Karen's Story

I wasn't even looking to change jobs when the opportunity to work for Enterprise fell into my lap more than eighteen years ago. I was two years out of night school and working as a fleet manager at a car dealership in Philadelphia, Penn. My employer wanted to form a partnership with Enterprise, and it was through those conversations with Enterprise's general manager that I caught a glimpse of what it could be like to work for the company.

The more I heard about Enterprise, the more I wanted to apply. Not long after doing so, I joined the company's Corporate Leasing department in what now would be considered an account executive role. Before getting my feet wet in that role, I went through an abbreviated management training program to help me learn about Enterprise's operations. Then, I gained more experience while working at Enterprise's Philadelphia airport and surrounding home-city rental locations. From there, I joined the Leasing program where I handled business-to-business marketing.

Today, as an Area Sales Manager in Business Rental, I can honestly say the career opportunities I've been afforded never cease to amaze me. Every day at Enterprise brings about new challenges and I love that. But like many working parents, my career must balance appropriately with the needs of my family. Fortunately for me, the company's flexibility allows me to manage both.

A few years ago, I found myself needing to scale back at work to care for my son who was diagnosed with a medical condition. I knew I had a great thing going with Enterprise having just pioneered the corporate rental program in Philadelphia, and I didn't want to give it up. Instead, I came up with a solution that would allow me to do both. I presented the idea to my manager, and together we found a way to make it work. Unfortunately, about a year after I switched to part-time status my son's medical condition worsened and my priorities changed again. Once more, they were willing to work with me, so for the next five years I worked from home.

The fact of the matter is that Enterprise doesn't want to lose valued employees. My manager continuously reminded me that the doors were open to come back whenever I was ready to return. Because of that, my career stayed on track. I never felt like a checkmark was placed against my merit for having to work around my life's challenges. My managers understood what I was going through and were behind me every step of the way. In the end, I never wanted to work anywhere else, and by communicating openly, I never had to.

Now, five years later with a healthy family, I'm back to my working full time and am having a blast. I wear several hats as an Area Sales Manager: I work with our regional vice presidents to grow our retail rental business segment, develop marketing strategies, shop the competition, work with sales representatives at travel agencies and oversee our designated hybrid branches.

When I'm not at work, I enjoy spending time with my husband John and our three children, ages 14, 12 and 10. If the weather permits, we spend most of our weekends at our beach house on the New Jersey shore. While there, we like to go boating, tubing, crabbing and bicycling along the coast.

At the end of the day, I know my life would be different had it not been for the company's willingness to support me through my family's challenges. That's why Enterprise continues to be a great fit for me. The values and ethics that ground the company are the same ones I respect in my personal life.