Sgt.E-5 Nicole Cruz spent six years in the Army as a military police officer, but she never would have guessed that almost a decade later, she would be part of the United Rentals team.

After her time in the Army, Cruz spent 5 years as an operations supervisor for the security department in a hospital. When it was time for a change, Cruz took a leap of faith and committed herself the STEP (Service To Employment Program) at United Rentals.

“It is probably one of the best things that ever happened to me,” Cruz said. “I [decided] to put everything I got into this.”

Cruz graduated at the top of her class and was initially placed as a Service Tech 2.

“I had no mechanical experience whatsoever,” Cruz laughed. But that certainly didn’t stop her from moving up to an Inside Sales position within the year, and almost immediately promoted again to the Sales Support position she holds today.

“The military taught me resilience; teamwork, discipline and leadership skills,” Cruz said, “which has helped me excel in this company and will be the reason why I have continued success with United.”

The STEP program made such an impact on Cruz that she makes it a point to talk with participants of the program when they’re in Atlanta.

“[It was] life changing for me.”

Thank you for your service, Nicole. We’re able to work better and safer because we have people like you on our team.

Christina Andrews