Jim Andrade

This is a story of growth: In June of 2012, at the age of 46, my long history of food service industry related jobs created an open door into Mayo Clinic as a catering assistant. After four wonderful years, the Mayo Food and Nutrition department was outsourced to an outside contractor. I didn't think that I had a choice but to remain within the food service industry and become an employee of the contractor, but Mayo offered me and many others another option. For me, it was an opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and transform my work ethic and my customer service skills into a new and unexpected career path. Through the support and encouragement of Mayo Clinic and the many people I'd met through my catering role I was presented with 3 interviews in various roles and in 2016 I become a Health Unit Coordinator. I was nervous and didn't know if this job would be the right fit, but I rolled up my sleeves and learned as much as could so I could do the very best job. While I was in this role, I was loaned out to various departments to lend a hand and I met so many more incredible people who would continue to be constant learning resources. Then one day, I was asked to join Employee Activities for a month or two to help siphon some of the workload and after many months, I happily joined the team permanently. My skillsets are tailored for this role - personable customer service, creativity, organizational and problem-solving skills, navigating spontaneous and unique situations, events or odd jobs as they arise as well as utilizing acquired resources to get the job done. This is the PERFECT job for me! I am grateful for the support of Mayo Clinic, my supervisors (past and present) and a great many super talented mentors that I have met in the past 10 years. They are in part, the reason I am where I am at today.