The Experience Behind ChiComm

So the saying goes: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. For Mike it wasn't that he didn't succeed in his work, it was that he didn't succeed in finding a place of work that matched both his interests and abilities. Not at first, at least. Mike traveled a unique career path before landing at Chicago Communications.

    After graduating from Notre Dame Prep College Mike completed a semester of community college, but realized going to school wasn't for him. He continued working at a Dominick’s, where he had started in high school, until he got a sales job at Best Buy. He sold a variety there ranging from TV’s and appliances to car audio equipment. After a year and a half he became a car audio installer. To stay competitive and acquire new skills he went to work for another store as an installer, before returning to Best Buy a year later, and becoming the lead installer. But this time around, he got an itch to try something totally different. Mike comes from a family full of cops, so he figured he would try a career working for the government. So Mike made an admirable attempt at this for the Cook County Sheriff Department, and became a correctional officer at the Cook County Jail. For 3 years he did outside security patrol, as well as external operations, guard tower security & corrections before deciding his personality didn’t quite match this kind of work. He says he “wasn’t mean enough.” So he made one last run at Best Buy, this time for about 7 years. He took on more responsibility, and received opportunities to launch grand openings at 9 different locations, which included training and hiring personnel for each store. The final straw at Best Buy came when department consolidation resulted in him being out of a job.

     Finally, Chicago Communications makes its entrance! Mike responded to an ad for an installer opening at ChiComm, and his experience made him more than qualified for the job. Ever since he’s  been learning how to do just about everything our service team can do. He specializes in base station and mobile installations for ChiComm. He’s experienced in everything from dispatch installs to putting up antennas on buildings & radio towers, to building squad cars start to finish (light bars, cages, mobile radios, gun locks, computers).

     I asked him what part of the job he enjoys the most and he said, "For me, sitting at a desk all day would drive me nuts! I really like how much my job varies, the change of pace keeps it interesting.  And from my years at Best Buy I enjoy being able meet the customers; being able to make a good first impression, getting a feel for them and their needs, and earning their trust."

     Mike's been able to compare working for a huge corporation to working for a much smaller company like ChiComm. "It was a big adjustment at first but it was a good one; it feels much more like a family here. Everyone knows each other, it feels like you are working for a purpose; you know the owners and they know what you do for them, so it makes the work you do feel personal. Where at huge corporations you don't even know half the employees working in the same store as you, let alone the people in corporate or the CEO."

Fun Fact: One of Mike's most memorable experiences at ChiComm (so far) was working in the penthouse of the Hancock building on the 100^th floor. The project involved servicing a radio rack for a company that had antennas up there. This is a picture he took of the view from the top of Hancock.

To learn more about what services ChiComm offers, such as vehicle solutions, visit our website or click below:

This article was written by Jill McNamara, Internet Marketing Coordinator at Chicago Communications. Jill has written all of the Meet Our Techs & Employee Spotlight articles for ChiComm's blog and continues to seek opportunities for new articles from current readers. If you'd like to submit a suggestion for Jill, Contact Us!