Remote work brings back her dream to tryout for the US Olympic Archery team
By Mag Boron
Liz Berge is an accomplished archer, competing for a spot on 2016 US Olympic Archery team but also with a passion for travel, learning, development and human resources.
After completing her Master’s in Business Administration, experiencing the reality of 3-hour work commute in Seattle and navigating a process of job change while moving with her husband across the country, she is finally ready for the next chapter in life – building a successful professional career with freedom and flexibility of working remotely.
From spending more time with her husband to traveling, getting a dog and fulfilling her dream of making the Olympic archery team one day, remote work is opening up new doors for Liz and the future where anything is possible.
Liz is a true Pangian and joined Pangian remote community when it was just a small Facebook group. Pangian is now the fastest-growing remote-work network in the world, empowering over 80,000 professionals in 121 countries to work remotely by sharing top remote job opportunities and connecting top professionals and companies working remotely in a global community.
Today we celebrate Liz, who is beginning her remote work career this month!
At 23-year old, Liz was one of the youngest General Managers at AMC movie theaters.
She started her career when she was just 16 years old as a part-time crew member selling popcorn and movie tickets and worked her way up all the way to a General Manager managing the entire movie theater on her own.
As she developed her work experience, completed her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and continued with a Master’s degree, the professional and personal growth brought new career dreams:
“I have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge, experience, and skills while in my first job but I was ready to pursue my true passion in education!”
At the time, she was spending over 3 hours getting to work while trying to navigate an unpredictable Seattle’s traffic.
The hours lost commuting were taking their toll on her personal life, leaving less time to spend with her husband and pursue her biggest passion, archery.
Liz started archery when she was only 11 years old and has been shooting now for about 13 years.
“I started after my brothers tried it in PE at school and wanted to keep doing it. After 2 years, when they lost interest, I still kept shooting.”
“I love that it’s a sport where the competition is really just yourself. Although you do compete against others, you are always trying to improve your own scores, and ultimately, YOU are the reason you do well or do badly.”
“Competing for the 2016 Olympic team was incredible. You are shooting against the best archers in the US and only three people will make the team. I missed the cut for the next round of trials by only a few people. It was very hard because I had been training a lot leading up to it but I didn't shoot very well compared to what I had been during practice. Regardless, it was a great experience and I still dream one day or making the Olympic team."
So when her husband Peter got accepted to the University of Alabama and the need to look for a brand new job opportunity in a different state became real – remote work became the perfect solution.
“When I found out about remote work, I thought this would be perfect. I could be with my husband, where he goes, I can pursue my passion for archery and I can still have a successful career without worrying about the location or transferring to another job. That’s how it started and over time I fell in love with the idea of working from anywhere and I was looking for a place I can find other people who believe in remote work”
That’s when Liz found Pangian remote community.
Pangian is a network for global citizens and go-getters who transcend geographic boundaries working remotely for top companies in the world, while leveraging the future of work and new freedom of location independence to become more creative, productive and happy in their life.
Encouraged by the Pangian community, slowly step by step, Liz started exploring the world of remote work companies and learned how to navigate the competitive landscape of applying for remote positions.
Over time, she created a powerful strategy narrowing down her selection to a few remote companies she really wanted to work for and focusing only on those.
80+ Companies Hiring Remotely in 2019
Initially getting a full-time remote work was challenging.
“I felt nothing was really working. I was applying for jobs, adjusting my resume, but the volume of candidates was high and it was really hard to stand out.”
Finally, by researching remote companies, she found one company, WGU, that closely resonated with her personal mission in life.
Over time, she was able to connect with professionals working remotely at the company, learn more about the opportunities and get advice on how to get through an interview process.
So when the perfect position at WUG opened up, she applied and once again followed up with the newly established network, sharing how much this opportunity meant to her and how much she identified with the company.
She instantly set herself apart, not only through a targeted and customized resume but most of all by creating and reaching out to her network.
“I was trying very hard not to be a bother to anyone. Instead, asking only for 5 minutes of somebody’s time or anything that a person would be willing to share to help me out a little bit. I always made sure to share I would like to work for a great company and if the person can help that would be awesome.”
After a series of interviews, she finally reached her goal and now beginning her career as a Program Mentor working in education and helping undergraduate students in Business and Human Resource navigating their career options.
The position required a Master’s degree, which Liz recently earned and it was the perfect fit with her past experience and passion for education.
For aspiring Pangians, who like Liz, dream about the freedom of working remotely, Liz advice is:
“Don’t feel like you can't do it. Anyone can do it. When I started, I thought that since I don’t have any remote work experience, no one’s ever going to hire me because everyone wants remote work experience already. But once you find a company that you strongly identify with, pursue that because it’s more likely you can get your foot in the door with the company you really want to work for. First, I was applying for everything that I may be a good fit for, then I found ones that I really like and the company was able to see and sense it. That changes from you being just another applicant in the system to somebody who really stands out.”
“Be passionate but not bothersome” - says Liz.
“This is a dream come true. Not having to commute is so nice. I’ve been living in Seattle almost all my life and traffic can be quite bad here. But one thing I am very excited about is to be able to pursue archery again because I put in on hold for a couple of years. I am looking forward to giving it more time. Now, that I have a job that doesn't require commuting and is more flexible, I am looking forward to spending more time doing archery whereas before I felt, I’m an adult now, and I put my hobbies to the side to focus on work. Now I am excited to balance both work and my hobbies.”
For Liz: “That’s a lot of archery time”
And that’s the mission of Pangian.
Our goal is to empower every human being on the planet with economic opportunity so everyone can live up to their true potential. With remote work, you don’t have to give up your passions and hobbies in life.
On the contrary, since remote work offers bounds of extra time saved in commuting, cultivating and discovering your passions it’s easy to do and it makes your life so much happier.
No need to wait for retirement to begin living.
You can follow Liz and her journey with archery at her Facebook page – Liz Berge Archer
About Mag Boron
Global citizen. Remote work enthusiast. HuffPost and Business Insider Contributor. Fearless and unapologetic about living life without regrets. Excited about connecting employers with talent around the world. Learn more about Mag
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