The new year is full of making, and breaking, new habits.
Roughly half of all Americans make New Year’s resolutions, according to CBS News, and only about 10 percent of them will actually accomplish their goals. The same article found that 25 percent of people will stick with their New Year’s resolution after 30 days. By the time February comes, most will have made the new workout equipment into an accidental laundry rack.
Sticking with a New Year’s resolution is difficult for many. However, if that resolution is to find a new job, the stats are in favor.
A ZipRecruiter study found that in January, there is a 15 percent job posting increase compared to the rest of the year. Many companies go into the new year with a refreshed budget, new business goals and team targets to hit — making January an ideal time to look for a new role.
Built In Colorado found two tech companies that are hiring and employees at both who were eager to share why they love their company culture.
EchoStar is an IT, digital media and aerospace company. DISH and EchoStar recently completed a merger, reuniting what was originally established as one company. Both teams have achieved milestones like launching satellites into space, entertainment connections and wireless communication developments.
What first attracted you to EchoStar? When did you know it was the right place for you and your career?
My start with EchoStar began with Blockbuster. I was an operations support manager in the field on the East Coast. DISH purchased Blockbuster, which brought me into the family. After Blockbuster closed their stores, I applied to work at the DISH corporate office. I have worked on the sales operations team for my entire career with DISH. The culture on this team is amazing!
“I have worked on the sales operations team for my entire career with DISH. The culture on this team is amazing!”
Share one exciting challenge or project you are working on right now. What impact will this have on the business?
My team is reviewing everything that we do to ensure that we are being as efficient as possible. We have already started to discuss ways we can improve as a team in 2025. The partner management team works hard to deliver exceptional work and service. They are working on several enhancements to the partner administration tool that they manage. These enhancements will allow not only my teams to be even more efficient, but also other teams across the business.
In addition, the risk, audit and compliance team has already worked to enhance our reports and audits. This team has already had some great achievements and progress in 2024. I look forward to seeing everything they will do in 2025.
If your company culture was a car, what would it be, and why?
A 2025 Mercedes-Benz CLE 450. It would definitely need the convertible top. There are a few reasons that I would pick this car. The first being that my grandmother’s name was Mercedes. As a child, she always told me to have pride, work hard and have a winning attitude. This is a reflection of the core values at DISH — curiosity, pride, adventure and winning.
In addition, I believe that we need to work hard and also have time for some fun. It would be great to support our team wins by taking a drive in the car with the convertible top down. Colorado is beautiful and we should enjoy the scenery. I have a great team! We are small but mighty!
FareHarbor creates tools for travel rentals, like boat rentals, museums, food tours, events and more. The company operates across more than 90 countries.
What first attracted you to your employer? When did you know it was the right place for you and your career?
I had the privilege of meeting one of the original founders of FareHarbor back when my employer was being onboarded to the software in 2014 and was immediately drawn to his approach to getting our business. He was no slick salesperson — he was simply willing to do whatever it took to make a switch to FareHarbor feel like the only way forward. That meant addressing every concern. It meant grinding away on our reservation transfer late into the evening. It meant explaining and re-explaining FareHarbor features to us as a team, and to any one of us individually.
That really stuck with me, and the impression he left on me was only bolstered by my experience at FareHarbor’s user conference in 2016. There, I met employee after employee of FareHarbor’s that each seemed to share three discernible qualities: they were all fun, smart and eager to help in any way they could. Even then, I wondered what it would be like to work for this company.
When the pandemic hit, my business closed. By that time I understood the software incredibly well, and eagerly applied to FareHarbor. I have been a client onboarding specialist since 2022.
“I met employee after employee of FareHarbor’s that each seemed to share three discernible qualities: they were all fun, smart and eager to help in any way they could.”
Share one exciting challenge or project you are working on right now. What impact will this have on the business?
The most exciting challenge we have faced as a team is how to provide scalable service to our small-business clients. We work with clients of all shapes and sizes, but as we grow there is a real need to streamline wherever we can, especially in onboarding. In order to keep our level of service high, my idea was to record their initial training using Loom, instead of doing a live, virtual training.
While some thought this may be perceived as a lesser service, I knew from my experience as a client that a high-quality and well-organized training video with clearly delineated chapters and time stamps would be a valuable resource. We conducted a small pilot with amazing results and in 2024 expanded the initiative to the entire client onboarding team.
We have been able to save a ton of time, while providing a resource to clients that they can reference forever. It has also been useful for some of our biggest clients, who often have very specific questions about our functionality that a two- to three-minute Loom recording can address with ease. The impact on our business has been incredible — we are able to do more with our time, which frees us up to think about the bigger picture.
If your company culture was a car, what would it be, and why?
We’d be the new 2025 Volkswagen ID Buzz! When I see an old school VW Bus it conveys a life of leisure and excitement — adventure, really! We here at FareHarbor are all passionate about travel and a life filled with new experiences and new perspectives. Still, we would have to be the newest possible model with all the bells and whistles because we are on the cutting edge of booking software technology. We innovate constantly and we are always striving to make ourselves the obvious choice for tour and activity providers all over the world!
