My Journey to General Parts Group
By Katie Crosby – Tucson Branch Manager
It wasn’t long ago that I was a Field Service Technician, it was a role that I was both comfortable and proficient in. I know that I was valuable in the position, but I was never sure that I was valued. Honestly, I loved the work but eventually I wondered if I was up to the challenge of managing a field service team. I certainly understood what it was like to be in field service, and more and more I wanted to see if I could take up that challenge and use my knowledge to run a field service crew of my own.
I decided to search for career opportunities. I spent a lot of time thinking about how the skills that I had already developed could be applied into my next step and took great care in which roles I applied for. Finally, someone took a chance on me, thank you General Parts! I stepped out of my role as a field service technician and into a role of field service management.
From sitting under equipment on dish-room floors, to now, spending most of my days behind a computer, I have learned that the countless hours I spent with customers face to face was extremely valuable. Those hours gave me the empathy to communicate from a customer point of view to both the office and field service teams. With that in mind I need to have the backs of my technicians to ensure they are given the support they need to get the job done in the most efficient way possible. I have been there; some days are just hard. I appreciate the challenges of field service; I draw from my technical knowledge to support the team in the field and try to be the manager I wanted to manage me. Most of all I know the importance of TEAMWORK, EXPECTATIONS and SUPPORT from both sides of the aisle.
While my story, my skillset and path may be different from yours, at our core we are all valuable in our abilities. In the field service industries, many skills are transferrable and there are companies like General Parts Group looking for people like you. Right now, the food equipment repair industry is exploding, and our company is expanding to meet the demand. For perhaps the first time ever we are looking for people from outside the foodservice industry, we are retraining technicians from other industries and like me we are looking for people with solid transferable skills to help power our company forward.
Click the following link to see our current open positions. See you soon! https://generalparts.com/careers/