Jennifer Zoch
Certified Abstractor
We’re excited to feature Jennifer in our April Employee Spotlight!
What have been some of the most important lessons you’ve learned throughout your career?
There are so many things I could share, but the top two are that effective communication is an essential skill to develop and that you should never stop learning.
Share a professional success story that you’re proud of.
Without going into too much detail, a specific area in one of my counties is challenging to search. County staff have come to me for help understanding issues in this area.
What do you love most about your job and why?
What I love most about my job is that I get to take little bits of the history of a property and put them together in a way that makes sense. One deed or document may not provide much information, but I have a clearer picture when I’ve finished finding and piecing all of the information together in the report. It’s like putting a puzzle together and seeing the subject become more detailed with every piece that snaps into place. Sometimes, you get a puzzle that doesn’t have all the pieces (like a missing document or a break in the chain of title). I note it and move on. And when I’m very lucky, I get to see documents recorded later that fill in those “holes” in the puzzle.
What techniques help you stay organized and productive?
One of the best techniques I have learned to stay organized is to have a routine. It’s helpful to follow the same steps to completing an order. I also make lots of lists. Drinking tea helps with my productivity, too!
What is one thing you can’t live without?
My electric tea kettle. It boils water for brewing tea, filling my hot water bottle, and making oatmeal, among other things. It’s even come on a road trip around Lake Superior with me and run on outlets in campground laundry rooms and convenience stores (with permission, of course!)
If you were to send a text to your best friend about work, what would it say?
Look at this crazy old name I found in the grantor/grantee books!
What is your favorite meal or food?
Pizza. Preferably supreme, but I’ll eat nearly any topping but sauerkraut or pineapple.
What is your favorite quote?
I have so many! Here are two that have been meaningful to me for many years:
Spend wisely, save intentionally, give generously.
“Deep down within him lived still unconquered his plain hobbit-sense: he knew in the core of his heart that he was not large enough to bear such a burden, … The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command.” (From The Lord of the Rings, when Samwise was tempted by the Ring)
Do you have any pets?
None, unless you count plants! I have a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture and love making things grow. One of my orchids is ready to rebloom in (possibly) a month.