Tina Sletten: New Hire Experience

Tina Sletten is a newly welcomed employee at Knute Nelson. She’s been part of the organization for three months. She used to live in Southern Minnesota but felt compelled to move here to be close to family. She also felt compelled about her next career move. She said, “I felt led to come here. There was a reason I was brought here, and I believe that it was my strong faith. I'm a very spiritual person.”

Tina was looking on Indeed and Knute Nelson kept coming up on her newsfeed. She thought, "Wow, this might be something that's meant for me." It definitely was meant for her. She applied and was hired. She was thrilled! She’s so thrilled, she tells everyone she meets, “I just love it here!” And Tina meets a lot of people. She’s a Community Support Specialist. In her role, she gets to help within the community, bring residents to activities, greet visitors at the front desk and work with many teams across the organization. She smiles as she says, “I love Knute’s mission of enriching the lives of everyone we serve. It fills my heart up.”

For Tina, the interviewing process was smooth. She explains, “Everyone in the interview made me feel comfortable right away. I told them I felt really nervous, and they instantly made me feel calm. We even had a laugh, which I can’t remember now what we even laughed about, but it worked! From then on it just went really smoothly. Everyone was so kind and nice.” Tina had the same experience through her new hire orientation day. It actually was more of a day of celebration. With confetti and candy on the tables, the catchy tune of Kool & the Gang’s 'Celebration' was filling the room. “Right away I felt this is where I belonged,” said Tina.

Throughout her onboarding she felt supported by her manager. She said, “If I need something, I just reach out to her, and she gets back to me right away. We meet regularly to talk through my role. She makes sure I have everything I need to do my job well. I’ve never had a manager that wanted to know my strengths. It’s really cool that she wants to learn that about her team. She’s a very thoughtful manager.” Tina also felt supported through the training she received. It was very thorough, as they made sure she was comfortable and ready to move on before learning a new task. Tina is grateful for her training and knows that if she needs additional training, all she needs to do is ask. She stated, “Everyone I’ve reached out to has always been willing to help me, from day one. They make me feel like I fit in. It’s like they handpick their people. We all work so well together. It’s just beautiful.”

With each day, Tina’s feelings about working at Knute Nelson have gotten stronger. Tina says with a smile, “The kindness everyone has for one another, and the residents, is wonderful. Every employee has this glow about them when they’re here at work, you can see they’re very happy here and they love what they do. I also love the flexibility of my job. It has been so important for me and my family. I’ve been picking up extra hours as I want to, and they’ve been very accommodating when I’ve needed to take a day off in the middle of the week. Knute gives me the perfect balance.”

If Tina could talk to you personally, here’s what she’d say, “At Knute, it's a team. It's not just one person doing the job, it's a team doing it because we couldn't do it without each other. I recommend that you apply here so you can have the same wonderful experience I have had. Don’t hesitate, just do it.”