no longer a part of the high temp operations, I once was in the AMOG and was more stationary and working a monotonous weekly schedule. Not to mention the career field itself is a very manual labor-intensive job. Many of my peers later in their careers developed joint pain and loss of hearing issues to name a couple. ?In an effort to grow and find something I could do long-term, post-military, I took a step out of my comfort zone and applied for recruiting duty.

?In 2008 I submitted an application to the Air Force career board through my career field functional manager for recruiting duty, where I was eventually selected. In 2009, I saw myself heading to San Antonio, TX once again to attend Air Force Recruiting School where we learned campus-style recruiting and face-to-face sales skills via the Professional Selling Skills course with Achieve Global. After graduating from the schoolhouse, I was blessed as I found out I received an assignment as the Middlesex-County, NJ Air Force Recruiter where I would eventually singlehandedly support 27 colleges, High Schools, and other post-secondary education centers performing campus-style recruiting, offering enlistment opportunities for the local civilian populace.

Independently and with little to no supervision, I established an effective pipeline of talent through effective sourcing methods including face-to-face marketing events which really ended up being my cup of tea. Often engaging and building relationships in the local community getting involved with local businesses, team sports, Rutgers college radio, ROTC events, and national night out public speaking engagements I found that I thrived in this environment and really took a liking to not only exceeding my mission but helping people find their career path. This culminated in my earning the Air Force recruiting Silver Badge which is awarded to recruiters who exceed 115% of their assigned sales metrics and I subsequently requested to stay in recruiting.

My next journey would see me become a Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) Liaison. I served at three different MEPS locations establishing myself as a subject matter expert; career counseling over six thousand applicants for the Air Force. My last MEPS assignment in Brooklyn, NY really tested my metal as this was the second largest processing facility in the nation and was also riddled with inefficiency. Having put together a training plan as well as redirecting communication to find the root cause to information dissemination through the stakeholders that utilized this facility and working with the operations team to develop better processes, we took a facility that had not passed an IG inspection in five years to the shining example of how a MEPS should run within 1 year. Those efforts led to my being named the Employee of the Year, First Sergeant award winner of the year, and the Operations MVP of the year in 2018.

In 2019, I would be approached by my leadership team where I was notified of my promotion and told I was selected for Flight Chief duty. I was later blessed to find out that I would become the regional recruiting manager for the 900-square-mile Philadelphia, PA area where I had the opportunity to offer up my years of experience and knowledge to coach, mentor, and lead a team of nine geographically separated recruiters in their hunt to meet monthly, quarterly, and annual targeted metrics to bring top talent into the Air Force. Quickly our team established ourselves as effective which led to my receiving the Top TA Manager distinction for two consecutive quarters and the Top Recruiting Team for the 4th quarter in my first year in the role while also assisting in the creation of new training materials for new recruiters. The team also established itself quickly and excelled off the clock with everyone finishing their college degrees, several being selected for promotion, and being named award winners within the command at the regional and national levels. Assisting in the development of this team was a great joy as each of my team members strived to exceed standards at all times. Their enthusiasm, peer mentorship, and attention to detail were pivotal in our unit going from last place to the Top Recruiting unit in the nation, out of 28 units, in 2022.

I knew my time in the Air Force was eventually going to come to an end. I had been talking about and planning it for some time, but now it was time to put it into play. Was I nervous? You bet I was! How was I going to adapt? What was I going to do? I had been on a certain path for 22 years and always knew what I had to do to get to the next level, but now I would be leaving that comfort zone once again to try my hand back in the civilian world. Fortunately, my move into recruiting duty was enacted years prior with the intent of continuing into talent acquisition post-service. That is when I was introduced to the Hiring our Heroes program during my TAP course.

The next chapter of my story started when I entered the Hiring our Heroes (HoH) program with Karen Hrac, at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. At first, I did not know what to expect, but I had been blessed with some stellar mentors along the way. Robert Bello and Barbie Richardson, who were co-workers from assignments past pointed me in Verizon’s direction. They had so many positive things to say about the company culture, which piqued my interest. ?I ensured I planned in advance and engaged with Verizon’s military recruiting team months before our HoH resume release, which is when I met Rafael Soto and Francis Ayuso on the military recruiting team led by Tommy Jones. These two recruiters really conveyed the values of the company and I was immediately hooked and knew this was the place for me. They were passionate about exceeding expectations, bringing great talent into the company, and most importantly…helping people.

Verizon just really filled all the boxes that necessitated the needs in my life. Looking back through my background, it was very apparent that I had a lot of mileage in the deployment and high ops tempo lifestyle of military recruiting and I was looking for an organization that valued veteran talent and worked to create true work-life balance and career progression.

I would eventually be selected and offered a Fellowship with Verizon. My internship was spent initially shadowing the military recruiting team, now led by Michael McCoy, but then a few weeks in I was transitioned into Tina Saputo’s team where I learned the basics of the GN&T cell site engineers, Network Performance Engineers, and Field Operations Managers hiring protocols as well as the standard corporate recruiting methods. I enjoyed my time learning these new careers and how they fit into the business’s bird’s eye view of what the company was all about, providing World Class Customer Service. This rang a bell with me as that was my mission as an Air Force recruiter. After a month with that team, I transitioned back to the military recruiting team where I eventually found my home as I was brought on board full-time.

Over the next nine months, I was brought on board full-time, given a mission and vision to work towards, and established a living talent warehouse of 500+ military applicants as I engaged with transitioning service members looking to also follow in the same steps that I had via the Department of Defense Skillbridge program. I was blessed to be a part of the Soldiers to Sidelines program, represent the brand during the Veteran’s Day parade, and even be featured as the Veteran highlight for the VALOR employee resource group (ERG) in November. ?

I love helping veterans, military spouses, and transitioning service members. My current role allows me the ability to change lives and influence others. I am able to communicate the core values of the business and show the amazing culture that Verizon has spent roughly two decades building. Veterans have found that Verizon really is the total package having hosted 208 Fellows since 2018 and converting 180 of them to full-time. If you look across the business you can see the positive effects of the 4,500+ members of the VALOR ERG, as well as the other ERGs within the business, the community involvement, and the effort placed on career progression through our Talent GPS.

The company truly stands by its messaging and I enjoy every minute of it, ever grateful for the opportunity I received. I do not know what is next down the line, but I do know that I love being a part of the #Networklife.

If you are a military community member looking to create the next chapter of your journey, I would hope you would consider creating it and with Verizon and become a part of our #VTEAM.