Finding our “niche” in the career world is not as easy as we see played out on television screens and in movies. On the screen, everything is more simple and the jobs we are supposedly “destined for” are known to the characters and readily available.
In the real world, though, it is more complicated. We have loves and passions in life, but it’s more difficult for most of us to figure out how we can turn it into a career.
Such is the case for Thomas Kia of Highland Salesman, Craig O’Hair, who as a child never thought that the car world would be his career of choice.
“Who knows what you would want to be as a kid,” O’Hair told IIMM. “I never really thought I would be in the car sales industry, but a buddy of mine showed me an ad in the paper one day and I went and applied, and the rest is history.”
O’Hair, now with 20+ years experience in the field, joins the Thomas Kia family fueled by his sense of adventure and treating every day like a new challenge.
“That’s what I love so much about car sales,” O’Hair added. “Everyday I come in, there’s something new happening, and each day is different.”
Challenges are important to someone like O’Hair, who when he is not working at Thomas Kia, spends his time tackling the highest peaks in the United States.
“I love climbing mountains,” O’Hair said. “Currently, I am working on climbing every peak in Grand Teton National Park. I just finished the hardest one, and now they tell me, I just have the easiest one to go to finish.”
O’Hair says that what adds to this sense of taking on a new challenge every day is the fun, inviting atmosphere that General Manager, Tom Seely, and his team bring to Thomas Kia. An environment, O’Hair adds, that rubs off on the customer when they walk into the showroom.
“No one here is tense or worried, and customers get a sense of what is going at a company as soon as they walk in the door. When they see us happy and having fun here it invites them to relax and enjoy their experience at Thomas Kia.”
And putting people first is important to O’Hair, as evidenced by his “weekend job”.
“My wife and I run the church bus every weekend,” O’Hair said. “I am the driver and she is the Bus Captain. We love it because we get to talk to the kids and help them learn the bible each weekend.”
O’Hair has plenty of passions in life. And while car sales was something he didn’t originally see in his future growing up, it appears the industry is where his life and loves came together and grew into a career he is certainly proud of.
