Get to Know Our Consultants: Sara Loree

Sara Loree is going through Idealist Consulting’s Consultant Internship Program. The purpose of the Consultant Internship is to provide a framework for training individuals with a strong background in technology and/or non-profit business practices that might be new to consulting or have limited experience on the Salesforce platform. We caught up with Sara to gain some insight on this unique experience and to see what she’s working on.

Q: What did you want to be when you grew up?

 A: I wanted to be a veterinarian! I didn’t pursue a career with animals, and I can’t remember exactly what changed my mind but I moved on to other career ideas at some point growing up.

My entrance into a technology career was somewhat accidental. After college, I wanted to gain some professional experience prior to graduate school and I found a job as a software trainer. Technology has played a major role in every position I’ve held since that first job. I think the fast pace, constant learning, and problem solving keeps it interesting!

 Q: Why was the Idealist Consulting internship program attractive for you?

 A: I had been interested in both Salesforce and consulting for a long time, but wasn’t quite sure how to get started in this direction on my own. Idealist’s internship program provided me with a clear path and a support network for a higher level understanding of Salesforce as well as for understanding project management and consulting.

Q: What made you want to get started with Salesforce?

A: As a database manager, I looked at Salesforce a number of times over the past few years and was excited about its flexibility and the opportunities to customize the system to meet an organization’s unique needs in a user-friendly way. This flexibility offers interesting opportunities for career development, as well.

Q: How has working with Salesforce changed your skill set?

A: With new releases, apps, features, and a diverse user community in Salesforce, there is something new to learn every day and there are great opportunities to expand my skillset. One aspect of Salesforce that I didn’t fully understand prior to the internship was the various specialties within Salesforce certified administration and consulting. It is exciting that there are opportunities and options for career growth and development.

Q: What are some highlights of your experience?

A: The technology is certainly interesting and I love the fast pace, but most of all I would say that I feel so lucky to be part of the great team at Idealist Consulting. I have fantastic mentors and everyone has been willing to help and to share their knowledge and experience.

Q: How is going as you study for your Salesforce Admin Certification? Can you share any tips for others who are working towards this?

A: My certification preparation is going well. The biggest stumbling point in the beginning was wading through the many resources available for preparing for the exam in order to figure out which one would work best for me. I’m currently using the Salesforce Certified Admin Study Guide, testing out functionality in my developer organization, and I just signed up for a study group, as well.

Q: Any personal challenges you think other people could learn from or relate to?

A: Moving from being an employee to being a remote consultant has been an adjustment not only in understanding the difference of roles but also managing time and tasks across projects in an efficient way. I’m currently testing out options for task management to figure out how to streamline the process without adding extra steps.

 Q. Goals for the future?

 A: My first goal is to pass the Administrator Certification and then I’d like to pursue the Developer Certification next!

For more information on internships and employment with Idealist Consulting, check out our career page.