Tell us about a day at Juno Search Partners. What is your day-to-day work life like?
No two days are ever the same at Juno, and I would not want it any other way. My day-to-day routine varies and I often find myself jumping from reviewing legal contracts, to crunching numbers for proposals, to analyzing the results of our marketing campaigns. Although my day-to-day varies, a constant in my work life is that you will always find me on the winning team at our shuffle board table.
What excites you most about your career?
The growth of the company is truly what excites me most. Just within the last twelve months, we have close to doubled our employee count, opened a New York City office, as well as doubled the size of our Philly HQ.
Where did you go to college, and what was your major? How has your academic career prepared you for your professional career?
I attended Dublin Business School where I majored in – not business – but psychology. Interestingly enough, psychology has helped me in so many areas of my work. From the way that I think about solving complex problems to my interactions with other people, as well as bringing out my creative spark in writing and research.
I also minored in data analytics which provided me with a good baseline for the position that I am in today, as many of my decisions are influenced by data.
What brought you to Philadelphia, and what do you like most about living and working in this city?
So, there’s a movie called P.S. I Love You. I won’t get too mushy, so just picture that… but better. In an effort to keep a long story short, because that’s a whole different blog, I met my now-wife in a bar in Dublin, on the first night of her vacation, and after many trips back and forth from Dublin to Philadelphia, I made the permanent move here in June 2017.
I felt drawn to Philadelphia after my first trip and that hasn’t changed. What I love most about the city is the diversity, the restaurants, and the art that surrounds you on every block.
How does Philly compare with Dublin? How has your experience living and working in Dublin influenced your work here in Philly?
I find that Dublin and Philadelphia are very similar in the sense that both cities are walkable, historic, and have roughly the same population.
Through having international experience, I feel as if I have become more direct in my communication style, more innovative in my thought process and it has also allowed me to connect with individuals on a global scale.
Moving to Philadelphia, I had little money in my bank account and, per my visa at the time, I had 90 days to find a job otherwise I was required to return to Ireland. I was beyond determined to make a life in Philadelphia for my wife and myself, and shortly after arriving in the city, I connected with Vicki Sack and Juno, and well, I’ve been here ever since.
Coming out of college is a culture shock to most students. Can you tell us about your experience transitioning from college to the real world? Were you scared? Were you excited? How did you hone these emotions and find your path to the career you have today?
I would say my transition from college to the real world was a fairly easy one. I started working at the Bank of Ireland Group straight out of college where my office was located less than five minutes from my college and less than twenty minutes from my home.
Growing up and going to school in the city, I lived at home through my college years. When I wasn’t in lectures, I was working in a burrito bar, which is a similar story for most of my friends. We all couldn’t wait to graduate and start working our 9-5 jobs and being able to get together on the weekends.
However, I ruined the post-graduation plans of weekend pints with my friends about two weeks into my 9-5 when I met my wife. From that point onwards, it was all about working as hard as I could, saving as much as I could and using any free time that I had to fly over to visit.
How do you build your professional network? How does connecting with others help you in your career?
You’ll often find me at relevant networking events, meet-ups and conferences throughout the city and beyond. I personally love to network; I like to think of it as an opportunity to meet people who you would not normally get to meet and there is so much learning that can be done at events that right on your doorstep.
In 2016, LinkedIn conducted a survey where they reported that 85% of all jobs are filled via networking. Your network is so important – never underestimate the power of it.
If you could offer one piece of advice to a college freshman, what would it be?
Enjoy your time before the real world kicks in. Don’t sweat the big decisions too much because nothing goes exactly to plan anyway. I never even visited the U.S. before meeting my wife, now look.
If you could offer one piece of advice to a college senior who is soon to graduate, what would you tell them?
Now is the time to start building your professional network, seek out events that are relevant to you and begin making those connections – you never know who might be in the room or who they might know.
Also, if you know what position you want to be in professionally in the future, use LinkedIn to find someone who is currently in that role and ask them to join you for a coffee to discuss how they progressed into that position. I would be very surprised if anyone said no to your message. People love to tell stories of how they got places in life – if you ever want to kill a few hours just ask me to tell you the full story of why I moved to the U.S.
