#PowerofaJob: WorkSource helps jobseeker “perfect” her resume and interview skills

It’s Workforce Wednesday, when we spotlight Power of a Job success stories.

This week, we bring you Tricia Kimball, who learned that WorkSource is all about re-employment when she lost her long-term job, and WorkSource Kitsap actively helped her with updated interview skills and re-training assistance.

My name is Tricia Kimball and I lost my job after 10 years. Not knowing what to do, I went to the “unemployment office” to apply for unemployment benefits. When I got there I realized that there was no longer an unemployment office — everything was online. So I applied for unemployment and I started looking into the classes that WorkSource offered to help me get re-employed.

When I went to the first class learning how to fill out an application, I was the only one there. It was right before Christmas and it ended up to be a chitchat session. The lady said to me “would you ever think about going back to school?” I said “well, don’t even say that unless you’re serious, because I would love to go back to school and finish what I started 10 years ago.” I had gone to school but had to quit, because I had to go to work.

She sent me to see Christopher Nelson at Olympic College and he was doing a seminar on something that had nothing to do with me, but I sat through two of his sessions and then he took me to his office and we talked. He enrolled me into the worker-retraining program. When I left his office, I was enrolled in school, books and tuition paid for and I started on Monday.

I continued through school and he then referred me to Russ at WorkSource. I worked with Russ and he suggested that I go see Lenny. I worked with Lenny all through school — he helped me pay for books he helped me pay for tuition. When I graduated, I looked into the other classes that WorkSource offers. I went to another interview class, I went to the USAJOBS, I did some mock interviews, I took the interview class and all these things have helped me polish myself for looking for a job.

I wasn’t really sure how to do my resume anymore, because they don’t do them like they did when I first went to school, so I was connected with Lawanda and she sat with me and we went through my resume. She helped me change it and tweak it to what it should be. When I went home, I fixed it the way she explained, and then, through email and phone calls, we were able to get my resume perfect. Then when it came time to do the USAJOBS, I got help there from Rudy, he helped me with that one and he also put a few applications in for me through his office.

So, without WorkSource, I would not be here today. I was honored to be invited in the first place and then to see all these employers support people who have disabilities. I don’t consider myself to be disabled as most people think I am, but they only see that — they don’t see what’s inside. So if you need help looking for a job you need to go to WorkSource.

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.

To leave a comment, select the comment bubble icon next to the title of this post.

Originally published at washingtonesd.wordpress.com on January 23, 2019.