#Power of a job: Struggling job seeker joins the club and turns her new confidence into a job

As partners in Washington state’s WorkSource system and the American Job Center Network, the Employment Security Department helps people — unemployed or not — find new jobs and learn new skills. We help them experience the life-changing Power of a Job.

Every week, we spotlight a different Power of a Job success story. This week, we bring you Nancy Cline, a job seeker struggling to find work and feeling lost. That was until she attended the “Bridge to Work” program, coordinated by Jean Edwards at WorkSource Thurston, which gave her the encouragement and confidence she needed to land a new job.

We hope you enjoy this week’s installment. Here is their story:

Nancy Cline: Hi, my name is Nancy Cline and I have a new job as a workers’ compensation claims manager, apprentice for Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (LNI).

Jean Edwards: Hi, I am Jean Edwards from WorkSource [Thurston] where I work as a LNI vocational service specialist.

Nancy: Kirk McDonnell, a wonderful WorkSource specialist, told me about a group of job seekers who meet weekly and support each other during their job search. That is where I met Jean [who coordinates the program].

I was struggling. I had come from the medical field and worked in another job for a year but now I really needed to be back to work. WorkSource gave me some resources but I was really feeling lost in my job search.

Joining this group gave me great resources. They are there to help each other and be positive while looking for a job. Because some of us have not looked for a job in a long time and it is tough to know if you are doing the right thing. I really appreciated Jean’s help. She was so welcoming and introduced me to a terrific group of people.

Jean: “Bridge to work” is a job club held at many locations. In our case, we have about 18 to 20 people all coming from different walks-of-life, and Nancy was a great participant in our group. One thing that happens when searching for job is people feel like they are the only one, and this group helps them realize they are not alone. People at our “Bridge to Work” meet others in a similar situation, who have great experience and education but are not breaking through to getting the job either. So, they encourage each other, talk about success and failures in interviews, those types of topics. Everybody helps everybody else.

Nancy: [Supporting each other] is one of the most important things that WorkSource can do. They offer many different [resources]. I did a resume class through them and some other [classes] but what WorkSource really gave me was the ability to get back out there and interview again.

Some of the contacts I made at WorkSource helped with information about LNI and guided me to find resources to prepare for an interview there.

Jean: So, we are not a placement agency. We help people understand the right strategy to look for work and [once she had it], Nancy just she flew with it. After she had a little information, she went “Yes! Now I can do this”

As a partner in Washington’s WorkSource system and the American Job Center Network, the Employment Security Department helps people — unemployed or not — find new jobs and learn new skills. We help them experience the life-changing Power of a Job. We also work with businesses, which are Powered by Jobs, to help them find employees.

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Originally published at washingtonesd.wordpress.com on April 3, 2019.