Episode 11: No Office Experience? No Problem‪!‬ Leaving The Nest

No office experience? No problem!
Hey there, listeners! Welcome back to another episode of Leaving the Nest. I’m your host, Kathleen Pellegrino from ROCS Grad Staffing. Our mission is to help you find a job out of college and thrive in the real world.
I am joined today by a colleague and a friend. Her name is Darcy Grogan and she’s been a member of our team since 2019. She has worked her way up from Associate Recruiter all the way up to an Account Manager.
This is so awesome to see because I love seeing longevity in someone’s career, and I love seeing others develop and grow and create their own story here at ROCS.
And that’s why I invited Darcy to join me on the podcast today. I wanted her to share her story with all of you because I believe it’s a really important one.
Before she started with us, Darcy didn’t have any office experience. She graduated from Longwood University and then worked as a Restaurant Manager for a few years, so you can imagine some of the challenges she must have faced during her job search.
And so if you’re a job seeker that’s in the same boat as Darcy, I’m sure you’ll find her advice and experience very insightful and eye-opening.
But if you’re an employer listening to this podcast, I believe it’s important to remember that sometimes when you’re working with entry-level candidates, you should give them a shot based on just their potential alone. You might find that is how you can find some of the best people.
Enjoy!
In This Episode:
[01:49] - An introduction to today’s guest, Darcy Grogan.
[03:03] - What brought Darcy to Longwood University?
[05:15] - Darcy changed her career path halfway through college.
[06:55] - How Darcy was able to balance her work life, social life, and collegiate life while at Longwood.
[09:10] - Darcy explains her hiring and orientation at Cooper’s Hawk after graduation.
[11:53] - We hear about the orientation and training process Darcy went through for Cooper’s Hawk.


[13:55] - The path from server to floor supervisor to restaurant manager.
[16:38] - What motivated Darcy to work her way up?
[18:08] - Who gave Darcy a hard time for working in the foodservice industry after she graduated college?
[19:52] - The greatest lessons Darcy learned from working at Cooper’s Hawk.
[21:45] - Darcy reveals how she felt leaving her work family.
[24:06] - Does Darcy still keep in touch with her old team?
[26:03] - We learn how Darcy’s job search went and what she was looking for in her next career.
[28:02] - The biggest setback for Darcy was knowing where to start.
[29:05] - What Darcy remembers about her interview with Kathleen at ROCS Grad Staffing.
[29:51] - Moving from the restaurant industry into an office workplace was a culture shock for Darcy.
[32:32] - Here’s what Darcy missed when leaving Cooper’s Hawk?
[34:04] - How did Darcy handle the transition to working from home because of the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns?
[35:49] - Darcy’s growth at ROCS Grad Staffing.
[38:39] - Retrospectively, Darcy isn’t sure she would have known her career path would lead her to where she is today.
[39:52] - We find out Darcy’s favorite memories working at ROCS so far.
[41:19] - Kathleen shares her favorite memories working at ROCS also.
[42:05] - Darcy gives her biggest piece of advice for people following in her footsteps.
[44:26] - This is how Darcy believes candidates without office experience can stand out in their next job interview.
[46:38] - How we can contact Darcy.
Resources:
ROCS Grad Staffing
Connect with Kathleen:
kathleen@rocsjobs.com
LinkedIn
Call: 703-579-6677
Connect with Darcy:
darcy@rocsjobs.com
LinkedIn