When you’re married to someone who serves in the military, you learn to embrace an unpredictable lifestyle. Over the course of my husband’s 14 years in the Army, he was stationed in three different places around the world. With each relocation, my children and I followed—including a stint in Bruchmühlbach-Miesau, Germany. While this was an exciting lifestyle, the constant cycle of relocating was pretty taxing. When my husband was on active duty, I stayed home and looked after our children. I always desired to enter the workforce but had to put that dream on hold to support my husband and look after our three boys.
When my husband transitioned from active duty to the Army Reserves in 2016, things started to settle down for me and my family. I saw it as the perfect opportunity to begin charting my own career path. We were living in Fort Bliss, Texas and I decided to take a tax course offered through the Army Community Service program, and later landed a job as a tax preparer at H&R Block. However, this role was only during tax season; during the offseason, I worked retail jobs which I quickly learned were not for me. I began to explore other employment opportunities that I believed would be a good fit.
I came across an ad for Workforce Opportunity Services (WOS) during an online search. After learning about how the organization not only provides free job training but aligns you with career opportunities, I knew that this was an opportunity I should take advantage of. Without hesitation, I applied in June 2017 and was accepted into the WOS-Prudential Financial TAP program that prepares individuals to fill customer service associate roles at Prudential. I participated in a 2-week accelerated training program where I took workshops that covered everything from how to interact with customers to the different types of retirement services Prudential offers. I also had the unique opportunity to shadow employees in the company’s retirement services department for a week.
I’m currently working as a WOS consultant on-site at Prudential preparing to take on a Bilingual Customer Service Associate role where I would help individuals plan for retirement.
So far this experience has been nothing short of life-changing for me. I’m laying the foundation for what I know will be a fruitful career. WOS, through its partnership with Prudential, has equipped me with the knowledge and skills needed for me to reach new heights. I wouldn’t have gotten this far without their support.