“There is an angle that is best for you. You may find most tracks already set are fine, but I’ll bet your optimal angle is different by a degree or two.”
The advice found in an Ascent Backcountry article may be meant for backcountry skiers learning how to break trails, but similar guidance applies to professionals exploring new paths in their careers.
The challenges of seeking a new direction unbroken by another’s skis or skills aren’t insurmountable. With the right tools and guidance, the journey can instead become an exciting and fulfilling one.
monday.com, the customizable work platform that offers a suite of flexible and scalable products, serves to help clients uncover new possibilities in their work and break new trails, and the culture inside the company does the same for its ambitious employees.
Since joining monday.com, Senior Enterprise Account Manager Celine Vitale has seen her career grow exponentially. After five years in tech sales, Vitale was hired as an enterprise account manager at monday.com in 2020, where she soon saw her career advance to senior enterprise account executive and then her current role.
“Since I started here, I have constantly been challenged to reach my potential,” she said. “I am surrounded by brilliant humans day in and day out, facilitating deep and meaningful conversations about how we can improve the products for our customers.”
“I am surrounded by brilliant humans day in and day out, facilitating deep and meaningful conversations about how we can improve the products for our customers.”
Senior People Program Manager Kayla Cedar shares Vitale’s passion for the possibilities created by the company’s support for her career.
“I can truly say that I would not be the professional I am today without my journey at monday.com,” Cedar said. “While my path didn’t fit into a role that was already defined at the company, my manager and I were able to identify a need and leaned into it. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to explore other areas of the business, which ultimately helped me find my niche and grow into my area of expertise.”
Alongside that support, Cedar was given the opportunity she needed to break her own trail toward creating and excelling in her new role.
“I’m given the autonomy to make an impact on our team in the way I see fit, with guidance when I seek it,” she said.
Seeking HR Excellence
“One of the most amazing parts of growing at monday.com is the openness to new ideas and opportunities,” Cedar said.
Her own journey at monday.com began in May 2020, and she soon began navigating different roles within the people team before finding her niche in her current role, which blends HR support and program management and provides her with the ideal platform to influence large-scale global projects.
Cedar catapulted her growth ahead by seizing opportunities for stretch projects as the company expanded.
“I’ve been able to take on all sorts of projects to explore my areas of interest, while also growing alongside the company as it transitioned from a startup to a public company with now over 500 employees based in North America,” she said.
One project in particular stands out to Cedar, as it helped her understand her own strengths and potential for advancement — a large-scale project of bringing payroll and benefits administration in-house. While crafting a benefits package for a diverse employee base within strict financial guidelines, she navigated hurdles and gained insights into payroll processes and employee benefits. The project’s success not only enhanced her professional skills but also showcased monday.com’s commitment to letting employees thrive and innovate.
“monday.com values employee development across all levels and encourages continuous learning,” Cedar said. “We’re encouraged to try our hardest and embrace mistakes instead of shying away from them. This has allowed me to dive in, immerse myself in my role and do my best to make an impact without fear of failure.”
“We’re encouraged to try our hardest and embrace mistakes instead of shying away from them.”
Cedar is confident that this commitment to professional development will continue to offer her an array of opportunities for growth, and her momentum for advancement isn’t slowing down.
“I believe that it’s important to take your career development into your own hands,” she said. “I don’t know where my journey at monday.com will take me next, but I’m excited to continue to learn and be inspired by the amazing people I work with every day.”
Charting New Territories in Sales
Vitale’s career trajectory at monday.com also echoes the company’s commitment to challenging its employees. As she has advanced, she has taken on one challenge in particular for her own sales goals: helping large enterprise organizations realize the full potential of monday.com for their entire company. When successful, Vitale is able to not only help clients expand product usage but also deepen relationships with users and make monday.com an even more indispensable part of their work.
The company’s continuous emphasis on customer-centricity and the recent launch of new products propelled her to become an expert across multiple platforms and engage in cross-sell and upsell opportunities.
“I am learning new buying personas and new use cases while allowing myself more opportunities to find business through cross-sell and upsell opportunities across different audiences that may have felt monday.com was not originally for them,” she said.
While a focus on hitting numbers can sometimes get sales professionals mired in what Vitale calls the “day-to-day loop” of her role, her team ran a two-day quarterly business review that offered each salesperson the opportunity to dive deeper into their books of business and plan for the entire year ahead.
“Four years ago, I am not sure I would have had the confidence or knowledge to run a quarterly business review on my own effectively,” she said. “However, monday.com has poured hours of effort into ensuring all their employees are well-adjusted and aligned to the company goals, objectives and key results.”
Beyond helping Vitale understand where she has grown in her role, the annual company kickoff also gave her the chance to step back and appreciate the culture of ownership that each employee is empowered to engage in across the company.
“We are forced to think outside of the box of just our own day-to-day tasks and instead think of ideas and initiatives that can help the company reach its goals,” she said. “I think what makes monday.com unique is that everyone’s opinion is valued. If you have an idea, share it, bring it to your manager or team, and you will be heard.”
“We are forced to think outside of the box of just our own day-to-day tasks and instead think of ideas and initiatives that can help the company reach its goals.”
Navigating the Future
Both Cedar and Vitale emphasized the unique culture of growth at monday.com. The company encourages employees to explore new areas, fostering collaboration and transparency. Leaders actively participate in career development, providing feedback and mentorship, while offering expansive room for individual ambition.
“The opportunities are endless because monday.com allows you to create your own,” Vitale said. “If someone feels they can improve the company, our managers and leaders give us the space to share our ideas and run with them.”
As Cedar and Vitale continue striving and thriving at monday.com, neither plans on slowing her progress any time soon — and that drive stems from a passion for both the work and the company’s broader goals.
“Being employed by a company is more than showing up for the job every day,” Vitale added. “We are all working together towards greater goals.”
