Allison Robins Email & Phone Number

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

I was promoted to Staff Product Researcher because of my ability to take a ton of complex information, distill it into something accessible, and ultimately - help people make better decisions faster. I empower the people I work with by providing them with valuable insights, establishing efficient processes, and fostering collaboration cross-functionally. In addition to cranking out insights from studies, here are some examples of how I levelled up my team: - Developed an experience map that depicts the needs, pain points, and experience gaps for users on both sides of our marketplace in advance of our leadership off-site. This visual tool empowers teams throughout the organization to gain a comprehensive understanding of our users and prioritize where we should focus our efforts.- Created a product research library that provides easy access to the research team’s insights, fostering informed decision-making, replacing assumptions with evidence, and accelerating the development of user-centric experiences and products. - Established a process for "research ridealongs" that faciltates cross-functional collaboration and knowledge sharing, enabling colleagues across the organization to directly observe and learn from research interviews by riding shotgun.

Remote

From the moment I stumbled upon Wonolo's mission, I knew it was a perfect match. Their goal of making it easier for blue-collar workers to find jobs and get paid resonated with me. Having Glassdoor as a client at my previous agency, I knew the emotional toll that job-seeking entailed, and from studying public policy, I was passionate about the potential for solving challenges often associated with the gig economy, like fair compensation, access to benefits, and worker protections.My first few months as a Senior Product Researcher focused on providing insights that helped my team understand these unique challenges, which allowed us to build solutions that not only addressed workers’ functional requirements - but helped them live the lives they wanted.

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Within a few months of becoming a Director, I grew my island of one into a team of six, which included two dedicated Senior Researchers, a ResearchOps role, and some guest stars from elsewhere in the CX department who wanted to be a part of the work we were doing. My focus was setting a strategic direction for the practice that was sustainable, scalable, and empowered us to produce high-quality research.

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

When EH first hired me, I told them that one of my deal-breakers was that I didn't want them to pigeonhole me. While "researcher" was part of my job title, my career path had provided me with skills that went beyond running studies. In my first few months, I ended up doing a lot more than just research. I spent a good chunk of my time not only generating insightful insights but applying them into actionable strategies, re-imagining business processes for the practice, and pitching on work.As a result, EH made me a Lead. At that point, I was a leader of none, so I spent time establishing the foundations for a practice that attracted researchers who shared my desire to work beyond the confines of a job description, do good work, and actively prioritize a healthy work/life balance.

Calgary, Ab, Canada

When I first approached EH, I tried to convince them that they should hire me as a contractor rather than coming in-house. However, my then-boss was compelling in their sales pitch, so I joined the team as a Senior Researcher. I was excited by the prospect of no longer being an island of one and working with local institutions such as the Calgary & Area Child Advocacy Centre or Travel Alberta - organizations whose work had a tangible impact on my community. It ended up being the best of both worlds - I had the autonomy of a freelancer but the support of an agency behind me.

Calgary, Alberta

Why do smart people make things that suck? Often it's because a team skips right to a solution, without making sure that it addresses a real need. I helped my clients avoid this creative gut-punch by providing the insights they needed to bob and weave. I served as both a strategic lead for entire projects, where I collaborated with a broader team, as well as a hired gun to meet specific objectives at smaller scales.

Calgary, Alberta

It may seem strange that given my role, most of my kickoff meetings involved telling clients that facts don't matter, or more precisely, that they don't change people's minds. Even though most of us like to think of ourselves as rational - we don't make decisions based on facts, we act on our beliefs. At NATIONAL, I spent most of my time using different research methods to understand these beliefs and create campaigns that were not only factually accurate, but also told stories that audiences wanted to engage with.

Calgary, Alberta

Working at the Board was like being chucked into the deep end of a pool and learning how to swim. Build a model capable of forecasting oil prices in a brand new programming language? Sure. Become an expert in technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, even though my set of wheels at the time had spokes? No problem. I became comfortable with working with spreadsheets so big that they would make my laptop sound like it was ready to take off for orbit, and presenting my findings in a way that was accessible to a variety of audiences, ranging from senators to environmental activists.

Master Of Public Policy, 3.9/4.0

While studying public policy at the graduate level may seem like a long and expensive detour from my current career path, the concepts.

Public Relations Extension Certificate, 4.0/4.0

At this point, I had enough distance from my master's degree that I still felt like more school was a good idea. The program gave me.

B.A. International Relations, 3.7/4.0

At 18 I imagined that I would be an international human rights lawyer by the age of 25. Spoiler alert: that didn't happen. While I didn't.