Welcome to the newest installment of our "Catching Up With" series! This time we've interviewed Kristen Osberg, our HR/Office Manager in the Chicago office. In addition to being a valuable member of our HR team, Kristen helps our day-to-day office operations. We couldn't run as smoothly as we do without her efforts! We sat down with Kristen to learn more about her personal and professional life. Learn more about Kristen below:

How long have you worked in the Chicago office? How did you come to work there?

It will be eight years in November. I actually was working for a transmission repair shop before I came to Palace Gate. I found an ad on Craigslist for a bookkeeper, so I started doing that part-time in 2009 and after that my career kind of morphed into what I’m doing now with V-Soft.

What was your experience in before coming to the Chicago office?

I managed the office and did sales and customer service for a transmission repair shop before I met Sally and joined the Chicago family. I was at the transmission repair for a little over two years. Before that, I worked in retail.

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What do you consider a fulfilling workday?

I feel like a fulfilling workday is when I can get all of my day-to-day things done, as well as get some work done on at least a few of the special projects I’m working on at any given time. I feel most productive when I can hit all of my bases as far as my daily and weekly goals go.

What are some of your short-term and long-term goals?

Short term I want to work on developing my relationship with other V-Soft employees. I’ve not gotten to meet very many of them yet. I’ve met some and not others and I’d really like to meet everyone again so I can put people’s names to faces. Long term, my goal is to kind of move further into finance in my career. I’ve been doing both finance and HR, I’ve basically been a jack of all trades since I started but I’d like to become more focused in that area of my career.

How has your experience been so far with V-Soft?

Oh, it’s been great! Everyone is super friendly and helpful. They are very welcoming. With any acquisition, there’s always a level of apprehensiveness going into it, but so far everyone has been super nice and super inviting — I’ve really appreciated it.

What is the best thing about working for V-Soft?

I think just the ability to work with a much larger team has been really great. It’s nice to have other people doing the same thing that I am who I can come to for advice and ask questions. It’s just really nice to have an expanded team.

What accomplishments are you most proud of?

I think my biggest accomplishment so far is being able to balance my work and home life. I have five kids, so being able to successfully manage my full-time job and my kids while being able to get everything done is something I’m really proud of. I’ve also been working through school at the same time.

Did you grow up in Chicago? What are some of your favorite things to do in the city?

Yes, in the northwest suburb of Chicago. I like going to the museums downtown with my kids. We went to the sky deck of the Sears Tower a few times and we go to the zoo a lot, as well.

Do you have any special hobbies or places you volunteer that you’d like to share?

I actually do a lot of volunteer work: I’m a Cub Scout Den Leader. We do a lot of service projects at the local homeless shelter, we also do a lot of service projects through Cub Scouts and just as a family in general. That’s something we really try to do as a family at least once or twice a month. In the past couple of months it’s been more than that because there’s been so many opportunities to help out. We always try to make sure we fit it in as often as possible.

Meet more of our team!

Interested in learning more about how our Chicago team can help your business find solutions for the enterprise as well as fast, quality IT staffing solutions? Schedule a free lunch and learn with one of our experts. You can also check out more articles on our blog featuring members of the Chicago team, like Jason!