Aileen was born, raised and married in the Philippines. When she was 24, her husband found a job in the United States, so they moved with their newborn baby. They had no family nearby, so Aileen, who had worked as a computer programmer, decided it was best if she stayed home to take care of her family. Over the next 17 years, she dedicated her life to raising her two children.
Now that her children are independent teenagers, Aileen has decided she is ready to reenter the workforce. But after being away for so many years, she wasn’t sure where to start. “I found Goodwill online while I was doing a job search. I thought Goodwill was only about retail jobs, but I decided to take a look at their openings. I had no idea about all the job training they provide!”
Aileen came to an orientation and learned about the Computer and Office Skills program. She met with the program manager and was invited to start classes the following week. Although she had a background in computer skills, she was glad to have a refresher. “There’s so much new information! I knew the basics of Word and Excel, but there’s so much more to them that I never knew. One day I was looking at a job opening for an office assistant and it asked specifically for experience with mail merge. I thought, ‘What’s mail merge?” Then that was the topic in class the next day. It blew my mind.”
Aileen completed her program in June. Her short-term goal is to get a job in an office but she hopes to eventually go back to school and update her programming skills and find a job in the IT industry.
“The people at Goodwill are willing to do anything for you. Not only do they teach you, they give you the tools you need. At graduation, the speaker talked about giving a man to fish so he can eat for a day or teaching him to fish so he can eat for a lifetime. But he also said that if you give him a net, than he has the tools he needs. Goodwill gave me the tools. Now I have the self-confidence and the knowledge.
“I’m so grateful for Goodwill!”
