How Taking a Chance Changed my Career

Kelle Allen never wanted a desk job. Yet, here she is with one at Continental. This is her story about taking a chance, being willing to learn, and reaping all the benefits that come with her role as a Senior Consultant for Continental’s Business Consulting group.

I knew that Continental made tires – that was it.

I was looking to move to Charlotte and, therefore, also needed to find a job here. This Senior Consultant position was the first one I applied to. I worked for a construction company years ago that did work for Continental’s plant in Sumter, S.C., so I figured there could be a bit of a connection.

Oddly enough, I don’t have a business background. I went to school for athletic training, but that didn’t really pan out after college. I never wanted a 9-to-5 job. My thought was always, what could I do that would keep me from sitting behind a desk? Yet, here I am.

What does a Senior Consultant do inside Continental?

Consulting is like having an extra resource added to your team – an extra set of eyes to come in, dig below the surface, figure out how to help solve problems and, ultimately, affect our bottom line and the way we do business. Sometimes people are too engrained in their everyday work to see the bigger picture, so we take a deeper dive because we bring an objective, unbiased perspective. There are three of us in the Fort Mill, S.C., office, and more than 90 worldwide.

I approach every project and every internal customer with the idea that I need to get to know them, their business, and their topic or challenge. I need to listen and understand them right from the start. A lot of times people view consultants as those who want to come in and tell you what to do without understanding what you do, as opposed to listening and understanding – and then helping you figure out what to do.