Before Lizz Ingram joined Auror as a Customer Success Associate in our Denver office, she was channelling her love of helping others learn through a career as a teacher. Now, she’s helping retailers across North America learn how to prevent crime, loss, and harm with Auror’s Retail Crime Intelligence platform.

We asked Lizz more about this career transition, why she left teaching to join a completely different field of work, what her greatest learning has been so far, and why being a “lifelong learner” has helped her to set herself up for success in a new role.

Hi Lizz, can you share a bit about your career background and what prompted you to switch to tech?

Before working at Auror, my background was exclusively in the nonprofit arts and education sectors. I’ve worked at children’s theatres and museums around the United States, but had been working as an elementary school teacher for the past five years. I loved the relationships formed during my previous positions and being able to help others learn and grow into their best selves, however the constant struggle to find a work-life balance left me feeling burnt out and at my wits’ end.

I knew I needed to work for a smaller company that truly valued their employees and it was important to me to feel like my work was meaningful and attempting to make the world a better place. Luckily for me, while searching through countless positions on job boards, I found Auror!

How did you know that Customer Success was what you wanted to pursue?

When looking to transition careers, I knew I wanted to lean into my strengths: relationship-building and using my educational background. Honestly, I Googled “good jobs for transitioning teachers” and the internet recommended checking out customer success! I was really excited about the opportunity to continue creating relationships with our customers, as well as the possibility to work through training and create educational material to help support their efforts within our platform.

What has been your biggest learning so far? 

Having leapt into a completely new field and industry, I’ve been overcome with different lessons! It turns out the Asset Protection/Loss Prevention (AP/LP) and tech fields love acronyms as much as educators. It’s been a real treat getting to learn some of the industry standard pieces from professionals who’ve worked in the field.

Along with that, the age of those I’m teaching and training has increased by decades, however it’s lovely to know that typically Best Practices in education hold firm regardless of the age of the learners. I do enjoy getting to stretch my vocabulary a bit, again. My jokes, however, remain as eye-roll inducing regardless of age.

What have your first 3 months at Auror been like?

Honestly my first 3 months at Auror have been a dream. During the interview process, I was incredibly attracted to the culture of trust, collaboration, and communication Auror demonstrates online, yet still felt a bit wary of my expectations not meeting reality. I didn’t need to be concerned — Auror fully “walks the walk” and lives out their guiding principles.

I’m surrounded by teammates who exhibit the best balance between focus and camaraderie, offering support while also exhibiting trust, and truly valuing all contributions across the team.

In my own personal experience, often when companies claim to have a “feedback-forward culture” this means feedback tends to be highly critical, but with Auror, positive feedback is integral to the way we communicate. We joke in the North American office “ducks fly together”/ “one team, one dream,” but that truly encapsulates how working together feels.

What did you do to set yourself up for success in your new role?

Knowing that I was going into a new field, I fully embraced a learner’s mindset. While I was on the hunt for a new position, I immersed myself in a myriad of learning resources like LinkedIn Learning modules, online articles, and podcasts to try and sharpen the skills I already possessed and to help create a foundational basis of knowledge for skills and fields that were new to me.

I really tried to lean into the discomfort of being inexperienced. Knowing how much you’re ignorant of can be really daunting! I gave myself permission to be inexperienced and really did a lot of questioning throughout my job hunt and, more importantly, when I began my journey with Auror. This allowed me to let go of any ego that might hold me back from asking the questions I needed to in my own learning journey.

Do you have any tips for those who are thinking about switching careers too?

My biggest tip would be: don’t be afraid to take the leap! Having only worked educational roles, I was really hesitant about completely changing fields, but now that I’ve switched, I’m honestly so grateful I did.

Another tip would be: don’t undervalue yourself and your skills. Transferable skills are real and necessary. The skills I’ve gained during my time in education have helped me flourish in Customer Success. I’ve also deemed myself a “lifelong learner,” but that has truly been cemented during this career switch: there are learnings around every corner!

Want to work with teammates like Lizz? We’re currently recruiting! Visit our careers site to see our open roles.