National Career Development Month: Olivia Marshall
Tell us about yourself!
My name is Olivia Marshall and I currently work at Edwards Lifesciences in the Supply Chain Development Program focusing in NPD Sourcing.
What career accomplishment are you most proud of?
I am very proud of being chosen to come back as an Edwards representative at the PSU Supply Chain career fair and being able to present to supply chain leadership about the future of quality at Edwards during my second month on the job!
How do you plan to continue your professional growth?
I am currently studying for my APICS CPIM certification as well as planning on getting my green belt. In the next 5 years I would love to return to Smeal for my Master's in Supply Chain!
What was the biggest success/challenge you faced going from college to your job?
Success: Finding friends in a brand new place. Everyone mentions how hard it is to make friends after college, I was lucky enough to find lots of friends at Edwards who make every weekend fun!
Challenge: Getting used to an 8-5 schedule. In college work can be done in a much more flexible way than it can be in a traditional corporate setting. It took me a while to adjust to what worked best for me while still fitting in time to talk to family, go to the gym and make sure I was getting enough sleep!
What do you feel you took most from Penn State to your current role?
Learning how to be flexible and think on your feet. In my current role of NPD sourcing, I spend a lot of time trying to find suppliers who best fit different projects and finding creative solutions to make sure my engineers' needs are met. Penn State has always been great at encouraging students to think outside of the box and look for new solutions when the "typical" answer isn't enough.
What is your dream job if you had no limitations?
I would love to design costumes for broadway productions!
For my current position at Edwards I took the risk to move across the country all by myself! This was really intimidating at first but it is probably the largest "leap of faith" I had ever taken. I couldn't be happier but the process of getting to California felt so overwhelming and big at the time.
