Meet Alon, a Strategy + Operations Sprint alum at The Commons who landed his current role thanks to referral from the community.
To summarize Alon's career path in 1 line: Western BMOS -> Uber Driver & Ops Support –> Hired SDR (Learned the foundations of sales) → Jiffy Operations Manager (Developed and managed the onboarding pipeline) → Teamflow Strategy & Operations Manager (Developed Customer Support function, managed 50% of clients in Success, and supported sales by booking meetings)
Read on to learn more about why Alon decided to join The Commons and how he used the community to land his current role.
Where are you located?
📍 Toronto, Canada!!
Joining The Commons
What was behind your decision to join The Commons?
I was in between jobs and I was looking to level up my analytical skills. Not only did I become much better analytically, but I gained a community and connections that I would have never had otherwise.
Before the Commons, I knew SQL to a limited extent. However, the course provided me the opportunity to use SQL in a real case study, which allowed me to understand just how beneficial analytics and data are. After learning how to use SQL at The Commons, I took those skills to my current job where I analyze customer data and make decisions on how we should approach it.
What was it like to work with your mentor during the Sprint?
My mentor's name was Alice and she was really great! She is super friendly and was always available to chat and answer questions. We had weekly meetings with Alice and then we met separately with our team weekly as well. Once we divided up the work, we were able to schedule 1:1’s with Alice to get our respective work completed. The whole experience was all very relaxed, personable, and focused on getting the the most out of it for me.
Did you get anything out of the program that you didn't expect?
Definitely the community. I actually got my job at Teamflow through a job posting in the #job-openings channel in The Commons Slack. The job poster, Ally, connected me with the hiring manager, who interviewed me 😀
After Ally posted the role in the#job-openings slack channel, I DM’ed her. I actually knew her previously through mutual friends, so it was great to be able to reconnect and also inquire about the role.
What is something that anyone who's thinking about joining The Commons should know?
There is something for everyone to level up their skills. Whether it’s product Ops, Strategy, or Growth Marketing, anyone in the tech (and beyond) can benefit from it. Also, the community is really awesome, welcoming, and always happy to help!
Your Job Search
Tell us about your job search experience.
When I did The Commons, I was looking through LinkedIn, AngelList, and The Commons #job-openings channel. I lucked out big time as someone in the community posted a role that they were connected to. And that was it - I interviewed via referral and went through the interview process. It was so smooth!
Tell us about your role at Teamflow!
What’s the role?
When I got my job through The Commons, I was initially hired as the second Customer Success Manager to help build out the team and support the CSM lead. But with any startup, I had to wear many hats, so on top of customer success, I built out the Customer Support function, and also supported the sales pipeline by working as an SDR (So, CSM + Support Manager + SDR)
How was your onboarding experience? Any tips for a successful onboarding?
I actually started a few days earlier than expected to get ramped up before my manager went on vacation. My manager provided me with an onboarding checklist and a schedule on who to meet in the team. He would chat with me every couple days (while he was on vacation) for a few hours to check in on how things were going and if I had any questions. I ended up talking with as many people in the company to ramp up and learn as much as I can as quickly as I can.
How’d you find the role? What prompted your interest in it?
The Commons – as seamless as it gets. When I was hired, it was a small startup and I was given the opportunity to be a vital piece of the go-to-market team having been 1 of 2 CSM’s, the only person building out the support function, and a part of the sales function.
What was the interview process like?
I interviewed with the hiring manager, completed an assignment, interviewed with the same hiring manager, and then interviewed with the CEO ✔️
Any other words of wisdom or motivating thoughts for people who are looking to make a similar career move?
I would say the most important thing is to strategically plan out;
- What your ideal industry is
- What your ideal company is
- What your ideal role is
When looking for a job, instead of just shooting off a ton of resumes, It’s a much better approach to identify your ideal role and then scout out the key people in these roles (and hiring managers for those roles) and reach out to them directly. I personally use Hunter.io to pull emails to do this. Either that or getting a referral. The job market is crazy competitive these days so any leg up is beneficial.
Something fun to end it off
Tell us some of your favorites:
🎙 A favorite podcast: How I built this with Guy Raz!
📰 Where you get your daily news: The Peak 📈
🎨 What you're doing outside of work: I write, record, and release music 🎸
Ready to take the next step in your career? Apply to the Strategy + Operations Sprint to learn valuable skills for operations roles and learn from mentors who are rising stars in tech.
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