Success Stories
SUCCESS STORIES
We want to hear your success story! Gotten an interview? Landed a new job you are proud of?
We love hearing new stories from our Phase2Careers' job seekers.
Our potential funders enjoy hearing these inspiring stories. Email Us!
Lisa
Congratulations to Lisa in her new role as a Youth Program Assistant.
What excites you about your new position?
I am excited to have an opportunity to interpret a local historic home and its nature preserve for groups of school children. I will lead a variety of field trips which will allow the students to observe, inquire, ponder, create art, and interact on their field trips to this historic home and its nature preserve.
What did you learn about the job search and yourself during the process?
Through my job search, I learned to be patient and always keep my network open while going about my job search. Obvious tasks such as updating a resume and practicing interviewing skills are always important. But, before those could even happen it is necessary to evaluate what type of work I wanted – either return to a career in financial planning and analysis that I left 15+ years ago or move into and build on much of my volunteer experience in education which I find very rewarding.
How did Phase2Careers assist you?
Phase2Careers was instrumental in sharing helpful hints on updating my resume and practicing interview skills. I gained new skills in working with other P2C volunteers on various types of events from career fairs to fundraisers and even learned and developed skills in website design and maintenance.
Ruslan Babayev
Congratulations to Ruslan in his new role as a Staffing Manager.
What excites you about your new position?
The opportunity to switch from being on the receiving end of the recruiting business into providing services to qualified professionals who want to make a difference in their careers.
What did you learn about the job search and yourself during the process?
The most important lesson I learned from my job search is that it is not just about updating your resume alone. It is about reevaluating yourself as an individual person and professional who needs to reexamine and redefine his/her attitude and approach when it comes to pursing new ways of marketing your value to potential employers. It is also about constantly expanding your network and acquiring new knowledge and skills related to your target industry.
How did Phase2Careers assist you?
I enjoyed the new connections and peer support I developed while attending Phase2Careers both among presenters and peers. I also appreciate a good variety of interesting contents that were shared during Phase2Career presentations, networking and hiring events.
Melissa
Congratulations to Melissa in her new role as Patient Access Supervisor.
What excites you about your new job?
The position is hospital-based, an environment in which prefer to work. I like that every day is different combined with helping people. Also, the size of the staff is large enough to be challenging but small enough to manage successfully. I felt immediately comfortable in meeting with the management team. A few are young, but most are over 40. I was given encouragement throughout the hiring process and truly believe the organization values older workers.
What did you learn about the job search process and yourself?
At first, I didn’t put my best efforts into job searching and wasn’t disciplined in keeping notes or building my LinkedIn. I thought networking wasn’t really necessary. When I didn’t get results, I felt quite isolated and anxious, especially since finances were tight. On one hand, I was willing to take any offer to generate income. On the other hand, I knew I should persevere and go for a job I actually wanted. I always thought I could quickly get a job as a manager again whenever I set mymind to it. However, I soon learned that I was competing with younger and more marketable candidates. The biggest hurdle for me was the 4-year lapse in paid employment. I didn’t realize that was such a deal breaker and some employers wouldn’t interview me because of it.
How did Phase2Careers help you?
Phase2 was invaluable for many reasons. First, the organization’s support was the most valuable aspect because I didn’t feel so alone in my job search. As a former recruiter, Ron has real industry knowledge and recommendations, plus he knows many key people and has great success stories to inspire clients. Connecting with other job-seekers got me out of my shell. I learned so many great tips and ideas that other Phase2Careers clients shared. Second, the Job Search Review Panel was key for me. I was able to share my resume and job objective with the panel. The feedback was excellent. Third, the Boot Camp was fabulous! That’s where I really began to practice what I learned. I finished my LinkedIn, revised my resume, built a cover letter, and participated in a mock interview.
Networking is the concept I resisted most as I learned in the Boot Camp how to conduct a job search. And networking is the key that resulted in being hired at the job I wanted!
Luann
Congratulations to Luann in her new role as Corporate Controller of an Energy Services Provider company.
What excites you about your new job?
The company I am working for is growing and expanding. There are many challenges and opportunities to make a difference.
What do you learn about the job search about yourself?
The job search took some time to understand how to go about searching for a job because I had not searched for a job in a long time. I learned that I am resilient and you need to keep working and pursuing opportunities.
How did Phase2Careers help you?
Phase2Careers helped me make connections and understand the job search process.
Amy
Congratulations to Amy McDonald! She is a Manager, Store Planning and Allocation for Sephora.
What excites you about your new job?
What excites me is that I will be working with over 300 stores and some great new people to improve store assortments.
What do you learn about the job search process? How did Phase2Careers help you?
Thanks for putting on the classes that you do. If folks stick with the process, clean up their resumes and keep a positive outlook no matter what, they will find something out there. This is twice that just spending time with you and the speakers has helped me to quickly move through my job hunt. Thanks again.
Ben
What excites about your new job?
It is work I love to do. I can use my legal and business knowledge, and do it in the way I enjoy the most which is a combination of one on one counseling and in teaching classes. Its the best mix of being a lawyer and a teacher at the same time. I really treasure the personal exchanges.
What I learned about the job searching process and myself?
I can be my own worst enemy sometimes. I tend to isolate myself without really realizing it. But the reality is that Networking is the key. Not how many postings I answered or resumes I have out there. It can be hard to keep in mind that less can be more, especially when you want things to change fast. I wanted a job ASAP. So I put in as many applications and resumes as I could. It felt good knowing I put out a big effort, but it was not getting me results. So I did the insane move of working even harder and longer doing the same thing. I got more of the same results... very, very little. My best move was to stop and do some rethinking, then force myself to do those uncomfortable but smart things that do actually work.
How did Phase2Careers help you?
Phase2Careers turned out to be my best decision I made during my "stop and rethink" period. I heard a lot about Phase2Careers from my success team pals who went quite often to the Phase2Careers workshops and events. It was part of my new goal to network more and get me out of the house and away from the computer screen. I found something useful to learn and someone new to meet at each event. My next goal was to actually contact someone I met that might know about opportunities in my industry. I noticed that Phase2Careers had workshops on its calendar that I used to teach myself. So I contacted Ron Visconti of Phase2Careers to see if he was hiring or would let me do workshops as a volunteer.
I got a reply phone call from Ron not more than an hour or two after sending him an e-mail. Ron did not have an opening for a business workshop presenter. He had something much more valuable. Tons of advice and suggestions on leads. He also had a contact with the director of an organization that provides business workshops in the bay area. Over the last couple years I had tried to contact them before without any luck.
This time was different. By talking to his contact about me, Ron got me through a wall I could not get through myself. I took Ron's advice and I did some follow up a few days after. I made sure to keep myself moving forward, so I attended other Phase2Careers events. I wound up getting a couple good leads and a possible business start-up client at the employer roundtable Phase2Careers held in Foster City. At every event I met more willing and interesting people to network with me. I also got clued in to how to use the San Francisco Business Times when their representative spoke at a Phase2Careers workshop not long ago. All of this happened in about 4 weeks.
Networking worked and in a big way. I'm so lucky I met Ron Visconti and Phase2Careers.
You will definitely see me at more events to keep my momentum going. I might even be teaching one.
Rene
Congratulations to Rene Blanco and her new role. Rene just landed the position of Concierge/ Receptionist at The Carlisle senior residence in San Francisco. The Carlisle is a high-end facility for independent and assisted-living seniors.
What excites you about your new position?
The part that excites me most about my job is the energy and interest level of the residents of The Carlisle. Many of the residents are independent-living people who wanted to downsize their lives but still keep busy, which they can certainly do there.
What do you learn about the job search process and yourself during the process?
I learned to "think outside the box", thinking about my strengths and past job experience and how they could relate to jobs in many fields. I learned from the job search process that the right fit is what is most necessary to getting an offer, not necessarily what was written on my resume.
How did Phase2Careers assist you?
Thanks so much for the seminars regarding interviewing techniques, mock interviews and how to search for a job. Everything was a huge help to me during my job search. I'm sure I did better in those interviews with your input than I would have done on my own.
Arlene
Great news comes from Arlene Shields! She landed a job as Legislative Aide for Supervisor Andrienne Tissier. In a note to Phase2Careers, Arlene wished to share with her friends and colleagues the emotional roller coaster and daunting aspect of job search. “The "right job" appeared to be eluding me. No calls, no interviews, just the black hole for my 6 versions of my resume sent out to every employer I believed would need and love me.” And then from her ongoing and quiet persistence, she discovered a job that she felt was tailor made for her.
About the process:
“I appreciate and will always be grateful for every single Hobee's Monday morning Career presentation, every Roundtable, Savvy networking event, Job Fair or Boot Camp, or Interview and job search review. I benefited from them all during my seemingly hopeless quest for an interview. I became a better job seeker no doubt, and making friends while doing so made it all even more worthwhile!”
And thank you from Arlene:
Thanking you all for your support and encouragement during my difficult period! I will forever remember this special transitional phase of my life. Thank you for helping me through it.
We wish Arlene every success in her new role.
Debbie
Debbie Birnie Yandell landed a full time job after being out of the workforce for 18 years to be a stay at home mom and raise my 3 children (which, of course, is a critical and a much needed job and role). She is now the Administrative Assistant for the President of Prodesse Property Group.
In Debbie's own words:
I am excited to go to work each day since I enjoy the people I work with. I learn and grow within my position every day and I feel that I am a valuable part of the Prodesse Property Group team.
If an "older" worker asked me what the first thing they should do when they are trying to find a job or get back into the work force, I would say to join Phase2Careers. The resume writing workshop and the interview techniques workshop taught me how to market myself in order to land and succeed in the interview. The panels, speakers and job fairs addressed a variety of different issues for the mature worker as well as provided an opportunity to network and meet people which was supportive, in gaining knowledge as well as emotional support.
I learned that, like anything, the more effort I put into the job search and learning the skills necessary in today's workforce, the more successful and rewarding it was for me. And it wasn't all about the end result of landing the job but what I learned about myself, the knowledge and skills I gained and who I met along the journey.
Thank you, Debbie for your inspiring story. We, at Phase2Careers, wish you continued success in your new job.