o Age: 38.
o New job: Staffing specialist at Manpower in Vancouver.
o Job description: Recruiting employees and working with employers to match them with temp-to-hire and permanent job placement.
o Old job: Marketing manager for TigerStop LLC, a small manufacturing company.
Vancouver resident Rebecca Warberg made the transition to employment recruiter at Manpower after years in marketing. Here’s how she did it:
Old job: My old job was marketing manager for TigerStop LLC, a small manufacturing company. I did a lot of graphic design, public relations and writing marketing copy.
Biggest change so far: My routine. Now I’m walking into an office where I’m not sure what’s going to happen every day. It’s a busy environment. We have people coming in, the phones are always ringing and something is always happening.
I left because: I was laid off due to a downturn in the economy.
I was out of work for: Four months.
How did you fill the time? I spent some quality time with my children. I spent a lot of time looking for work and trying to figure out what kind of work I wanted. I did a lot of Internet research on Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com and Craigslist, and I did a lot of talking to people and networking.
I relied on: Unemployment benefits were absolutely the key for me. I did use some of my savings. Emotionally, I relied on friends and family to bounce ideas off of them and talk to them.
This new gig is: Great. I am really excited to be working with people. That’s what I didn’t get to do in the marketing position because I was in front of a computer all the time. Now, I get to work with people, and that is very rewarding, being able to match them with an employer that is a good fit. The other thing I would say is, I work for a great company. They value people and knowledge and innovation. They are great about giving me the tools and support I need to do my job.
One thing I miss about the old job is: The creative outlet. I really enjoyed graphic design and it did give me a good outlet for my creativity at work. I hope I’ll have a few opportunities to do that (at my new job), but I am also finding other ways to express my creativity at home through my hobbies.
One surprise about my new job is: I have fantastic co-workers. It’s just a really good team environment. Everybody is very supportive of each other and helpful.
I’m lucky that: I found a job so quickly and that I found a job that I really love. And I’m lucky that it is in Vancouver, so I don’t have to make the commute to Portland.
The hardest part of the job transition was: Learning something new: procedures, a new computer program and also a new industry.
I learned that: It was kind of scary being out of work, but this new direction is a great opportunity.
My advice: My advice to job seekers would be to go ahead and apply for jobs that you think are interesting, even if you don’t have the knowledge or the background. Cover letters are essential to describe how your skills are transferable to that job. The other advice would be to keep your search broad. Don’t be too narrow when you’re searching on the Internet for positions.
