Employee Spotlight: Uncovering Hidden Talent

Career growth has become extremely important for employees. About 52 percent of team members believe career development is essential. This helps them feel valued and supported. 

That’s why having internal mobility as an option within your organization is essential to employee retention, engagement, and overall happiness–which can boost performance. 

Internal mobility makes employees feel confident that they have room to grow and improve in their careers. 

And WorkRamp believes that internal mobility is crucial. We’re a people-centric organization which means supporting our team with learning opportunities and career growth. And we want to highlight one of our recent WorkRampers who started as a BDR and grew into a Customer Success team member. 

Employee Spotlight

Name: Sophie Zinn

Title: Customer Success Manager

Fun fact: “I know way too much about turtles.”

Q: What brought you to WorkRamp?

I came from a political science background, and the only jobs I was looking for were in nonprofit spaces. A friend who works at The Collective Search, a recruiting organization, approached me about an opportunity at WorkRamp. 

She knew I was job hunting and asked if I had ever thought about a role in Sales. It wasn’t something that had crossed my mind. But I grew up with my mom, a very high-powered sales executive, so I’ve seen her life and experience. 

I realized that many of the skills I developed in my political science background were similar to what you see in customer-facing teams: connecting with people, understanding their position, and helping them solve problems. Also, I have a lot of skills that lend themselves well to sales. 

So, I told my friend I was interested, and then I had my first interview with WorkRamp for a BDR role. 

The interview process brought so much energy; it excited me about the role and the team. And the rest is history. I started at WorkRamp as a BDR in May 2021!

Q: What did you enjoy the most about your BDR role?

I loved building relationships with people, talking to them, understanding their pain points, and sharing how WorkRamp could potentially solve them. 

Q: Since starting at WorkRamp, you have grown in your career. Please share your career journey and learnings.

What I love about WorkRamp is the space to learn. So as a BDR, I took on research and projects that helped me expand my knowledge in the space, get to know our team better, and learn more about our customers. 

Giving me that creative space was beneficial because it allowed me to dive deeper, realize what I’m interested in, and understand our prospects and customers.

At this point, I was a BDR, but I was ready to grow into a different role. I had expressed interest in Customer Success (CS) and Account Executive (AE) because I was excited by the opportunity to help solve pain points our customers and prospects were facing. 

So, there was an opportunity for an AE and CS role. Going through the interview process gave me insight into the critical thinking aspect of the AE role, which excited me. That’s something that I greatly enjoy and lends to my background. 

In January 2022, I was promoted to Account Executive on the Commercial team. During the transition to an AE, I had incredible mentors and managers who supported me, especially where my strengths were. 

Again, I felt like something was missing from my experience. I spend all this time building relationships with prospects, but once they turn into customers, I don’t get to work with them anymore. I don’t get to help them plan how to reduce ramp times, engage with their customers, and boost employee engagement. 

And that’s when the CS role opened up. I told my manager, “Here’s the gap I’m missing in my current role, and I’d like to explore it.” 

The team was supportive. I went through the CS interview process, and in November 2022, I officially transitioned to the Customer Success team as a Customer Success Manager. 

Q: What do you love most about your new role? 

I’m excited to work with customers for long-term success. What’s cool is I get to work with customers I brought on as clients. So now I get to strategize with them, help them prioritize their goals, and help them be successful. 

Congrats, Sophie, on the internal mobility! 

At WorkRamp, we believe in continuous learning, whether developing a new skill or exploring career growth. Follow us on LinkedIn for more employee spotlights and updates.