“...no matter how you’ve fallen down, they still uplifted you and that’s what made me more confident in myself.”
Almetta was working as a Clinical Trials Assistant when her job ended in December 2020. While figuring out what the next step in her career would be, she saw an advertisement on the news about Dress for Success Triangle and the resources that are provided for women who were job searching just like her. She reached out to the organization’s Director of Programs, Megan Eilenberger, and got an immediate response. Megan suggested Almetta sign up for the Going Places Network program, and it turned out that the class benefited her in more ways than one.
finding her confidence
Before she started the program, Almetta was a very shy person. However, as the course progressed, she found herself participating and speaking up more often with her instructor, her career coach, and her classmates. The most valuable resource that Almetta felt the Going Places Network provided was the mock interviews. They gave her an opportunity to practice what she was learning in the class while also giving her the courage she needed in the way she presented herself. “I wasn’t as nervous because of the mock interviews, and I thought this was a good program because it doesn’t get you as nervous as when you actually go to a real interview.” Almetta learned how to reciprocate the process and interview the employer to make sure that the job she was applying to fits what she was looking for. Almetta still keeps in contact with some of the employers who held the mock interviews, adding to her ever-growing network of support in her job search. She also attributed her newfound confidence to a virtual webinar that she attended. The skill-building webinar taught her public speaking skills and how to speak more confidently in front of her audience. “I was so scared before because whenever you said ‘interview,’ I shut down. My anxiety would go through the roof.” But thanks to all the practice she’s gotten from the webinar and mock interviews, she’s much more ready to speak in front of her audience.
Besides the Going Places Network, Almetta also took advantage of the one-on-one career coaching sessions that the organization offered. Her coach looked over Almetta's resume and showed her how to perfect her elevator speech and tweak her resume to each job that she was applying to. “My career coach taught me how to do the resume changes for myself instead of depending on somebody else to do it for me, so I saw that as a learning experience for myself.”
GROWING HER NETWORK
Currently, Almetta is still searching for a job that she can be happy with and is taking classes that would help her gain the skills she needs to land a position working with regulatory documents and quality control auditing. “When you’re starting a new job, they want you up and running.” Thanks to Dress for Success Triangle’s support, she’s better armed with resources and a network of women who are encouraging her to succeed. She states that she's not alone on her journey because her career coach is always there to help her. “They taught me that no matter how you’ve fallen down, they still uplifted you and that’s what made me more confident in myself.” Her instructors are not the only ones who were helping her on her journey. Almetta’s support system includes her good friend and mentor who is helping her through her journey of finding a job, and her former classmates have formed a close-knit sisterhood. They still stay in contact to keep each other accountable and encouraged during their job searches regardless of their situations. “I'm so grateful and appreciative for my good friend as well as my Dress for Success Sisters, the name of our group, who often check on me. Every one of them has a special place in my heart! These ladies and Dress for Success Triangle have been a blessing for me.”