Today, we’d like to introduce you to Alex Thompson. Alex was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Veronica White.
Hi Alex , we’re so thrilled to have you sharing your story with us today. Maybe we can kick things off by having you introduce yourself to our readers? We’d love to have you go into your story and how you got to where you are today.
I began my professional career as a social media content manager for a concert production company called Scoremore Shows, which at the time, was only doing concerts in Austin, Tx. Shortly after, they began doing shows in Dallas and I was asked to be the market manager for the Dallas, Tx market. This job included building and managing a team, working side-by-side with the company CEO on marketing initiatives, project management as well as day of show production management. After working at Scoremore for nearly 7 years, the company grew into an acquisition target and was bought out by one of the largest concert production companies in the world. Live Nation.
After my time at Scoremore, I worked briefly for Capital One as an HR Senior Interview Logistics Coordinator for almost a year before venturing back into the project management world for social media advertising firm called Monkedia. After nearly 3 years at Monkedia, the company went through several rounds of layoffs, and I was let go from the company. During my 8-month employment gap, I took ANU Consultant’s PMP certification preparation course and acquired both my PMP (Project Management Professional Certification) as well as my CSM (Certified Scrum Master Certification). I also married my girlfriend of 11 years in Costa Mujeres, Mexico.
Shortly after the wedding I began applying for jobs with my newly acquired certifications and ended up landing an amazing opportunity as a Program Manager. I’ve currently been there for 2 months and am enjoying every minute of it.
Let’s talk about your work and career – what else should we know?
As a program manager, my main responsibilities are the overarching-management of initiatives that effect our 25,000+ employees. This can include things like changes to policies that stretch across the entire company or implementing new initiatives like our ERG (Employee Recourse Groups) to better represent the many different type of individuals who work for our organization. Project management/program management requires many different skills such project planning, risk management, project stakeholdering, analytical assessment, change management and budget management, just to name a few. I would say the most distinguishing quality about me is that I’m someone who is going to always figure out a solution to a problem. Whether or not I know the answer, I’m never going to quit until I’ve asked enough questions, done enough research and dug deep enough into the questions being asked to where I feel comfortable enough to move on to the next problem. I’m not the smartest or most educated person in a lot of the rooms I’m in, but what separates me from a lot of people is my dedication to understand what the challenges are in a situation and what is being asked of me. I believe this is what’s gotten me to where I am today professionally. The thing I love the most about my current role is that I have the ability to positively affect so many people, directly with the work I’m doing, Working in HR, specifically on policy improvement and initiatives, you are given the keys to manage projects that can make so many peoples jobs better and or less confusing, which leads to less stress and a better overall work experience for the employees. That is something I try to keep in mind every step I take in my role.
So, as we mentioned to our audience earlier, you were introduced to us by Veronica White and ANU CONSULTING LLC and we really admire them and what they’ve built. For folks who might not be as familiar, can you tell them a bit about your experience with ANU CONSULTING LLC .
Working with ANU consulting was a Godsend. While I was in between roles in 2022, I was struggling finding a job in the project management field and was looking to give myself some sort of professional advantage but had never even heard of the PMP certification. Coincidentally, Veronica White, who was good friends with my wife, mentioned to her that she was currently hosting classes for PMP certification exam preparation. My wife connected us, and I signed up for her very first class that she ever hosted! She mentored me for nearly 4 weeks on everything project management related that I would need to pass my PMP certification exam.
Her classes were so detailed, and she was so hands on that I truly began to believe that though the information and process was cumbersome, that there was no way that I would not pass the exam when the time came. After graduating her class, she also helped me through the extremely cumbersome process of applying for the PMP certification exam. I studied all of her materials for an additional 3 weeks before taking and passing my PMP certification with three above target scores. Shortly after passing the exam, I began applying for positions and within 2 months and a host of interviews, I landed my first 6 figure position as a program manager and the difference in call-back and interview opportunities we’re night and day once I passed my exam.
One of the best parts of being connected to Veronica and ANU consulting is the fact that she has continued to make herself available for mentoring sessions even after I started my most recent role. Whenever I am working through something difficult or need some professional advice, she has been more than willing to provide it for me. Veronica breaks down the information in such a way that even people with little-to-no knowledge of the project management profession could understand and apply her coursework to their everyday work life. Almost equally important, she continues to be a source of knowledge for you to tap into even after you’ve passed her course. I love and admire Veronica for both what she’s done for me professionally as well as the selfless human being she is. She is truly, “1 of 1”.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/a1_tellem/
