Lucy Patterson
Listen to the interview (approx. 31 min.) or download it.
Graduated in 2017 with a major in Film Scoring. Principal instrument: voice.
Position: Technical Recruiter at Elevano, a small technology staffing company based in Orange County, California, that specializes in finding computer programmers with the right skill sets to fill open positions at companies. Recruiters receive territories and programming languages to focus on: Lucy’s are the San Francisco Bay Area, and Java/Javascript. She finds new developers, touches base with the ones she knows in case they want a new opportunity, and also sees if corporations are interested in working with Elevano.
Overview: Lucy made money as a waitress while a Berklee student. After finishing Berklee in August, 2017, Lucy moved home with her parents. She waited tables while looking for film scoring work. An advertising agency she had been working with sent her some projects, but not nearly enough to support herself, and she wasn’t interested in doing a long, unpaid internship So by the end of the year Lucy had created a profile on Indeed, looking for marketing jobs. Almost immediately after making that profile her boss now-boss reached out to her with an opportunity to work at Elevano. “It was very bizarre to get recruited, but my boss was looking for something particular. He liked servers because we’re fast & determined. I also had a high GPA. he found Berklee interesting.”
You can see Lucy’s LinkedIn profile here.
Choice Quotes: “I didn’t have a background in recruiting, but my boss hired me because he saw I had the personality to do this job. I’m determined and like winning–I’m the type to go after something and not stop until I get it. That’s why this is a good job for me and I enjoy it.”
“Technical recruiting is a happy mix of sales and marketing. Like sales, you have to turn your head and get to the next thing and not waste time dwelling on something you can’t effect.”
“Training at Elevano is you start doing your job and they watch and follow you through the entire process and will tell if you if you’re doing it wrong. I was happy to jump in and do it that way–I got better fast.”
“My first day at the job I felt totally in over my head with all the lingo and technical terms everyone was using where I had no idea, but you learn by hearing it. It”s like speaking a language. I caugth on pretty quickly.”
“I graduated Berklee early and the film-scoring major isn’t a piece of cake. I didn’t know much about music theory and had to catch up really fast. At Berklee I’d watch those who are the most successful and see what they’re doing differently and I’d try to do the same thing. I’ve done that in my job: being persistent, being determined, working hard and that would lead to being successful.”
“Of course we all have a passion and a love for music. If you’re thinking about a non-music career, don’t let that passion for music completely disappear. Keep it going, even if it’s just keep singing in the shower. I don’t have guitar calluses on my fingers, but I take any freelance scoring gig that comes along. Even when I’m not doing a paying gig, I write music for fun so as to not get rusty.”
See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.