Karen

Internal Consultant

Finding a New Career Path

“I wasn't even on LinkedIn and reacHIRE helped me build a resume, a profile on LinkedIn, and prepare for job interviews.”

I chose to leave the workforce to focus on my family. Up until that point, I had worked for Accenture, took a short career break to get my MBA at Sloan and then returned to Accenture. The lifestyle of a management consultant is rough with long hours, aggressive deadlines, and extensive travel. After taking maternity leave and an additional leave of absence, I made the decision to pause my career and stay at home with my daughter. Two years later, my son was born, and I continued with a career break until my youngest entered first grade.

While my children were very young, I stayed at home and focused on parenting and volunteerism. When my son entered the first grade and was in school for the full day, I dipped my toe back in the water by doing research, primarily from home, for a boutique consultancy firm affiliated with Harvard. When my son entered middle school, I felt ready to relaunch my career in a more meaningful and permanent way.

I learned about reacHIRE from a neighborhood mom who went through the program herself and suggested that it was a good fit for what I was looking for. reacHIRE was excellent for refreshing and building both professional and interview skills. I wasn’t even on LinkedIn, and reacHIRE helped me build a resume, a profile on LinkedIn, and prepare for job interviews. Through reacHIRE’s strategic partnership with Akamai, I attained a part-time project assignment. At the end of my project, I was offered and happily accepted a permanent, part-time position at Akamai. I am so grateful to reacHIRE for opening the door for me at Akamai. My career re-entry happened because of reacHIRE. I never would have found this position on my own, and it is all that I hoped it would be and so much more.

My role at Akamai is a perfect fit. I’m essentially an internal consultant focusing on making process improvements to accelerate revenue and improve the customer experience. My primary area of focus is on simplifying and streamlining the order management function (a.k.a. Quote-to-Cash). I collaborate across multiple functions within the organization and drive positive and impactful change.

Akamai is an amazing organization that offers continuous learning, challenging and exciting projects, and significant opportunities for career advancement. My superiors and colleagues are all extremely supportive, enabling me to contribute and drive change within my part-time schedule. Over the next few years, I plan to slowly transition from part-time to longer work days and, with that, assume more leadership responsibilities.