Base Office: South Burlington, VT
Email: lkronoff@hallam-ics.com
“Tomorrow, you don’t need to come in and when you come back on Monday, come to our new office at 99 Swift St., in South Burlington (VT),” said my new manager. It was February 1992 and I had just started as a temporary Administrative Assistant at Hallam Associates, PC. The firm had outgrown their space and the office was moving. Sounded good to me, I had just started and was still connecting names and faces in the then 30+ person firm.
Little did I know that this was just one of several moves we would make over the next few years as the company grew and changed. Having just recently moved to Vermont to start my post-college life, I arrived without a job and not knowing a soul. At 22yrs old, that didn’t deter me. I didn’t require much of a plan. Now that I am a parent, I give my parents a lot of credit for their willingness to support (emotionally if not financially) this leap of faith.
Arriving in Burlington, I temped at a couple of places before Hallam – an architectural firm and a medical products manufacturer. While there I worked with the engineering department who gave me a little red matchbox truck that still sits on my desk today. I’m not sure if it was my prior experience with specifications or my mad typing/computer skills (liberal arts majors write a lot of papers) that landed me at Hallam but, however I got here, it didn’t take me long to figure out it was a special place.
My father was greatly amused to find me working at an engineering firm as he was an architectural draftsman/designer. Turns out my uncle and grandfather were both engineers and my great-grandfather had owned a plumbing supply business. Hmm, maybe that’s why I had no trouble reading the redlines and found the plaid shirts and khakis so familiar?
All good temp jobs come to an end or they don’t – and you get hired! After a few months I became a regular full time employee. I have been at Hallam now for 24 years as an Admin Assistant, Office Manager, HR Generalist/Recruiter and now Director of People and Culture. The projects change, the clients change, employees come and sometimes they go – it’s never been dull. There have always been new opportunities and challenges and new skills to learn. My managers and co-workers have continually encouraged, supported and inspired me and continue to do so.
It is a pleasure to come to work every day with people who value the work they do and the people they do it with.
