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A Story Of Success My name is Stephen Gainor. During the course of my life, I have had many different careers. I began as an actor, worked in restaurants and catering, was a carpenter's helper and did construction. I also spent several years working temp jobs, and finally landed a permanent job with State Street Bank as an accountant. While at State Street, I learned to program computers and became an application developer. By this time, I had planned on retiring from there, however they had other plans. They announced a Voluntary Separation plan because they were going to have a reduction in their workforce. If I didn't take the plan, I’d have been laid off anyway and would have lost everything. So I took the plan. I had been there for 14 years, so my plan was quite attractive and I was under no pressure to find another job. After a couple of months, I landed a job with a small start-up company that did employment background investigations. I thought this was an exciting opportunity and that I could grow with the company. They had other plans, too. I was laid off from them and now I was in trouble. They did not give me a severance package and I had to sign up for unemployment, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE! I had never had to do this before and had no idea what to expect. As part of signing up for unemployment, I discovered what came to be a wonderful resource at the Wareham Career Center. To be perfectly honest, I was expecting this to be just another "government hack" type of program and that I would just have to go through the motions so that I could get my check. Boy, was I wrong. From the very beginning when Mindy Moniz first put me in the system, I very quickly discovered that this center was not only a valuable resource, but, wonder of wonders, these people actually cared! Mindy quickly put me at ease and answered a lot of questions right off the bat at the first interview. Later, when I began meeting with Rueben, I was amazed at the amount of effort that all of the people at the Career Center put into helping me. Let me give you an example that amazes me to this day. One day I came in for a meeting with Rueben and he said, "Here, I found these for you." He then handed me some newspaper clippings of potential jobs. I was floored. This man had actually gone through newspapers looking for jobs on my behalf and took the time to cut them out. Government hack? No, no, no, I was so wrong about that. And it wasn't just Rueben. I found that everyone at the center was not only very good at their jobs, but that they genuinely cared about us and were doing their best to help us find work. The staff was always available and willing to answer questions or give advice. And they are friendly. Yes, they are friendly and, at least for me, that was a very important aspect of this experience. I was already dealing with the shame of not being able to get a job and never, not once, did anyone at the Center do or say anything that might have made me feel worse. In fact, it was just the opposite. They were continually encouraging. You may think that saying I was "dealing with the shame" of being unemployed is a little strong, but for me it was very hard. I had never been unemployed and had certainly never looked for help from anyone but myself. I can only speak for myself, but being unemployed was very difficult emotionally for me, and the Center staff helped with that tremendously. I'm not sure they were even aware of it, but just by being there, having a friendly face and a helping hand with no strings attached, this meant so much to me. On a more practical side, having the resources available at the Career Center was a huge help. Because of my profession, I already had a computer and an Internet connection, so I personally did not have to make use of these; however I did see many, many people who were making use of the computers to search for jobs. Had I been unemployed much longer, I would have probably had to cancel my internet service because I would not have been able to afford it and I would certainly have made use of the Career Center. What I did find useful for me was access to a fax machine and all of the job postings and newspapers all in one place. When you are unemployed, that fifty cents for the newspaper, that dollar or two to send a fax at a commercial store, those few dollars for gas to drive around to various places to pull this all together... well, it can mean a great deal when you are counting pennies. And the end to my story… well, I don't know if it’s the end or not. It is really just the beginning. With the help of Mindy, Rueben, and the rest of the staff, I landed a dream job. And no, that is not an exaggeration. I now work with a company called Wellesley Information Services and can honestly say I love my job. I am building internal applications that are being used company wide. I am responsible for creating monthly emails (not spam, people actually request to receive these) that have mailing lists of up to 30,000 people. I am building web pages that are used by thousands more. This is heady stuff. I learn new technologies almost daily and work with some of the best and brightest people that I've ever met. Wonder of wonders, I actually like coming to work. To the staff at the Wareham Career Center, you have my total thanks. This was one of the most trying times in my life and you helped me through it to find a shining light on the other side. The Career Center is an invaluable resource when you are out of work and the entire staff should be commended for the wonderful, and caring, job that they do. Thank you. 227 Union Street, Suite 206, New Bedford, MA 02740-5946 PH 508.979.1504 • FAX 508.979.5680 E-mail: Webmaster@gnbwib.org |