It's a difficult job market right now. Countless people have lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and there is a surplus of incredibly talented people in the talent pool.

We've all hunted for jobs at one point or another in our careers, and many of us have also been on the flip side hunting for great candidates we can hire. For that reason, we wanted to flip the script today in the hopes that it might make things a little easier for both those hiring and those aiming to be hired.

Introducing Our New CSM Referral Program

We've selected 5 Customer Success Manager candidates to highlight, who have all been referred to us by trusted sources. Some come from CS backgrounds, others come from slightly different backgrounds, however they all have the skills necessary to thrive as a CSM. We suggest reading through their responses to the questions below before going straight to their LinkedIn, so that you can benefit from the additional context before making a decision.

The right person in the right role is what every jobseeker and hiring manager is aiming to achieve, so let's work as a community to make that happen for these 5 and their future companies.

If you're openly searching for a role in CS and would like to be featured on our referral list, apply here.

Candidates

Carolyn Nguyen

Location: New York, NY (or remote)

Last Role: Account Manager @ WeWork

Desired Role(s): Customer Success Manager

Twitter Challenge: Pitch yourself to a prospective hiring manager in 280 characters or less.

Named Queen of Retention for reducing churn and saving my company money, I treat my customers like royalty and empower them so they can achieve their business goals. I'm energized whenever I can create—whether it's establishing new processes or improving existing ones. 

What is most important to you in the next company you join?

A highly collaborative company that understands customer success is a cross-functional mission. Most importantly, a company that has strong values and is truly invested in their employees' success. 

What are you absolutely awesome at?

Building strong relationships and mentoring people.

What are you working on improving at?

Business data fluency and becoming a better storyteller.

Why are you passionate about Customer Success?

Customer Success is a constantly evolving field that allows people from diverse professional backgrounds to truly learn, deliver impact, and better serve customers.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynnguyen8/
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April Ransome

Location: New York, NY (or remote)

Last Role: Customer Success Coordinator @ Venture Solar

Desired Role(s): Customer Success Manager

Twitter Challenge: Pitch yourself to a prospective hiring manager in 280 characters or less.

Customer-centric, proactive, and strategic customer success professional. Areas of expertise include customer support, project management, and consultative selling. Proven ability to be the voice of the customer by leveraging consumer feedback.

What is most important to you in the next company you join?

What matters to me most in my next company is an organizational commitment to ongoing learning and embodying customer success principles. I think the real magic happens when teams work cross-functionally to drive positive change and advocate for customer success internally. Diversity and inclusion are also at the forefront with supportive leadership truly understanding the nuances and challenges faced during COVID-19 and current affairs. My ideal role would be a CSM at a series C, productivity/martech company.

What are you absolutely awesome at?

I'm really great at being organized and maintaining structure throughout project life-spans.

What are you working on improving at?

I'm working on improving my data analytics skills and on track to complete a data analytics apprenticeship by Q3. I'm also using Airtable as a tool to follow up with customers within the promised timeframe to reduce churn. Deeply motivated by the quote "As a CSM you must master the art of following up."

Why are you passionate about Customer Success?

Customer success is a combination of data analytics, sales, customer education, and project management. I'm experienced in all four areas and genuinely enjoy each one. I'm passionate about using these skills to achieve value for existing customers and building relationships long term. My favorite aspect of customer success is approaching these existing relationships strategically and proactively problem-solving to achieve the dynamic goals throughout customer journeys.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprilransome/
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Christopher Mehlenbacher

Location: Toronto, CA (or remote)

Last Role: Brand Development Manager @ Rockstar Energy

Desired Role(s): Customer Success Manager

Twitter Challenge: Pitch yourself to a prospective hiring manager in 280 characters or less.

I’m an internationally experienced prospective CSM who enjoys building relationships from the C-suite all the way to the front desk. I've made a career of consultative sales, solving problems, and driving client product adoption. Would love to chat about how I can help you!

What is most important to you in the next company you join?

The most important things for me in the next company that I join are the culture of the team and the values of the business. I like working with a close team where everybody cares about one another and each employee is internally driven to surpass expectations and help teammates do the same when needed. I believe that this mindset engages our human nature to succeed as a group and naturally motivates us to work harder while enjoying the process. I also think that the experience of working hard for each other leads to a more bonded team that enjoys having fun together when the work is done, which is also important! As far as company culture, it’s important that my next company values having an open and inclusive workplace where colleagues are encouraged to express themselves and their ideas to push the business to even greater levels.

What are you absolutely awesome at?

I’m absolutely awesome at finding shared hobbies and passions with others and building relationships off of those foundations. I have an ever-growing list of interests, so I can easily connect with almost anyone I meet after getting to know them a little bit, and have fun doing so!

What are you working on improving at?

As someone who loves to learn, I’m always working on improving something. Currently I’m working on improving my Python coding, my understanding of SEO, and my comprehension of financial markets.

Why are you passionate about Customer Success?

The first time I read the job description of a Customer Success Manager, it sounded too good to be true - the exact job description that I’d write if I was tasked with jotting down an intersection of what I enjoy, what I’m good at, and what I want to do. Managing customer relationships while learning as much as I can about their business and driving product adoption have been the duties I’ve most enjoyed through my previous roles. I love to work with customers and watch our business grow together as they find success. I’ve been obsessed with tech/software throughout my entire life, so customer success and the tech industry are a natural fit for me and I’m really excited to take this role on and make my next hiring manager proud to have made the right decision.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-mehlenbacher/
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Peter de Giorgio-Miller

Location: New York, NY (or remote)

Last Role: Assistant VP, Client Relationship & Service Manager @ HSBC

Desired Role(s): Customer Success Manager

Twitter Challenge: Pitch yourself to a prospective hiring manager in 280 characters or less.

Today I manage portfolios for 60+ customers with over $15M in ARR. I safeguard these relationships by proactively mapping out their success plans and maintaining a high level of direct communication as we work towards their goals. 

What is most important to you in the next company you join?

I'm looking for a high-performance culture. I want a company that'll push me to grow and deliver the best experience for our customers while providing me the space to think about new ways of effectively addressing their challenges. The opportunity to learn is important to me—I like getting to understand the bigger picture and being able to learn what others do, while expanding and sharing knowledge. I'm also looking for a company that allows me to be enthusiastic about taking on new challenges while offering the support we all need to make those challenges into victories.

What are you absolutely awesome at?

My superpower is building long lasting relationships with customers, I am known for my ability to quickly build high-trust relationships with clients both newly acquired and longstanding ones that I've inherited. I do this through acknowledging and validating their individual needs with very direct, open communication. Honesty is the best practice for me, and being open with customers builds trust and builds the expectation that you are putting the customer first. Getting to know my customers has helped me map out their futures effectively, which has allowed me to retain and grow my accounts with high levels of customer satisfaction and long lasting relationships.

What are you working on improving at?

I would like to expand my leadership skills and gain more hands-on experience since in my current role there has been limited opportunities to lead in-house. I have had to opportunity to lead via my clients but amongst my peers is an area I am very motivated to improve. I'm currently working on this by volunteering for opportunities to lead projects when they come up and sitting down with leadership regularly in order to gain knowledge and advice. 

Why are you passionate about Customer Success?

Without customers, you have no business. Their success is our success. I love being able to focus on making the day-to-day life for the customer easier and more productive, while nudging them to think about their long-term strategic goals. I take pride in putting myself in the customers' shoes and delivering individualized value so that they can focus on growth. Nothing feels more rewarding than mapping out the customers' path to value, helping them achieve it, and growing (and safeguarding) the account. 

‍Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterdegiorgio-miller/
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Liya Adessky

Location: Montreal, CA (or remote)

Last Role: Account Manager @ TAXI (ad agency)

Desired Role(s): Customer Success Manager

Twitter Challenge: Pitch yourself to a prospective hiring manager in 280 characters or less.

‍I’m a redheaded account manager in the advertising space so I split my time between building fun marketing campaigns for my clients and applying sunscreen. My 9-5 revolves around helping clients achieve their goals, and making sure my team is empowered to do great work.

What is most important to you in the next company you join?

‍Broadly speaking, I’m looking for an environment that fosters constant learning and team-building, boasts technology I can be excited to promote, and offers employees opportunities to pursue their passions both in and outside the workplace, whether that be learning how to use Photoshop or volunteering with animals.

In a more granular sense, a focus on training and development are of particular interest to me – I love any chance to really broaden my skillset through learning portals, and become more well-rounded. The technology is key too – disruptive tech that can make a real difference for consumers is fun to sell.

What are you absolutely awesome at?

Building great relationships and making people laugh when things get hectic - and I can do it in two languages (I speak English and French). When I’m in the trenches with your colleagues, count on me to crack a joke and lighten the mood, so we can make it to the other side. I'm also hyper-organized, so i'll flood you with status documents and updates - but I promise it's for the best :)

What are you working on improving at?

Sometimes I take on too much - I'm working on getting better at leaning on my colleagues when there's a lot to get done, vs trying to solve every problem on my own!

Why are you passionate about Customer Success?

My career has been all about the customer, albeit from an advertising perspective – I feel incredibly fulfilled when a client watches a long-awaited campaign come to life, or even when I can just help a client out in a pinch for a smaller ask. The chance to help a customer see how/why a given technology can make their lives easier, and then helping them to maintain and grow their business by way of that tech would be wonderful – and I can’t wait to start.

Though I come from a more formal advertising background, I am the daily point of contact for my clients, helping to provide a service that will propel their business forward. Can’t wait to take that into the tech world. 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liyaadessky/

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Interested in being featured in our next CSM list? Click here!