Switching gears

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Michael Cleveland photo Laura Horning with one of the Subarus she loves to sell.

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Michael Cleveland photo Laura Horning, standing third from left, with the staff of Milford Subaru.

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Michael Cleveland photo Laura Horning with one of the Subarus she loves to sell.

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MILFORD – Laura Horning never expected to be selling cars for a living.

But when she needed a job, a friend convinced her to drop in to Subaru of Milford on Nashua Street and apply.

Horning had been out of work for about seven months after Allcare Dental of Nashua, where she had worked for about a year, closed and, while she wanted a job, sales wasn’t on her radar screen.

“A friend of mine saw the ad for Subaru of Milford in The Cabinet and she said, ‘Come on, you need a job, you’d be great selling cars’,” Horning said in a recent interview.

So they just “popped in,” and were greeted by Ashley Bergeron (“just a genuinely sweet girl,” said Horning) and her friend told Bergeron, “Laura here needs a job.”

Bergeron introduced her to James Kirste, the general sales manager, (“a really, really great guy,” said Horning) and they talked.

“I had no sales experience whatsoever,” Horning said, but after a brief pause and some thought, she said, laughing, “Well, now that’s not true. I had teenagers and I think if you can sell a teenager on helping you with the laundry, you can pretty much sell anyone on anything. So maybe being a mom and a wife is good for being a sales person.”

Kirste, she said, told her that Subaru wasn’t necessarily seeking job candidates with a lot of experience, but definitely were looking for local people. He encouraged her to fill out an application, she did and “He very graciously tacked (the application) to the wall beside his calender,” said Horning.

A few weeks later, he called, and she was asked in for another interview.

“I, of course, cried,” she said. “I got off the phone and I cried, oh, I’m going in for another interview.”

That interview, she said, “worked out amazingly. We chatted a bit, and he said I think you would be a really good fit for us here.”

She’s been “fitting” at Subaru of Milford since August now and loves it, and they seem to love her, particularly the way she interacts with people, something that Eric Kirste, Subaru’s sales manager, said is integral to the way they do business. And Horning said the way she approaches people was a key to her getting a job for which she had no experience.

Her advice to others?

“Go with your natural abilities, don’t try to be superficial or something you’re not,” she said. “If you are too gabby, like me, to be doing data entry, well, it’s wonderful to do it in the interim, but don’t look at it as your long-term goal.”

She found that out pretty quickly after moving to Milford six years ago. She got a job in Wilton but it wasn’t for her.

“I’m a people person and that was a bit of a desk job,” she said, “and I have more energy than a desk job needs. I’m a little chatty so a desk job is not a good fit for me.”

Because she was successful in finding work, she tries to pass on that success to others, often telling Subaru customers about job openings she’s heard about.

“I try to keep tucked away in the back of my mind local companies that might be hiring,” she said.

And how does she know?

“I’m a chatty person.”

That’s a description with which Eric Kirste quickly agreed.

“She talks to everybody and anybody,” he said. “That’s why she’s a good fit here.”

The fact that she lives in Milford is important to the company, Kriste said.

“We try to keep everything in the community,” he said. “Even with financing, we try to use local credit unions when we can.”

Most of the employees are long-term and local.

“They know people in the community,” Kirste said, “they’re all part of the community.”

Horning certainly is. She’s a member of the Milford Zoning Board of Adjustment and loves her adopted community. Just as she hadn’t expected to be selling cars, she hadn’t expected to live here, either. Six years ago she came up from Virginia with her husband and two girls, now 18 and 20, to visit relatives.

“I saw the Oval and fell in love with it,” she said. “Literally, while my husband was out running errants, I rented an apartment and sent him back to Virginia by himself to close up the house. I was just in love with Milford.”

And now, she’s in love with her new job, and eager to become more accomplished.

“I’m seriously considering taking some night classes and trying to ramp up my education,” she said, “so that I have a little more to offer. Maybe a public speaking or communication class will help me do better at my job.”

Her advice to others looking for work is to take stock of what they do well and use it to their advantage.

“Do things you know are your natural bent, your skill set,” she said. “You don’t have to make yourself into something that you are not. Go with what you are naturally. I think that makes you more comfortable, and the people that are interacting with you are far more comfortable.”

And if a friend wants to take you job hunting, go.