Rachel S. - A Senior Community Service Employment Program Success Story
Meet the ever-wonderful Rachel S. Our Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) welcomed Rachel through a referral made by Metro SE Works in October of 2019. Upon intake and orientation, she repeatedly spoke of feeling defeated, hopeless, and fearful of losing her housing due to having no income for several months. In her words, due to being “demoralized” at a previous job, she had lost motivation to push herself and now only had enough money on her credit card to make one more month’s rent.
Seeking Meaningful Employment
With a background in administration and hospital social work, Rachel desperately wanted to find meaningful work, but she needed support in identifying her transferable skills, boosting her self-esteem, and acquiring a placement for current experience on her resume. Within the first 90 days of working with our staff, Rachel scored in the 90th percentile on all of her Prove-It Assessments. She created an elevator pitch, updated her resume, and built a cover letter that showcased her years of experience. Along the way, Rachel regularly utilized weekly one-on-ones with our staff to walk through response barriers, practice mock-interviews, and seek guidance on resources.
Making Use of SCSEP's Resources
By the beginning of December of 2019, Rachel was placed with a Vocational Rehabilitation office for training in an office specialist/admin position. Although there were moments of doubt and even some fearful tears involved, she took the plunge into a new experience with the support of the team. Through the next 6 months, despite the COVID Pandemic, Rachel connected with staff weekly, turned in applications for employment, and even found time to sew masks for her local community. After taking part in the 9-week “Rethinking Careers” virtual program, she stated “It was good to connect with other participants and have a chance to hear what others are walking through.” As her training site opened back for in-person visits, Rachel was motivated and on-queue to return, even applying for open positions within the organization and receiving excellent evaluations and feedback on her applications and interviews.
Excelling in a New Career Step
Rachel’s host site supervisor and our staff knew that she would be ready to maintain unsubsidized employment by the end of 2020. Every week, she was applying for Office Specialist positions with the Department of Homeland Security and other state agencies. It was easy to see that Rachel had increased her resilience, because she wasn't letting rejections hold her in fear of applying again. By February of 2021, after successfully completing rounds of virtual interviews, Rachel ended up with 2 administrative state job offers to choose from. Her last day working with our employment program was on March 19th, and she started her new full-time job with The Oregon Commission for the Blind on March 22nd of 2021.
We are so endlessly excited for all of your success and grateful for your resiliency through the last year of hard work, Rachel! Congratulations on your new step in your career!
Participant Statement:
“Still getting used to working 40 hours and getting up a bit earlier. It’s going pretty well, so far. I like most everybody I am working with, and it’s pretty interesting. The two challenges I see coming down the road are: 1) getting used to serving clients in person and 2) intellectual challenge after I’ve mastered all the tasks. I’m not sure where the areas for growth are there, but I will cross that bridge when I get to it.
It’s a nice, upbeat place. Not a lot of office drama which is good. The commute is great. All in all: so good, so far”
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