Certification Leads to New IT Position
Pat was laid off in August 2012 from a position as a Senior
Business Systems Manager for a large food and beverage
subsidiary. He spent several months looking for work but found
that he needed certifications to prove his work experience. He
qualified for WIA training and completed courses to become a
Certified Information Systems Manager in February 2013.
By the end of March 2013, Pat was hired as an IT Manager for a
Fortune 500 company. He says that his continuing education
helped to demonstrate his work ethic during the interview. Pat
used job boards and corporate websites to develop job leads, but
then reached out to networking contacts within the company. He
says he found LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) to be instrumental
when researching network connections.
Medical Office Skills Refreshed
Calla was laid off in August 2011 from her job as a senior marketer for an organization
providing home health care services. With 20 years experience in medical office management,
she thought she could find employment quickly but found some employers considered her
overqualified and others called her underqualified. Calla says she learned “In order to compete
with others, you need certifications. Experience does not get you in the door.”
After several months of searching, she stopped in the Job Center for help. She qualified for WIA
training and began a 7 month Health Care Career Program in July 2012. She learned the latest billing and coding procedures and government regulations. She graduated from the program in February 2013 and became a CMAA (Certified Medical Administrative Assistant). By
May, she completed two additional certifications as a Certified
Administrative Assistant and Certified Billing Coding Specialist with
the State of Illinois.
Employers now looked at Calla in a new light. They were impressed
by the fact that she was continuing to improve her skills. She
interviewed for several positions but accepted a job as a Patient Care
Coordinator at a hearing center. Calla says that job seekers must
make job search a full time effort. She trained or applied for jobs
Monday through Saturday. “You need to be aggressive. Go to
school and get training. Use every resource because you don’t know
how long it will take.”
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