‘Why Qualtrics’ – Georgena Hurst – Product Specialist – Provo

What is your ‘why’? How does Qualtrics connect?

I am all about continual education and improvement. I believe a big part of our purpose in life is to learn and experience--and Qualtrics helps me do just that. Not only do they offer opportunities for me to further my own experience and education, but through my role I have the opportunity to help others learn our product well so they don’t have to keep coming back to us and ask the same questions. Qualtrics as a company is obsessed with improvement and growth, and that’s a big reason I knew Qualtrics was a great fit for me.

Any tips for someone who is considering an opportunity at Qualtrics

Qualtrics, and especially the Product Specialist/Quni role, is a perfect opportunity to prove yourself and improve yourself, especially if you don’t have a business or engineering degree. For example, I received my degree in linguistics and have had no formal training in management or business operations. This role has now given me the opportunity to learn management skills as I lead a group that supports certain parts of our products. It has also allowed me to work on projects and meet with people from other parts of the company. On top of this, I am offered and taking classes on SQL, a database management language, and business analytics. Qualtrics takes the time to further develop its employees in order to help us now, as well as better prepare us for future roles in and outside the company.

What surprised you most about working at Qualtrics?

I received my undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University, just down the road from Qualtrics headquarters in Provo, UT. When I was considering the offer, I was hesitant as I was afraid this was going to be BYU round two. I mean “BYU round two” in the sense of an experience similar to college, but also literally the same people from college. However, upon visiting the office and interacting with the people there, I found it to be very different and much more diverse than I had originally thought. There were people from all over the United States, with varying degrees and experiences.

What is your top #LifeHack?

My go-to #LifeHack is if you want something, Google it! A lot of the time people talk about grandiose, or even small and basic dreams. They say “I want to go here”, “I want to be able to do this.” But nothing is ever going to happen until you start; and it could even be with just a simple search: “How can I…?” Trust me, WikiHow is more helpful than you’d think. Using this skill, I have been able to figure out what degree to pursue in college, teach myself how to read and write Korean, and even start a small vintage clothing business.

Back in 2016 I knew I wanted to volunteer at the 2018 Winter Olympics that were going to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea. So I got on my computer, searched for “Pyeongchang Olympics volunteer application”, had a couple interviews, and ended up in South Korea as an assistant for Team USA earlier this year. When people hear about my experience, they ask me “how did you find that?”, “how did you get to do that?” And I tell them, I Googled it.

	Georgena Hurst is a Product Specialist and Specialty Team Lead in Qualtrics’ Provo, Utah office. She holds a Bachelors in Linguistics with a minor in Korean from Brigham Young University.