Box : Parker brings his cheerful self to work

'Bring Your _______ Self to Work' is an important pillar of our Box culture. We're a pretty mixed bag of different backgrounds and values around here, so the blank is different for each Box employee. In this series, we'll interview one of our own to give you a look at our diverse family of Boxers around the world. Our Boxer this week is Parker McCorkle, an Outbound Business Representative based in Austin, Texas.

Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do at Box.

Born in Anchorage, Alaska, but raised in Dallas, I attended The University of Texas at Austin and graduated with a Finance degree. After a 1 year stint in the auto industry, I moved from Atlanta to Austin to join Box as a Sales Development Representative. I really enjoyed this role because I was exposed to business leaders from all over the world, from New York to New Zealand and everywhere in between. After 9 months, I was promoted to the Outbound Business Representative role. Today, I've been in this role 7 months and I'm a proud Team Lead. I work to expand Box's business throughout specific territories, and I love what I do!

How does what you do contribute to the success of Box?

My job is to develop pipeline by creating opportunities for Box to deploy (and expand) within Large Enterprise Accounts (big, big companies). I work with all sorts of industries, from healthcare to retail to financial services to manufacturing. More often than not, I'm the first employee at Box these business leaders have engaged with, and the relationship starts from there. Pipeline and revenue are the lifeblood of Box and with every new customer comes growth for our business!

What has been your most exciting win at Box?

Actually this week, a win came in from a university here in Texas that I sourced exactly one year ago. I'm most proud of this one because the end-users will be the thousands of students across campus, using Box to collaborate with each other and engage with professors. I see this as using Box for Good!

What do you love about Box as a product? Why do people buy it?

I love the versatility of Box, meaning how it's deployed within different industries. Take healthcare for example, big groups deploy Box so their clinicians, care teams, and researchers can deliver the absolute best care to their patients. Box can even be used to share DICOM files (ultrasounds, CT scans, and X-rays) from any device. Or, think about non-profits, and all those organizations in the business of helping people. I love how those companies use Box to mobilize their teams, communicate nationally, and christen their procedures, for the purpose of providing aid. Simply put, Box's tailored offering is what excites me most...you never have to ask yourself the 'does my work really matter?' question because our 70,000+ customers answer that for us every day.

Not everything is sunshine and rainbows, what's been the most difficult challenge?

The biggest challenge is working with dozens of companies in different industries and, in different time zones. It's a lot to juggle! In my role, you've got to be able to switch your mindset quickly, depending on the customer or prospect you're talking to. We need to know a good bit about every industry we work with. It's an ongoing challenge...when our teachers said 'the learning never stops' they weren't lying!

Aaron is such a core part of this company, do you have a fun memory to share?

A year ago, I was on a video-call with a Boxer in Australia, a potential customer in New Zealand, and Aaron at HQ in Redwood City. We work with the prospects' time zone of course, so it was midnight for me. The CIO of this company in NZ goes 'Aaron, is this something you do a lot, join customer calls?' and Aaron replies (jokingly) 'Yeah, I just don't have confidence in my sales team!' ;)

Hear more from Boxers working in Sales on The Muse!