Starting out in a corporate workplace as a Recruitment Training Manager was intimidating to Jonte. Everyone around him had worked their way up through the corporate world after college, and he came with an associate’s degree and a handful of licenses and certifications collected over years of working in the trades. He got over that feeling quickly however, because, as he puts it, “I realized I was supposed to be there. You know, they came looking for me. I didn’t look for them.” And Jonte felt ready for everything that the job required of him. All of his years of working, building his own skills and training others on his teams, helped him in this new role. He drew on “communication skills, and being able to build those relationships and convey the information so people can understand it.” The hardest part was actually just putting together the training manual the company would use, but all of his other skills helped there, too.

In thinking about how far he has come in his career, especially given how he felt about trade jobs when he was younger, he says, “I never thought that the trades would take me to a position where I only answer to two people in a billion dollar company.” Jonte looks forward to what the future brings for him as the company grows. Though he sometimes feels like he “lucked up,” he will continue to challenge the negative perceptions of trade jobs and encourage others to broaden their horizons.