Successful Berklee Alumni #9: Matt Clear

Matt Clear

Graduated in 2010 with a major in Music Production and Engineering (MP&E).  Principal instrument:  Voice.

Position:  Customer Success Manager at Pitchbook Data.  Matt finds, trains, and maintains clients for a “Google for venture capital” business.  He earns mostly salary, with opportunities for commissions on top of that.

Overview:  Upon graduation, Matt got an mostly-unpaid internship with a producer in Seattle, while bartending and waiting tables for money.  Eventually the producer moved away, and a bar client mentioned that his place, a contractor the National Cancer Institute, was hiring “cancer specialists” (basically working at a cancer information hotline.)  He put in the good word, and Matt got the job.  He stayed there over 2 years, it was an OK job, but dead-end, so he looked for something better.  He was helping a friend, who worked at Pitchbook Data, quit smoking.  When her company was hiring, she knew he wanted a new job and recommended him for the job and coached him on what to say during interviews.

You can see his LinkedIn profile here.

Choice quotes:  “I’m always open to opportunity and to learning something new.”

“Being an MP&E student taught me about collaboration, to be a good listener first.  To be a cancer specialist is to listen to people, meet them where they are, and give them info to take it a step further.    That’s exactly what being an engineer or producer is all about.”

“I wish Berklee taught us more more about professional networking and how to present yourself as a professional & demand that kind of respect.  Also how to handle our student loans (and our last day of school isn’t the time to do that).”

 

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