Success Stories

Updated January 10, 2012

I just wanted to write and tell you that I spoke to the kindest and most professional person anyone could ask to speak to. She answered the phone at the Haverhill career center, gave me detailed information and was so helpful and kind I became very emotional due to her kindness.

I don't think anyone wants to live like this, no job, no money, no anything. Looking for anyway to make your ends somehow meet and make a future trying to reinvent yourself to fit into the new world economy. So I just wanted to say thank you and to let someone know that DCS has an employee who is professional, knowledgeable and on top of all that kind and concerned for her fellow human beings

My counselor was very helpful and a great resource. I was really impressed with the way staff really seemed to care. The staff was very courteous and knowledgeable. The services provided here are absolutely necessary in todays job market.

VWCC is the main reason why I’m working. Thank You!

I have been employed in a very good company. I am very happy and wish there were more programs like yours. I would refer anyone who needs assistance to the center. Everyone there is awesome.

With the services provided at VWCC one could be employed in a timely manner.

I wanted to write you to let you know that I have been involved in regular job seeking services, professional networking events, computer classes and the resource room. And all the services have been excellent. Your front desk staff are very friendly, confidential and professional. I feel so much more independent with my many computer skills now. You run a wonderful center.

I thank and congratulate your entire team for all your efforts to help me collect the much needed UI benefits while I complete my teacher training internship.

The Summer Youth Program has been a great help to us. Both of the workers that we employed have really come “out of their shell” from this experience. Both youth feel valued by having responsibilities.

Thank you for your honest, blunt and motivating input with every networking session. You kept me going and focused.

I am absolutely delighted with the programs at Valleyworks. I want to thank all the staff for the leads and assistance you are offering me to secure employment. I am beginning to feel hopeful.

Thank you so much for being so wonderful and friendly.

I was satisfied with all the assistance I was given. If I need help with getting a job again Valleyworks would be my first choice.

My first impression of the career center was outstanding. The staff welcomed me and thoroughly explained all the centers services. I found the handouts to be very helpful. I am looking forward to taking some of the workshops.

I wanted to let you know how much I appreciated the hard work which was necessary to put on the recruitment event. This was the finest event I have attended but I assure you I will attend more. I appreciate the extra effort you provide to find the answers to my questions. It shows real commitment.

I want to thank and commend the Valleyworks team for putting together such a great job fair. Having gone to half a dozen or so events this was by far the best organized.

From a DOE provider: I knew that everyone in attendance at the workshop came away with a positive view of the services that are provided by the Valleyworks Career Center. Your staff was well prepared, knowledgeable and enthusiastic about her topic. She presents her material in a language and manner that is interesting and inspiring to her audience. Many of those in attendance will now be moved to connect with the career centers in their own regions.

Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your job fair. It was such a lively event. Job seekers and employers appeared to have been very busy throughout the day.

Thanks for all the help that was given to me at Valleyworks from setting up the training program, reviewing my resumes and the job search and interview tips.

Staff were very helpful on both starting my unemployment claim and becoming a Valleyworks member.

Thank you for your support and continued communications regarding job opportunities.

Your staff is very respectful and pleasant to talk to. They made me feel very comfortable explaining my circumstances. They were all very understanding and helpful.

I would like to emphasize how productive it was meeting with an employment specialist and how extremely valuable to me personally.

The staff was very informative and respectful of my needs. A vast improvement over when I was here back in the 80's

I am grateful for all the help my counselors gave me. Any time I had and issue or a question they were there to guide me.

Had another great interview today. I think this one will pay off. I really enjoyed the workshop on interviewing skills. Thank you so much for making it easy to participate in a well served class.

VWCC is a very helpful center. The information and the time they provided to assist me was reasonable. The staff is very polite and professional.

Thank you ever so much for all the help and support you have given me in the past. I enjoyed all of the workshops so much. Whenever the opportunity comes up, I just rave about them.

I feel VWCC is very good. I am satisfied and appreciate all the assistance offered me by the Center.

The OJT program is an excellent opportunity for our company to continue to employ individuals in the Lawrence HUB Zone. The program funding provides us with the opportunity to train job seekers by giving them employment opportunities that would not be available without the program.

I want to thank you very much for your help with my resume. You were so adapt at working my resume to reflect my skills and credentials. I am happy to say that I was hired for a position today.

My Career Service Advisor was a real life saver. Her support and assistance were valuable in assisting me to manage my job search and assist with my final offer of employment.

Working with your staff was a wonderful pleasure. The office environment is pleasant, the literature I received was very helpful and the staff is wonderful. Every person I have interviewed with has been kind, professional and supportive. I congratulate you on having such a well run office.

I was very impressed in how the Career Services Representative attended to my needs in a professional and straight forward manner. I appreciate all the services that she offered me.

All my counselors in Lawrence and Haverhill were great. I am enjoying my new career and am continuing my education.

I am very satisfied with the help I received. I will always be grateful for their help.

I was treated with the utmost respect and courtesy. This made my visits to VWCC less stressful and more relaxing, in turn making it easier to achieve my goal of finding a job.

Thank you for arranging the Job Shadow Day for our students. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves and learned a lot about potential careers. The matches with employers were very well thought out and appropriate for everyone.

I am extremely impressed with the services offered at the VWCC. People were friendly and informative and there were plenty of valuable workshops to sign up for.

VWCC helped me a real lot. I am now a Certified Medical Assistant with a good job and good wages.

Super staff, it exceeded all of my expectations.

Thanks to the Career Center workshop providers, networking contacts, friends and reference people who provided support during the recent job search. I welcome your continued messages and the opportunity to provide insights, ideas, or morale support to other involved in the employment search.

I was very impressed with the obvious professionalism of the VWCC team and look forward to continuing to do business with you for the common goal of employing as many people as possible from the area.

I came to the VWCC with low expectations and was presently surprised to learn about all the services available for professionals. The orientation session provided an excellent overview of the services. I was also very fortunate to attend a networking for professional's workshop the same day which provided me additional insights into the job search process. Your entire staff from the reception area to every counselor I worked with was motivated and eager to help. It was apparent to me as a customer that they really enjoyed their jobs.

The VWCC was very instrumental in getting not only myself but many other employees from my prior company approved for TRADE assistance. I also received good help with my resume.

Everyone at the VWCC was wonderful. They were very professional, courteous and very caring. They are a terrific staff of workers.

I will say that the Lawrence office has many great resources to assist with this major task! I'm grateful to be able to access them.

Sincerely, Deb

Thank you for all your assistance. The skills I obtained attending Merrimack Valleyworks workshops, and the care in which the staff handled my needs, was without a doubt a strong contributing factor to me landing a job so quickly. I am extremely grateful. I will be sure to keep in touch and let you know how my career progresses. Sincerely, Jeffrey Salerno

I wanted to let you know that I found a job working for the state of New Hampshire in the environmental field, based in large part on my past experience. The new job is based in Concord and involves working with industry to maintain acceptable air quality. My previous jobs were for consultants - now as a regulator, I'm on the other side of the fence. I've been there just over a month and it is going very well. While the pay is not the same as in consulting, there is certainly less day-to-day pressure and the benefits are great. I am very appreciative of all the assistance and guidance provided by you and others at ValleyWorks in my nearly two-year long job search. While I could not regularly attend your Networking for Professionals meetings, those meetings were key to keeping me on track and motivated. Thanks again for your efforts! John McCutcheon

Hello I want to thank you for sending me the email to go for the CNA work shop at Lawrence General I went this morning interviewed with a very nice lady and she gave me a position for 3-11 at night mad excited I start Aug 1 so thank you once again appreciate it so much.

I have attended several of the workshops at the ValleyWorks Career Centers in Lawrence and Haverhill. I am so grateful for the information shared. I know my resume and cover letters have improved significantly. I have also gained a great amount of confidence through this process. One of most recent workshops I attended was the Interviewing Techniques with Judy Junker. The next day I had a second interview with an employer hiring for a position open at a well known major local company. The interview went a lot better than most that I have had in the past. I felt really good about that alone. Before I left the person I interviewed with commented to me that my resume was really outstanding. The interviewer told me "It really says a lot about you" in a most positive way and "You really should be a resume writer!" I was so surprised and pleased to hear such great praise but I could not have had nearly the resume I had without the information I received at the career center. Resume Writing Beyond Basics and Resume Assistance were the other workshops that were also very helpful to me. Thank you so much!!!

Please accept my heartfelt gratitude to all of you, as well as the support staff and those I do not know about, regarding my training application. Even if I had not been approved for training funds, you all go out of your way to assist people through the processes of becoming employable.

I look forward to keeping in touch.

Hi Lynne,
I apologize for not getting back to you sooner. The search is finally over and yes I did finally land a job thanks to the unemployment advantages, However I did not pass my LCSW exam. Nevertheless; when one door closed another one opened. If you recall last time I emailed you back on a response re: a follow up. I mention that I was interviewing for a job in Boston, which I did 5 different times. I did get that job. My actual start date was the 12th of September. I found this position on one of the job seeking site known as Indeed.com. I am very excited the agency, and all the staff are great. Although I am not getting the salary I was receiving when I left my last position the benefit's and the sanity far outweigh a few lesser dollars. Again landing this position was all due to the assistance and benefit's of VWCC. Thanks so much I am grateful to have had the pleasure of working with and receiving all the help and support from such a wonderful agency as VWCC. Being unemployed can be very depressing but it doesn't have to be if one utilizes the opportunities that unemployment has to offer especially VWCC which by far although I don't have another unemployment agency to compare or measure the difference, but just given the war stories I heard over the years from other people I can only say that VWCC works very hard at working for the less fortunate who are jobless. From the career counselors to the front desk staff I was always treated with the utmost patience and kindness and let me not forget the Professionalism, which too was great. I was so surprised given this day and age of budget cuts and restraints that I could even find work in my field as a Social worker/Human services. So again thank you, thank you, thank you. So I am so glad that you emailed me before to much time goes by. Taking this breather felt good! I hope you have a wonderful day, you deserve it!

Hi Chuck

Information regarding job fairs and recruitments.

Thanks for all of this information you have been forwarding to me, it has been extremely helpful. I usually share this information with our in-house Career Counselor, Ellen Mahoney....would it be possible to add her to your list so she get it directly from you as well? PLEASE leave me on your list as I mentioned, it is all very helpful for me...thanks.

Lisa Berube

Cooperative Education Liaison

Greater Lawrence Technical School

We were extremely impressed with the staff at the Lawrence ValleyWorks Career Center during our two day recruitment event. The turnout for the event was fantastic (well over 100 job seekers) and we realized this was difficult to manage the logistics involved. Staff were working right by our side to help us and keep things moving. We also had staff to assist with the translation of the job seekers who could not speak English. Even the IT department assisted us with making the transition work smoothly by making easy access for customers to use the laptops.

A huge thank you to all the staff who lent a helping hand to us over those two days. We already placed two people to work this morning and expect to place many more.

CoWork Staffing

Thomas G. Gainan

October 8, 2011

The Hon. Deval Patrick Governor of Massachusetts

Massachusetts State House, Room 280

Boston, MA 02133

Dear Gov. Patrick,

I would like to bring to your attention the outstanding help that the ValleyWorks Career Center of the MA Department of Employment and Training provide to job seekers.

After my job loss in March, my self-confidence disappeared. ValleyWorks gave my career search the jump-start it needed. I had not been in the job market for eight years, and I quickly found out how much things have changed. During my "free agency," I participated in many VW workshops including online job applications, advanced resume writing, tailoring cover letters to answer job postings, and "marketing your maturity" for those of us over 50. I went through a "mock interview" with two of the VW career specialists who helped me correct mistakes I made after not having interviewed in eight years.

Most helpful were their weekly "Networking for Professionals" featuring guest speakers from industry as well as interactive exercises in which we job seekers helped each other. One expert speaker guided us in optimizing the on-line LinkedIn Networking Site, scoring me many important career contacts and several interviews.

I also attended and made contacts at three ValleyWorks sponsored job fairs. During my intense search, every single ValleyWorks specialist proved to be a true professional, going above and beyond the call of duty. I must thank everyone, especially Cindy Key, Lillian McGinty and Judy Junker.

I am happy to report that I've now been working as an Information Assurance Engineer with the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton for three months, and hope to have a long career there.

The ValleyWorks Career Center provides job seekers with great services in these times of high unemployment. I think it is a very cost-effective program for putting people of all ages and career fields of life back to work.

Sincerely,

Thomas G. Gainan

I wanted to drop you a quick email to tell you about some great people you have working at Valleyworks. I was laid off in September, at the age of 44, after 22 years of employment. Even though I did HR at my company I found myself lost at how to proceed. My first visit to Valleyworks I was called in by Linda Ruiz. She was incredibly kind, patient and reassuring. Her eyes even smiled. She made me feel comfortable. She advised me on how to get started on my new journey. I left; head up. My second visit was to attend a seminar run by Tony Difruscia, as mandated by a letter I received. What positive high energy he projects. He spoke clearly and confidently about the tools you have to help me help myself. He was empowering and optimistic. I was picked for the REA. I left; head up. My third visit was an Overview to training seminar I decided to attend. I do not want to elaborate on that visit at this time except to say that I admirably watched Tony & Linda greet folks like they were their friend's moms. My fourth visit was to start phase I of my REA. Not a productive 1/2 for me, but I do not want to focus on that visit either. My fifth visit I had the good fortune of sitting with LuAnn Floyd, because after 22 years at one company and no degree, it seemed to me that training may be in order for me to get back in the game. What a wonderful human being. Kind and empathetic. She gave me direction. I left; head up. Today, I met Barron Brissett. So helpful and full of information. I left with "homework" to give my resume a facelift and a ton of leads to look into. I think it was 45 minutes of ME time. He made me feel, as did Linda, Luanne, & Tony, that he wanted to help ME succeed. He interacted with me and we had a conversation. He did not talk at me. In addition to my 22 years of customer service & HR, I also volunteer in a hospice program and at a homeless shelter. You can't teach what Linda, Tony, Luanne & Barron have. They look at each person as a person. They have not forgotten that even though they have been doing this forever their client is brand new to the system and doesn't know the ropes. They are not judgmental. They are genuinely kind to people who are down. You are very lucky to have them. I hope you have many more like them. Please share this email with them. I am sure none of you get enough kudos; people generally only write about bad experiences.

Sincerely, Vicky Sherwood

Dear Bryhn, Cindy, Judy, and Lillian,

I would like to thank all of you for helping me in finding employment. I appreciate all of your consultation during my time of transition. I know that my work search would have been much more difficult without the wonderful efforts of everyone at Valleyworks. I have never been in such a position of need before and I am thankful for the information and experiences that you have all shared. Thank you !!

Sincerely,

Gifford Berry

Hello Lillian,

I'd like to start by thanking you for your help, support and guidance in our job search, but most importantly for your uplifting words that lifts our spirits during these tough times. You are wonderful at what you do, and I hope you will keep sharing your knowledge and spirit with others for many years to come.

I have attached my resume. I know you're very busy, therefore, I thank you in advance for taking some of your time to go over it. I look forward to your feedback and I hope I was able to apply correctly what we've learned.

Sincerely,

Ada

Customer Testimonials:

Paul K

Thea Gove

Jan Friel
Kathleen Martin