Jaimie Johnson is an eLearning product specialist in the WiseTech Academy team, who joined WiseTech four years ago. Originally joining as a receptionist, Jaimie never imagined that her background in performance would lead her to a career as a product voiceover artist – but she’s glad it did.
We caught up with Jaimie to find out about her journey from receptionist to eLearning product specialist, why she loves WiseTech’s culture and how she’s combined her passion for performance with her work.
Can you share a bit about your journey with WiseTech?
I originally joined WiseTech as a receptionist, and having only worked for smaller companies before, I was really excited about the prospect of working for such a big company. After about a year on reception, a colleague of mine mentioned that there was a role available in the eLearning team for a voiceover artist. I grew up singing, dancing and acting, so she thought my performance background would make me a good fit. So, I auditioned and got the role and I’ve been in the eLearning team ever since.
What does your role as an eLearning Product Specialist involve?
Within the WiseTech Academy platform, we have thousands of instructional videos on how to use our software and someone has to be the voice behind those. My role involves talking through how to use different aspects of the software from A to B in a simple and educational way.
I started off just doing the voiceovers and learning the whole technical process of recording and cleaning up the voiceovers in Adobe Audition. I then started taking on some other areas of the team, such as documentation, and then later video editing, and answering CR five incidents. Knowing that thousands of people around the world are listening to my voice explaining how to use the software is a little intimidating, but ultimately, pretty cool.
What was it like transitioning from reception to the eLearning team?
When I joined the eLearning team I was very nervous, because I had only really ever had admin experience in a corporate environment. I was also aware that my new role wasn't just going to involve talking into a microphone, it actually required me to gain knowledge of the industry and the software and how to use it. So it was a big challenge, but it really kept me on my toes and it pushed me which I think is important to do every now and then.
Everyone in the team was so helpful, so whenever I had a question there was always someone there to answer it. We have the technical side, so the people who do the videos and voiceovers. Then we have people who have worked in the forwarding industry for 20 plus years, who have this amazing depth of knowledge. It's always amazing to be able to go to them and ask “how does this actually work in the real world?”
How important is it for you to do work that is meaningful?
It's really important to be able to feel like the work you're doing is meaningful and that you’re making a difference in the company. I felt that when I was on reception, and I feel that now in my current role as well because it’s really important that our eLearning content is clear and concise. Forwarding is a really complicated topic and there's a lot of facets to it, so the clearer I speak during the videos and make the documentation, the easier it's going to be for the customer to learn. So I definitely feel like an important cog in the wheel.
There's still a lot of areas in my team that I can learn, especially in terms of video editing and now with the new WiseTech Academy platform that I'd love to be able to explore. There's always work coming in to my team, so there’s always something new and exciting to do.
How would you describe the culture at WiseTech?
I think the culture at WiseTech is amazing. Obviously with COVID, and everyone working from home, it was a bit of a change to the overall social interaction aspect of the culture. But in terms of people being open to talk to you, people really embrace our mantra “anyone can talk to anyone at any time for any reason”, which I've found to be true.
I think that's so important, because often in corporate environments you can feel a bit intimidated approaching people who are above you or in a more senior role, but I've never felt that at WiseTech. I’ve felt that everyone's really open to talking to you and I think that's a really important aspect of the culture.
Part of our culture is about bringing your true self to work, and I’ve been able to do that by bringing my passion for performance into WiseTech by founding our acapella group, the Techtonals. I knew that there were a few musicians and singers within the company, so I reached out to them and asked if they’d be interested and from there, it grew.
We started with around 10 people in Sydney, and then during lockdown we started creating videos so that we could still sing together online. We started getting interest from some of our international offices and from there, it turned into a global acapella group. I think a lot of people appreciated having something creative to do while we were all stuck at home, so it’s been a really fantastic way to connect with other people in the company.
As well, the opportunity for growth in your career is outstanding at WiseTech. For the company to have recognized my interests and then to guide my career in a direction that they thought might align with those interests was just amazing, and I've never experienced anything like that before.