Teri Schomer
- Assembly Manager
- King Electric
School Information
School: Western Washington University
College Major: Business
Years at College Works: 2012
Career Information
Working For: King Electric
Title: Assembly Manager
Industry: HVAC
Brief Description of Duties / Responsibilities:
Manage Assembly Department.
What Has Been Your Proudest Accomplishment Post-CWP?It’s funny being asked this question now because this last summer (2024), I helped a neighbor by painting her house. She is a single nurse in her 50’s who works 60+ hours a week. She had told me she was planning to get her house painted so I offered a few recommendations she should ask for in her project’s scope of work to yield the best results. Things like: always plan to do a coat of primer and tint the primer the same color as the paint, include caulking in the scope of work, pressure wash the house prior to painting, etc… The next time we caught up about a week or two later, she told me her project was being quoted at astronomical rates. It should not cost 12k to paint a 1400 sqft. mostly single story house. So I offered to do it for her. I am proud to say that the skills I learned 12 years ago allowed me to help a neighbor who deserved to have her house painted well without breaking into her savings account. Another proud moment was at the end of the summer in 2012, I leveraged all the skills I gained to paint my mom’s house. and it still looks good to this day. Glad to have these skills in my back pocket for those who need it most.
College Works Career Impact
In one sentence, what has CW meant to you?
Customer service and project management are in my experience the two most valuable and transferable skills that apply to every industry. If you posses an entrepreneurial spirit, then College Works Painting program is a great place to further develop those skills.
How did your CW experience impact your career? Immediately after graduation? Now?
While in the College Works Painting program I learned about entrepreneurship, relationship building, effective sales and marketing techniques. College Works Painting made me realize that majoring in Business was the right path for me.
What do you want to tell your clients about what it meant to work with them and how it has helped you get to where you are today?
I don’t have a favorite clients because just about everyone was kind and grateful.
What was the greatest lesson you learned from your CW experience?
I learned 2 major life lessons. 1. Managing expectations with clients is critical and easy to do. All it takes is timely, accurate, and open communication each day on the job site. 2. Always, always, always account for the unexpected by buffering every job by 10% or 10 hrs. Trust me. Something will come up that will inevitably consume that time. Each house or project, no matter how straight forward will have a quirk, a machine break down, material shortage, landscaping or uneven ground not accounted for, the weather, etc… At least one part of the process will take longer than expected.
How have the friendships and networks you built during CW affected you?
I don’t have any long term friendships from my cohort of College Works Painting, however a few of my closest friends had this experience in common. For example, another close friend did College Pro one summer which is similar in nature.
If you had to come up with a one line slogan for CW, what would it be?
It’s all in the prep.
Advice
What advice do you have for potential CW participants? Current CW participants?
Do not expect to make bank doing this job. You will not get rich and it will not be easy. I kept track of my hours spent working on College Works Painting between lead generation, drawing up contracts, logistics of transporting materials between jobs, etc… If you do it well, you effectively make minimum wage (or less) considering how much min wage has increased over the years. This type of work is not easy and you will have to learn how to make decisions without having all the information in front of you. In times of stress, you will have to fall back on your “why” so your reason for doing this needs to be strong enough to overcome the hard days. If you don’t have a compelling reason to do College Works Painting (regardless of whether you can articulate it or not), then this is not the right job for you.
Many college students struggle to choose between an internship specific to their target industry or doing CW. What advice would you give them on this subject if they wanted to enter your career field?
While at university I met many students that did industry specific internships and their feedback was always mixed. Some students were put on silly, unimportant projects that took up their whole summer, and some landed a great internship that kick started their career. Every experience will be different for each person. What ever you choose, whether you proceed with College Works Painting or not, know that you only get out what you put in. Sometimes the valuable lesson is in learning what you most certainly Do Not want to do for the rest of your life.
What’s your best advice for someone interested in entering your career field?
Learn about Lean and do something different. Work a job that build character.
What’s your favorite memory from CW?
The training during the school year that led up to the summer (because I learned a lot in that classroom setting) and happy clients that thanked me with a bottle of wine at the end of the job.
Last words of wisdom?
Seriously, this endeavor is not for everyone.