#Powerofajob: Veteran’s new confidence equals a new job
Welcome to Workforce Wednesday, when we spotlight stories about connecting people to jobs and supporting them with unemployment benefits while they look for work.
This week, meet Richard Doyle, a job seeker who found help and inspiration at WorkSource North Seattle. He credits WorkSource with teaching him how to effectively search for jobs, write a resume and knock an interview out of the park!
Richard also speaks highly of the popular Strategies for Success life-skills class, offered at many WorkSource offices around the state.
Here is Richard’s story:
I recently got a job at Transdev, the company is called. They’re located in Kent and they’re subcontractors to King County, providing access buses. So I’ll be an access bus driver, picking up different customers. Most of the customers that we deal with are developmentally disabled, handicapped, hearing impaired or elderly. It’s like a dream job to me because I love working with the handicapped. I love working with the disadvantaged. I love working with the elderly.
I had assistance from my family and from other sources, so I was able to come to WorkSource and go to the classes that I needed to help me with my resume and interviewing skills, which helped me pursuing jobs — how to pursue jobs and how to navigate through the WorkSource website.
One of the classes I took was Strategies for Success, which really helped me to look inside myself. It drew my strength out. It drew my abilities out — ones that I didn’t really know I had, because I’ve been such an invert [sic] most of my life because of being teased growing up, because I couldn’t talk right.
So, I feel more energetic, now. I feel more outgoing because of these classes. I highly recommend Strategies for Success. Sarah, who teaches the class, helped me to do all that stuff I just mentioned. She helped me to be more confident in my abilities.
When I went to the interview for this job I have now, I knocked it out of the park! I did a very good job, and the human resource person was very impressed. She said, “Very nice job.”
So, I found my dream job. I’m happy, and whoever is unemployed right now: I recommend WorkSource. You’ve got to come out to WorkSource. They’ll help you tremendously.
And also I want to give a shout out to the veterans representative, Cliff. He helped me navigate through the WorkSource website and gave me the classes I would need to attend. He’s the one that told me about Strategies for Success. He’s the one that told me about the resume classes, how to do applications, and classes for interviewing. So thank you very much, Cliff.
I’m very happy now. Tomorrow I start driving with a cadet, so I’m going to be doing his route while he sits and observes me. He’ll see how my driving skills are, how my interactions are with the customers and how I secure a wheelchair once I get the wheelchair in. So I’m happy, and if I did this on my own, I’d still be looking for work. So — go to WorkSource!
The Employment Security Department is a partner in Washington’s WorkSource system and the American Job Center Network. We help people — unemployed or not — find new jobs and learn new skills. We help them experience the life-changing Power of a Job.
To leave a comment, select the comment bubble icon next to the title of this post.
Originally published at washingtonesd.wordpress.com on November 21, 2018.
