Success Stories - January 2010
Patricia Huggler
Sowing the Seeds for Success
"One of the best pieces of advice I can provide to a new student is that it takes a lot of work maintaining a balance in school, work, and personal life. The payoff is the sense of accomplishment at the end of each CCS course."
-Patricia Huggler, Service Team Specialist, Prudential-Shelton
No matter where Prudential Service Team Specialist Patti Huggler's career path has taken her, she has always held fast to the belief that, "sometimes, in order to succeed, a person needs to step back in order to step ahead." Her work life did indeed take some twists and even a few U-turns. After graduating from high school she attended college for one year. Deciding that nothing further could be gained from school and anxious to start earning money, she took a position as a retail store manager. Tired of the long hours and low compensation, she tried her hand at a variety of jobs including, employment recruiter and web design assistant. Struggling to find her niche, she would come to realize that leaving college was not one of her better decisions.
Prior to joining the Prudential family, Patti worked for Wachovia Bank in their call center and in time, advanced to an assistant team leader. Wachovia eventually moved its call center to Oregon, and unable to relocate, she was soon looking for work. Describing the job hunt as "discouraging", she quickly recognized that many organizations would not even consider interviewing without a college degree. After an exhaustive several month search, she was hired by Prudential. Within a short time, Patti knew that her once uncertain career path had found solid ground.
Starting as a customer service representative, Patti was promoted to her current role of Service Team Specialist in the annuity division. The job is designed to be a stepping stone to an eventual managerial position. Her responsibilities include: reviewing calls for quality assurance, carrying out special projects as delegated by senior management, and working extensively on training classes for new hires to ensure a strong knowledge of both products and the quality of the program. The unfinished business of college still loomed, however, and when a colleague mentioned to Patti that Corporate College Services was starting an accelerated bachelor degree right at the work site, it was an opportunity she would not let slip by.
One of Patti's favorite quotes is, `Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.' She believes that "if you take something on, give it your all-even if you do not succeed, at least you gained from the experience." More than ready to give it her all, she attended Corporate College Services' onsite information and intake meetings, submitted her application, and began classes in 2007. Patti once jokingly said that before starting with CCS, her car was preprogrammed to go home when she left work. Now in total student mode, she has taken on an unofficial role of recruiting students to help support her cohort. According to CCS Program Director Lisa De Virgilio, "Patti is one of the champions at the Shelton, CT. location. She is one of my "go to" students when I need feedback on faculty and program promotion. Although I will miss her, I look forward to the day I can congratulate Patti after she crosses the stage in her cap and gown." These sentiments are shared by the rest of the CCS family as well.
Joining the CCS program has enabled Patti to meet other Prudential employees turned classmates and now friends from other departments. She cites classes such as Organizational Behavior and Principles of Management as very helpful stating, "Being taught by professionals within their fields provides real-life experiences, not just textbook analogies which keep the studies interesting for me. The classes have also helped me to recognize the how and why behind many decisions that Prudential makes." Patti is also grateful to the Prudential management team for their extraordinary support. "Not only does the tuition reimbursement help, management has worked with me to ensure my work schedule is arranged so that I can attend classes."
Patti's strong support team also includes Glenn, her husband of 11 ½ years. "Glenn is a great inspiration to me. He has taught me that to succeed, you need to be truly passionate about what you do, find something that you are passionate about and give it your all...you can even find success in failure." Outside of work and school, gardening is one of Patti's passions. Describing herself "like a kid in a candy store when the seed catalogs come out in December", the peace and solitude of nature helps her to keep things in perspective. In a sense, with every garden she has cultivated, each job she has held, and now, with every class she completes, Patti has been sowing the seeds of success every step of the way.
CORPORATE COLLEGE SERVICES, INC,
1139 Spruce Drive, Suite C, Mountainside, NJ 07092
908.233.3399 / FAX 908.233.5719
info@corporatecollegeservices.com
