By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

I talk to people often who share stories of how they fell into their careers in field service – in fact, more often than not the tale of career origin in this space is one of happenstance versus intent. Not long ago, field service legend Ged Cranny, who recently retired from Konica Minolta, shared that he built a 40-plus year career by applying, on a whim, to a newspaper job listing emphasizing the free car alongside the perks of a field technician role. My foray into field service, too, was a happy accident (or, perhaps, the universe at work).

I had an opportunity to revisit my story a week or so ago when prepping to be a guest on another podcast, and I realized that while I’ve told the story a number of times, I’ve never written about it or shared it broadly. So, here we go!

When I was in graduate school, I ran into a friend from college who told me about a local publishing company he was working for that he was enjoying and paid well. At that point, I had continued waiting tables and bartending while attending school and I had had about enough of that so I jumped on his suggestion to apply for a sales position. Shortly after doing so, I received notification that they appreciated my interest but didn’t hire without prior experience. I was disappointed, but not deterred.

(I must insert a quick sidebar here. Once when my husband and I were very newly married – and you can tell the ‘newly’ based on me even asking this question – I asked him one day in the car, “If you had to describe me in one word, what would it be?” I’m not sure what I was hoping he’d say – maybe something like kind, loving, generous? “Tenacious,” he said, without hesitation.)

Don’t Take No for an Answer

This tenacity was on display after my initial rejection, because I set a weekly reminder to call and check in with the HR lead. Then, serendipitously, I had a woman from that company in my corporate finance class; on the first day of class, we did introductions and right after class I walked up and said hello and explained that I’d recently applied to her company but was rejected. We partnered on a group project that semester, and by the time the class was over she spoke to the company on my behalf and told them they were making a mistake.

That got me an interview, a few of them actually, but ultimately still resulted in rejection – or redirection, perhaps. The company felt I wasn’t right for the sales role but offered me a position as a writer. My goal had simply been to get my foot in the door, so I took the role with no intention to stay more than two years or so while I finished my MBA. But then, to my utter shock, I sort of fell in love.

I hadn’t even heard the term “field service” before starting in this writer role and my honest initial reaction was that it seemed like it would be very boring. As I started interviewing business leaders, though, I became very interested in what they had to say. It was a time where a lot of change was beginning – the early phases of service being perceived as a potential profit center versus a cost center, the early iterations of digital transformation, and a whole host of layers that came with these big shifts.

My interest was complemented by other external factors. First, the 2008 recession took hold, and it seemed a very poor decision to voluntarily leave a job when so many were without work. Second, the company made the decision to move into some new markets giving me a chance just over 18 months or so into the work to become the Editor in Chief of the publication and oversee a re-brand from Integrated Solutions to Field Technologies.

All of this was very exciting and gave me a variety of work to explore and pour into, all while doing what I still love most – having interesting conversations with people about the challenges or opportunities they face, creating compelling content to help individuals learn from one another and build collective knowledge, and to foster community. More than ten years later, I was still leading Field Technologies when the opportunity to join IFS and launch Future of Field Service arose.

I had a lot of emotions about leaving that initial role that led me into this space behind, but I also had some reasons why I knew it was time to do so. All in all, it’s been more than six and a half years since I created this platform, and I am incredibly thankful for all the opportunity, learning, and growth it has brought.

What’s interesting about considering how many careers in field service start serendipitously is how we create greater awareness of the vast potential of career opportunities in this collection of industries so that companies don’t have to work so hard to attract talent. This is a need that many organizations are tackling in different ways, from visiting schools to share stories earlier on to partnering with trade organizations, colleges, and the military to broaden the knowledge of what this world is really about and how much we all interact with “field service” on a day-to-day basis without even realizing it.

I hope you enjoyed learning how I got here; I’m so grateful to be here. Those that find themselves in service also often comment how there’s something that makes it truly special, and I couldn’t agree more. How did you land in your role – intentionally or by chance? I’d love to hear your story!