Volunteering and supporting his community has almost always been a part of Tim’s life. But prior to finding Chrysalis, he was primarily focused on nonprofits and mentorship programs based in the marketing industry. After a long career in sales and sales management – and after starting his own consulting business – Tim was looking for a new way to give back.
A friend recommended that Tim consider getting involved with Chrysalis. After applying and attending an orientation session at our Santa Monica center, he was asked if he had a preference of location at which he would like to volunteer. Tim’s response was, “Where do you need the most help?” His willingness to travel was perfect as we were in need of additional volunteers at another center.
“Now, I’m at the Downtown L.A. center. I’m really glad! I look forward to this every week.”
Tim started off providing one-on-one resume writing and practice interview services to clients and quickly discovered a passion for the role. As an avid reader and fan of biographies, he views one-on-ones as mini biographies on each person he meets. “You’ve only got them for an hour, but you really get a chance to know and learn about that individual!”
After a few months of volunteering, Tim inquired about new ways to get involved. Now, he looks forward to facilitating our job-readiness class: Soft Skills, while continuing to work with clients one-on-one.
“Being in sales and sales management, I have a lot of experience speaking in front of thousands of people, so public speaking isn’t an issue. I did a lot of job interviews when I was a hiring manager, so I feel like I can give a lot back to the clients during those one-on-ones,” he explains.
Establishing rapport and helping clients feel comfortable sharing with him is a key part of Tim’s process in each meeting. He begins by introducing himself and taking a few minutes to chat before gradually moving into building the resume or starting the practice interview. Then, throughout the session, he makes a point to acknowledge positive traits and soft skills that can help a client in an interview – such as good posture or maintaining eye contact – in the hopes of further encouraging each individual.
“One question in the practice job interview that is often challenging is, ‘What are your weaknesses?’” Tim states. “I try to explain to them that there’s a story behind that question. The hiring manager does want to hear about the weakness itself, but what they really want to know is what are they doing about it and what are they doing to improve?”
To help the clients out, he often offers examples of his own. He’ll tell them that his current weakness is not being bilingual, so he’s working on learning Spanish this year so he can communicate with more people — maybe even at Chrysalis. Sometimes, just talking about how he also has things he needs to learn or improve on helps clients feel more comfortable answering a question about a weakness they want to work on too.
“I was working on a resume with a client who had been incarcerated for nearly 30 years, and we really had to work on it because he kept saying, ‘Well, I was just incarcerated the whole time.’ When we actually wrote down everything he’d learned during that time, it blew my mind. He learned warehousing work, stock work, construction work, and he has a certificate for auto mechanics!”
Tim shares, “My main goal is to help them get a job, whatever it takes: coaching, cheerleading, [sharing] all of the experiences I’ve had in my career… and maybe that can help their day a little bit too.”