Flexibility and compassion. That’s what it takes to be successful at Singh. According to Carrie Dunlap, Marketing Manager at Waltonwood Providence, it also takes heart. Heart because you see families struggling on an emotional journey. But with compassion and a willingness to help, you’re set for success at Singh.
Carrie Dunlap joined the Singh family almost five years ago while in the process of opening a new property: Waltonwood Providence. Prior to joining the senior living industry, Carrie had been working in real estate. Then she had an eye-opening experience with her mother, who was moving into an independent living community in Florida. That’s when she decided to join the senior living industry.
To find out more about her journey to the senior living field and working at Singh, we sat down with Carrie to get all of the details. Here’s what she had to say!
What keeps you coming back day after day?
“I think it’s working with the families and the residents, and just really trying to find a solution for them. When folks are having this challenge where mom, dad, or whomever may be living at home is struggling – not getting socialization and missing meals – I just really enjoy finding a solution for those families and problem solving to help them out.”
Why did you want to work for Singh?
“It was because I had been working for another senior living company that was a very large national company, and I think the vision of Singh and how their communities are structured and run, and that they’re a family-owned business, that made a huge difference for me. That’s why I joined the team.”
What’s something that would surprise people about your role?
“You have to really be many different things in your job; there are so many different occurrences you have to jump into daily. You may start off your day scheduled one way, then five minutes later your whole day can change, and priorities have changed. I think the flexibility and the fact that things change on a moment’s notice is something people don’t expect.
You have to have that in your personality to be able to make those changes and think on your feet and make those adjustments to what you face daily. You really have to be flexible to change because that’s certainly something that we deal with; every day is different and every day, we learn something new.”
What have you learned at Singh that you didn’t in previous roles?
“Knowing how to work with your fellow team members to try to accomplish a common goal is something I’ve learned. In other companies, that’s promoted as well, but when the team clicks and everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goal, that makes a tremendous difference, and that’s what we have here.”
Tell us about your team.
“We have a great team. I worked with other companies in other industries, but here, everybody is very supportive of each other. We all come from different areas, geographically, and I think everybody brings something fun and interesting to the table. We have a lot of fun with each other and everyone has their favorite sports teams and things that they like to do outside of work; we’ve become each other’s best friends.”
What advice would you give to new employees?
“I think you just have to do your homework and decide what is the best path for you and what you want to do as far as what you enjoy. If you enjoy a job that isn’t the same routine every day, we have that here because change is going on daily. It’s an exciting way to spend your day versus just doing the same thing at your desk over and over again.”
Throughout your time at Singh, what’s your favorite memory?
“Opening this new Waltonwood is my favorite memory. This was a start-up community when I joined and we were in the pre-leasing mode, creating excitement for the prospective residents and their family members and bringing teams of associates together. Then moving it into a beautiful community and seeing the excitement not only on the residents’ and families’ faces, but from the team, too. Coming from working in the information center and then seeing the whole thing come to fruition was incredible.”
Why should someone join your team?
“Singh is just a great company to work with, and if you want to start in a community–whether it’s in a start-up role or a more experienced role–this is a great company to work with. It’s not a large corporation where everything is all about the bottom line; there’s just so many great opportunities and life experiences here.”
Are you flexible, compassionate, and passionate about caring for seniors? Apply today and join our team!