My next job was working with a company called IKON Office Solutions. Some of you might recognize IKON as a copier and mailroom company. IKON outsources copiers, printers and mailroom equipment for many organizations, and provides people management services as well as equipment management services.
What this means from a practical standpoint is that IKON would go into a company's business, set up a copy center, mailroom or whatever services the company required, and provide staffing for these centers. The specifics varied depending on the company and the contract.
I worked at IKON for four years, and worked my way up from fax person to site manager during my time with the company. I served in a broad range of industries, including the mortgage industry, non-profit organizations, health care organizations (including hospitals and pharmaceutical companies), large corporations and the legal industry. I've always been technically inclined, so I became an equipment expert and eventually spearheaded an imaging center for one of the largest law firms in the Indianapolis area.
During my time at IKON, I also continued to develop my writing skills. My manager found out that I enjoyed writing and that I was good at it, and recruited me to draft many of his corporate communications. I also drafted some materials for clients, including articles for marketing departments.
Most notable, though, was my development of forms, data tracking systems and site procedures guides. I'm very good at analyzing data and efficiency studies, so I invariably ended up restructuring and reorganizing every department I managed during my time at IKON.
My methodical, detail-oriented tendencies made me excellent at writing Site Procedures Guides. The first SOP, or standard operating procedure manual, that I wrote when I was a site supervisor for a non-profit organization became the benchmark for SOP guides in the Indiana marketplace. In fact, our site trainer used my guide to teach people how to write SOP guides. From there, I drifted around to various 'problem' sites; analyzing work patterns, creating more efficient processes and procedures and writing SOP guides for them.
In the end, I left IKON because I moved from Indiana to Massachusetts. While IKON did have a presence in Massachusetts, it wasn't as extensive as in the Indiana marketplace, and the Mass marketplace wasn't equipped to utilize my unique skill set.