Welcome Jackie Carroll, LRI’s Training Coordinator

Jackie’s Top 5:
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Early in November of 2023, with the end of her last semester at Rhode Island College just weeks away, Jackie Carroll was preparing for the next chapter in her life. Thinking that a non-teaching job at a private college would be a good fit, she had already applied for a position at Wheaton College and survived the first interview, a virtual one, Nov. 8.

In mid-November, Renzo Arteta, CLRI 2019, unaware of Carroll’s job-hunting progress, texted to report that Leadership Rhode Island was seeking candidates for a new position, coordinator of strengths training. Carroll, who met Arteta, LRI’s senior strengths training manager, when she was in the 2022-2023 College Leadership Rhode Island program, responded that she’d spread the word, a disinterested response that prompted Arteta to make clear that he was encouraging her to apply. “I think you’d be a good fit,” he texted.

The unexpected job pitch was hard to ignore, even for Carroll, who had other career goals and was unsure she even qualified for the strengths job. Still, she submitted an application on Nov. 19.

The Battle for the Best Fit for Jackie Carroll was underway . . . and the protagonists had no clue.

The first skirmish took place Dec. 1, when Carroll participated in a virtual interview with Arteta and Abby Burnep, director of organizational learning and strategy.  Carroll, who had a terrible cold, was convinced she flubbed it.

Both Wheaton and LRI emailed Carroll on the same day, Dec. 4, each prospective employer inviting her to an in-person interview the next week.  The stage was set for the battle’s next round. The in-person interview with LRI would be Dec. 12. The Wheaton interview would be three days later.

Carroll weighed the pros and cons of each potential job. The position at Wheaton came with a generous starting salary. She was confident she could handle the job — it was similar to one she had at Rhode Island School of Design, part time during the college year, full time in the summer.  But the commute to the campus in Norton, MA would consume an hour each way. Still, the job met her own criteria for a good fit.

LRI’s salary offer was lower; the commute to work more reasonable. Carroll’s CLRI experience had been very positive and she got good vibes from every LRI staff member she knew. Still, she was less confident she could handle the strengths coordinator job, even though Arteta had told her she would be a good fit.

The LRI interview, conducted by the entire staff, went really well from Carroll’s perspective. “After I walked out, I thought, ‘If I don’t get this job, it’ll break by heart’.”

LRI’s Executive Director Michelle Carr, 2014 Kappa II, called the next day to offer the job and even some time to think it over. Carroll said yes on-the-spot.

The 24-day Battle of the Best Fit for Jackie Carroll was over. “I’ve never looked back once,” she says.

For the record: Jackie graduated a semester early from RIC, with a degree in strategic communications. In her final semester, she earned the merit-based Hope Scholarship. She was honored recently by Adoption Rhode Island as an “Adopt Hope” awardee.  And, yes, she’s thriving at LRI. It’s a good fit.