Putting Her Experience to Work

It seemed like forever. It was only one year, but it was a long year for Janet King.

That’s the time King, 54, was receiving public assistance. She was embarrassed. Just like others caught up in the Great Recession money was tight.  

“It felt like forever,” said King. “It was over a year, and it was one of those things you didn’t want to do.

“But being a single parent, I needed to think of my son.”

King wanted her time on public assistance to be as short as possible so she got involved with the San Diego County Work Experience (WEX) program, which gives unpaid work experience to help people build their resumes and return to the workforce.

Her experience is a tailor-made success story for the WEX program.

“I’ve always wanted to do something for someone and I went to school to be a medical assistant, but there were no jobs out there when I graduated,’ King said.

She and her son moved in with her mother. She wanted to help out with expenses, which was difficult to do without a paycheck.

“There is a stigma about welfare,” King said. “It was embarrassing, but I had to rise above it and do what I needed to do. “The assistance helped me a lot.”

When applying for assistance, she learned about the jobs training program that offers resume and job search assistance.

“It was mostly things I had done before, but it was a great refresher course,” she said.

 “I did anything that was needed and anything a WEX worker could do,” King said. “I was happy to be able to be doing something and it made me feel like I was doing something for the assistance I was receiving.”

While she was volunteering as WEX worker, she applied for a job as an office assistant in the County Health and Human Services Agency’s Ramona Community Resource Center (CRC).

“It was a nice surprise when I got the news that I had been hired,” she said. “It just seems so unreal sometimes, and I live in Ramona so I was fortunate enough to be placed here.”

 “When the public comes in for help, I can totally relate to what they’re going through, their apprehensions and try to make them feel at ease,” King said. “You treat people with common courtesy, decency and compassion.

“You make them feel comfortable, and I can say to them, ‘I know it’s going to get better – I’m proof it can work,’ but you can’t just sit back and do nothing.”

King isn’t stopping now either. She’s already applied for a higher-paying job as a Human Services Specialist with the County.

“I want to help people and I can’t think of a better way to do that.”