From USS Reuben James to Salesforce Admin with Katherine Clark

This week on the show we are pleased to chat to Katherine Clark, a Salesforce Admin at Blue Star Families. Katherine has an incredible story to share about her career transition and how a brilliant organization called Vetforce helped her painlessly move from one career to another.

We are eager to share her expertise of Vetforce with the rest of the Salesforce community. Katherine has had a remarkable experience with Salesforce, and we hope that her message will both inspire and motivate you. She is also an exceptional storyteller — quite brilliant at setting a scene — so you’re definitely in for a treat with this episode.

You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Katherine:

How the Stars Aligned

Katherine calls her journey to Salesforce “a wild path.” Before she became an Admin, she spent three weeks onboard the USS Reuben James where she worked as a government contractor. This job involved delivering training and briefings to help transition sailors from deployment mode back into everyday life — a job Katherine felt tremendously passionate about.

Katherine is married to an active duty naval flight officer, which means they often need to relocate, and Katherine was heartbroken about having to let her career go. However, having to say goodbye to a job she loved so much ignited something in her and made her realized that it was time to find a career that would fit her unique lifestyle instead – a career that would be more mobile. “I advanced my research a bit. I was searching for these training opportunities provided to military spouses and veterans, and I landed on a website for something called Vetforce.” She signed up for a position as a developer and as she says, “pretty much instantly fell in love. I just saw that this is the opportunity that I needed to run with and that it would be the next step in my career.”

The Aha Moment

Katherine admits that when she started, she had never used a CRM or even worked in sales before. “It’s a little surprising that I was even interested in this. I saw the data model and once I learned how everything connected, it just made sense in my head.”

Katherine went on to streamline all the business processes of her previous job and realized how simple it all was. “In my first developer org, I just streamlined all the business processes of my previous job, and it was so much fun!”

Take One Hour and Use it for Mentorship 

Admins should consider providing mentorship to someone trying to break into the world of Salesforce. Perhaps this person is studying to be a Salesforce Admin or they just need a little experience. Katherine is grateful that she got so lucky with Blue Star Families. The technology manager at the time was very helpful and allowed her to learn everything she needed to start out as an Admin. “It changed my life. I’m a Salesforce Admin now.”

She advises other Admins to be open to the idea of mentorship, even if it is just for one hour per month. Who can you help? “Anybody looking to break into the Salesforce ecosystem, it would just give them a glimpse into what we’re going through.”

An Easy Transition

There are so many organizations that use Salesforce. Katherine believes that with Salesforce, anything is possible. She got to craft her perfect job to fit her unconventional lifestyle. Whatever your passion is, Katherine believes you can create your dream job with Salesforce.

In addition to being a military spouse and having a unique lifestyle, Katherine is also a stay-at-home mom who studied for all her Admin exams during her daughter’s nap times and when she was at school. She advises others out there who are also looking to make the change to consider trying Salesforce. “Just because you’ve been out of the workforce for a couple years, there ain’t nothin’ stopping you. Salesforce Admin is the way to go!”

Links:

• Follow Katherine on Twitter @hello_katherine
• Blue Star Families
• Vetforce

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