Intro:
Hello! My name is Chris Odom, and I have been an employee of Funds for Learning for over a year now. I come from quite the background: I have a Masters in English, lived and taught in Japan, play the violin, game and read voraciously. My entry into the E-rate world came through job hunting; I had moved back to my hometown after ten years abroad and was seeking a way to provide for myself, and the position matched my skillset nicely. I have since then discovered affable coworkers and a warm and welcoming working environment, and the endless new things I discover ensure that my time here is *never* boring.
Current Role:
My current role is as a Staff Analyst I, which has me overseeing clients, handling all aspects of their E-rate journey, and ensuring that they get the best level of service possible. While our technical job description is consulting, we call ourselves Guides to reflect our commitment to ensuring we give our clients the direction, answers, and aid they require to fulfill their goals in ensuring that all students get access to internet technologies for their educational fulfillment.
Favorite Moment:
My favorite moments with my clients are when they share something about where they work, or events at school, or genuine insights into life. I cannot just see myself as someone they hired to do a job (although true); people have lives that offer fascinating insight into the character of the client, and this allows me to be able to tailor my professional service to reach them where they are at.
What do I enjoy most about being in a Guide Team?
Guide Teams are great! You get a chance to work collaboratively with your peers and help each other out when the tasks grow to great for one person to bear. In many respects, our work would be impossible without the support we give each other as fellow Guides, and there have been way too many instances where the right advice or direction was supplied through collaborative work. I shudder to think of what my experience would have been like to attempt to understand E-rate alone, and I am thankful that even the most difficult question has a ready solution in the advice of a teammate.
Advice for newbies to E-rate work:
I would advise that they take their time to learn the process properly, but also bear in mind that they have years to gain the experience required to master the entire 12-18month cycle that a Funding Request can undertake. There is a reason the CEMP exam requires time and experience before you can become a certified professional!
Top tip:
Pace yourself. This role, this opportunity, is utterly unique. You cannot judge the time and work by normal standards customary in other white-collar industries; you plan with multiple months in mind, years in advance, and budget accordingly. It is not unusual to begin tasks in June fully intending them to bear fruit in November, and we plan for the next funding year even before the current one ends!
