At SurveyMonkey, our goal is to be “where the curious come to grow.” We believe strongly in giving everyone a path to growth and an opportunity to shape what’s next in their career.
In that spirit, we asked SurveyMonkey employees to share their own journeys and talk about how they #StayCurious. Each team member has shared their own unique experience, what motivates them, and lessons learned along the way, in the hopes that it will inspire you and give you an idea of what it would be like to be part of our community.
Curious about career opportunities at SurveyMonkey? We’re hiring! And as we look to reimagine work for our employees, you have the power to choose where you work from.
Meet Nichole Vine
Role: Manager, Market Research Operations
Time at SurveyMonkey: 8 years
Where I work: Ottawa, Canada
How does a new college grad navigate from entry-level sales to leading the customer support team for a critical product in just eight years?
SurveyMonkey Manager of Market Research Operations Nichole Vine did it by believing in her strengths, pursuing her relentless curiosity, and building internal relationships.
Upon graduating from Carleton University with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Nichole knew she didn’t want to pursue a traditional career as a journalist. She decided to search for an alternative, and a friend recommended she consider a job in sales at SurveyMonkey.
Charting her own path
For the first two years, Nichole spent her career in sales doing inbound and outbound lead generation. Keen to use her writing skills, Nichole worked with her manager to carve out time to contribute elsewhere in the business. She volunteered to work with marketing to write blog posts, edit copy, and create infographics. It wasn’t long before she leveraged this experience into a career transition.
After spending nearly three successful years on the marketing team, Nichole was ready to expand her skills, and try leading her own team. When there wasn’t an opportunity to do this within marketing, her manager encouraged her to consider other opportunities within the business.
Nichole made the transition to customer operations, where she’s spent the past several years leading high-performing teams, focused on delivering product support to SurveyMonkey customers.
The common thread for her success? Nichole says it’s “over-communication, vocalizing what I’ve been interested in learning, and feeling support from my current and former managers to go for it.”
Empowering her own team
Having benefited from strong leaders in the past, Nichole understands how important it is to “pay it forward” with her own team. In an employee’s career journey, Nichole sees her role as “equal parts coaching on what they’re doing in their day-to-day role, and helping the team develop skills and understand what they’re doing well and where they need to improve to get to the next step.”
In addition, Nichole understands the importance of “opening doors, making introductions, and helping coach team members through their internal interviews.” It’s important for a manager to make sure their team members feel confident and comfortable when pursuing other opportunities in the company.
Leaning into her passions
Always big on stepping outside of her role and pushing herself to do more, Nichole seeks opportunities that will not only help her develop new skills, but make an impact on the business.
Every summer, Nichole volunteers to be a “buddy” for incoming summer interns. She provides mentorship and guidance on projects and how to approach their career.
Additionally, Nichole leads an internal learning and development opportunity SurveyMonkey offers for all employees called “Feedback is Fuel.”Quarterly, she volunteers to teach everyone from individual contributors up to vice presidents how to give and receive feedback.
Nichole’s biggest piece of advice she reminds herself, and others, of constantly? “The worst someone can do is say no. The scariest part can be asking, but if we don’t ask, we don’t get. Formulate an idea, and don’t let fear or doubt hold you back.”
Want to start your career journey at SurveyMonkey? Check out open positions.
