Helping Build a Path to Success
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United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County

Helping Build a Path to Success

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For the last 8 years, United Way and ManpowerGroup has hosted a free one-day job seminar for women. For the last couple years, I’ve helped out at this event as a volunteer coach and the experience has been extremely gratifying.

Not only do I get to help with resumes, I get to offer encouragement to women regarding their professional goals. 

The women who attend all come with a different story to share, but are united with a common goal: to be successful.

Tanya is an example of this. As we sat at the table to begin our work I was struck by how young she was. She was shy but at the same time appeared determined.

Tanya explained she’d recently graduated from high school. She was the oldest of four children and came from a low-income family. While post-secondary education was of interest to her, she felt it was more important to go to work and help support her family. So she decided to pursue a job as a housekeeper.

Though Tanya had no previous work experience, she was an active volunteer at her church assisting at a weekly meal program. She’d also served as a peer mentor at her school and had been a member of a computer club. 

While I understood Tanya’s sense of urgency in finding a job I could also see what great potential she had. As we began to outline her resume, I explained the value of her volunteer work and school activities. It showed she was reliable and dependable -- a team player. Also, her work as a mentor was a testament to her natural leadership skills.

As our session continued, Tanya started to reveal to me how much she enjoyed working on a computer and “organizing things”.  I began to explain the role of an administrative assistant and Tanya was especially surprised to learn that employers will often pay for continuing education courses and possibly a degree program in that field. She paused for a few minutes, grinning ear to ear, then told me she’d changed her mind and was now going to look for an office job.

Now I was the one grinning. It was incredible to see this transformation from a young woman with a very limited vision of her future, to actually seeing her true potential.

As our session wrapped up, Tanya looked at her resume with pride. I said goodbye to her, shook her hand and watched her step forward onto her path to success.

If you are looking to share your time volunteering check out United Way's many volunteer opportunities.