For a business that is slow to hire and where colleagues often casually mention they have been on the team for 20 years, adding a team member is a meaningful move for Infotech Consulting. When Brooke Harmer joined the team, she didn’t have time to worry about fitting in – there was work to be done.
“I think that being interviewed by four people should be more intimidating than it actually was. I could really tell that everyone was super caring and interested in each other’s lives; like they genuinely seemed like friends, which was very different from any other interview I’ve been in and you could tell that they really loved the work.”
Brooke began her Infotech Consulting career as a part-time Case Development Specialist in the middle of one of the busiest seasons the company has ever had. While finishing her graduate degree, before going full time in June, she worked the long days and hard hours alongside her new team and her energy was – and continues to be – infectious.
“Brooke came in and hit the ground running and did an awesome job,” said Jodie Newman, Director of Case Development and the senior member of Brooke’s team. “She joined when we were in the throes of putting together not just one but two reports, being sent out the same day for the same case, and having that intense report experience so close to joining I think was really good for her. She totally rolled with the punches and did an excellent job and really helped us out.”
Prior experience is always helpful during a trial by fire, and Brooke was no stranger to the work at hand.
“I’ve been exposed to antitrust work before,” she said, “but this has been a lot more in depth than my previous work. There are way more projects to work on and I get to learn so much every single day, which was really important to me in a job. We get to work a little bit on everything, which I think is cool. There’s a lot of variety.”
In fact, she said, the variety is one of her favorite parts about Infotech Consulting, even before everything was shaken up when the coronavirus hit the United States. Now, the busy schedule of reviewing documents and depositions and cases and code is a digital collaboration.
The time at home has offered unique benefits and challenges to all, and Brooke has been using it to exercise and spend time with her parents’ dog.
“If I could have any pet in the world, I still want to say it would be my parents’ dog, because I really love that dog,” she said with a laugh. “Maybe a lioness.”
When work transitions back to the office, Brooke said she is excited to get involved in the sustainability initiatives Infotech has in place.
“I thought it was really cool when I got hired that the whole kitchen was plastic-free. I minored in sustainability studies,” she said. “I was like one class away from getting my second major in it, but I really wanted to start my masters in economics. I love how applicable it is or can be to so many different topics. I think that’s why I chose it; it’s a social science, but it is also very analytical. It’s both qualitative and quantitative.”
Case development is a lot of industry research, developing the story and figuring out the timeline and what happened when. It takes a lot of time and intense focus, and Brooke, the perfect fit for a team of consultants, enjoys every minute and has no plans to pursue anything else.
“I really love Infotech,” she said, “so, honestly, I may be good for life.”