“All in all, I was made to feel ready to make an impact because my onboarding was collaborative, expectations were communicated with me clearly, and I felt supported right away,” she said.
These successful onboarding experiences set new hires up to feel like an important part of the team from the get-go, and their quick, impactful contributions are the result.
AMP creates robotic systems that sort recyclable material at a fraction of the cost of current technology.
Describe your onboarding experience. What steps were taken to make you feel ready to make an impact in your role?
I joined the company during a very busy week when most of my teammates were on the road. Despite this, they all proactively scheduled time to meet with me, even if it meant calling from hotel rooms or airports.
They created a thoughtful, informative onboarding deck and reviewed it with me for more than two hours on my first day. My teammates, as well as AMP’s people team, made themselves available to answer any and all of my questions for the days and weeks following.
Shortly after joining the team, I had the opportunity to attend the Corporate Growth Conference with my manager, an immersive experience that helped me develop an understanding of the competitive dynamics, various segments, and current trends within the waste industry. I came out of this conference equipped with a better understanding of the waste landscape and ready to make an impact.
I’m now a couple months in, and my teammates still set aside time for one-on-one meetings, giving me the opportunity to ask questions and talk about whatever’s on my mind, even on short notice. I’m grateful for the mentorship and support.
Share an early win you experienced or goal you crushed shortly after joining your team. How did this win set the tone for working at your company?
Leading my first customer proposal call was an early win that left me feeling empowered and motivated.
Leading my first customer proposal call was an early win that left me feeling empowered and motivated.”
After an initial meeting in which I heard the customer’s challenges and objectives firsthand, I strategized with our product lead and my manager to find a solution. Together, we devised a mutually beneficial plan that aligned the customer’s needs with AMP’s capabilities. I applied my understanding toward curating a deck articulating a few different solutions.
When my manager gave me the opportunity to pitch the deck during the next meeting, I felt excited and ready — I’d earned his trust. In preparation for the customer meeting, I received valuable feedback and advice from both my manager and our product lead.
When I pitched the customer, I spoke with confidence and clarity, leaving a strong impression on this customer who is now an enthusiastic AMP partner. This early win deepened my relationship with my teammates and manager, who provided the support I needed to strategize and deliver.
How are relationships and a sense of community built for new hires? How have these relationships impacted your confidence, productivity, or general work experience?
I’ve been able to learn quickly, thanks to AMP’s strong culture of inclusivity. I began fostering relationships with my teammates almost immediately because they were generous with their time, inviting me to join meetings and exposing me to AMP's customer base and tech capabilities.
Facility visits have been essential in providing both a hands-on learning experience and a feeling of shared purpose. Within my first few weeks, I had the opportunity to visit AMP’s showcase facility and join several important customer meetings. I will never forget the sense of community I felt when I was sitting in a conference room with AMP employees across operations, product, commercial, and senior leadership all working toward a solution for a customer.
Lastly, collaborating cross-functionally on critical projects early on has helped me learn about all areas of the business. Brainstorming the right solutions for customers with my colleagues across the company has been such a rewarding experience, helping me develop a deep understanding of the technological, operational, financial and legal components of deals.
TaskRay offers a Salesforce-native work management software solution designed to address post-sale processes such as onboarding, installations and implementations.
Describe your onboarding experience. What steps were taken to make you feel ready to make an impact in your role?
My onboarding experience was multifaceted, including engineering-specific and company-wide aspects. This prepared and empowered me not only as a member of the engineering team, but also as a member of TaskRay as a whole.
My manager was intentional about getting to know me and my learning style, and tailored my onboarding experience to fit. I started attending engineering meetings right away, and I was encouraged to listen and ask questions.
I began pairing up with other engineers to get a pulse on their workflow and each person I met with was kind, attentive and interested in helping me better understand their processes. I was given time to both read and digest the engineering wiki before starting storywork, all while knowing that I had support for questions or roadblocks at any time.
Simultaneously, I was attending presentations by department leaders to learn how each team functioned and connected. All in all, I was made to feel ready to make an impact because my onboarding was collaborative, expectations were communicated with me clearly, and I felt supported right away.
Share an early win you experienced or goal you crushed shortly after joining your team. How did this win set the tone for working at your company?
TaskRay is an application built on top of Salesforce, and I joined the team with no prior Salesforce experience. My manager knew how valuable it would be for me to understand Salesforce fundamentals, not only as a team member developing on the platform, but also as an engineer with the professional goal of becoming full-stack.
He and the rest of the team gave me the space, time and support to study for a certification dedicated to those fundamentals — the Salesforce Administrator Certification — and I was certified within 8 weeks of joining the team.
This win set the tone for working at TaskRay in many ways. My teammates viewed my success as their success and lent support however they could along the way. My manager trusted me and ultimately gave me the autonomy to structure my preparation in line with my learning style. Becoming certified improved my confidence and, upon certification, I was recognized and celebrated at a company-wide level.
My teammates viewed my success as their success and lent support however they could along the way.”
These experiences created a positive feedback loop where I felt embraced, supported, and empowered by my team and the company. This made me want to embrace, support, and empower my teammates and fellow employees all the more.
How are relationships and a sense of community built for new hires? How have these relationships impacted your confidence, productivity, or general work experience?
It feels as though the sense of community at TaskRay formed so naturally. But upon reflection, I believe that this culture results from two things: each of us takes a genuine interest in upholding the company’s values, and the company bakes those values into routine processes.
Our Slack has a dedicated kudos channel where we can publicly praise and recognize each other’s successes, as well as music-, pet-, and hobby-related channels, where we can connect across departments on a human level. We can also sign up for “Donut,” where we’re randomly paired each month with someone new for a coffee chat.
We have semi-annual “all company” in-person events, and a company-wide meeting every other week where leadership offers transparency into the company’s health. During these, a customer-facing employee presents a customer success story, and we get a chance to hear from a “not-so-new” employee who shares a favorite TaskRay memory, what they love about their position, and a “hot take,” which is always fun.
These relationships cultivate a collaborative, creative, and human environment that has shaped my positive and supportive experience working at TaskRay.
