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Many people at L.E.N. Institute come here to change their career. So did Stephanie Brandon, the June 26, 2009 guest speaker. She came to L.E.N. after her graduation with another aim: to share with the students her story.
Stephanie used to be a nurse. She had worked as a nurse for 18 years and had not wanted to change her career until she injured her back 9 years ago. After that her career counselor, Angela Chan Connelly, advised her to go to L.E.N. Institute where she could learn new skills to work at an office. The first time for Stephanie at L.E.N. was so hard, because she had been a nurse and had not known anything about computers. She did not have any clue about anything that she studied. She was terrified and was scared even to touch computers. Despite that, she decided to go to school and not give up. The teachers were nice and very helpful here, and each day things became better for her. She began to feel more comfortable.
After a few months of studying, she started an internship in a non-profit organization: Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco. She did everything there. She offered her help to her coworkers, because it is how teams work. Even more, she did not wait for new projects, she asked for them. She was insistent and persistent. And, eventually she was hired. Everything that she had studied at L.E.N. Institute was very helpful for her job. After six months she got a promotion (her current job), because she could work independently. She became a counselor and started to earn $12 per hour. She has all kinds of benefits that include medical and 5 weeks vacation a year. Now her salary has been increased.
Stephanie’s typical day usually starts at 9 a.m. when she checks her emails and voicemails. Then she makes different kinds of reports. After that she enters data to databases. After that she has different routines, depending on what day is it, such as counseling clients in person or through phone, or having meetings for discussing difficult cases. She uses Word, Excel, Access, and Apple applications in her work. There is not any dress code in her work. They dress casually. It helps to have connections with their clients, who usually are not rich people, and have them feel comfortable.
Stephanie likes her job and is very satisfied, but she does not want to stop going forward in her career. She wants to run her own business in the future. She wants to set up databases. That is why she is going to a City College this fall and take as many classes as she can. She thinks her current career will help in her own business, because she works a lot with different kinds of databases and sometimes creates them.
In the end Stephanie gave some advice for the students in searching for jobs. First of all a job seeker needs to have a positive attitude: be helpful, nice and willing to learn. When you are in an interview make sure you have eye contact with an interviewer. Try to answer all the questions. Be able to show proof of your experience or education and recommendations. When you start to work, try to learn as much as you can and do not wait for your supervisors for a job; ask them what to do first. Do your best and everything will be good! Thank you, Stephanie, for your advice and your story.

Ekaterina came to the U.S. 3 years ago. She used to speak English very badly. Ekaterina worked at different positions such as dishwasher, coffee shop worker, and a housekeeper. Coming through all of these challenges, she decided to learn more office skills, so she came to L.E.N. Business and Language Institute. She met a lot of people from different countries, cultures, and religions at L.E.N. Even though she has a bachelor’s degree in Russia, she had to learn to speak English fluently. She wanted to learn office skills as well so she could start working in some clerical jobs. Ekaterina knew she needed to get used to an office environment, because she had no experience in the U.S. L.E.N. Business and Language Institute was the best option for her. Ekaterina Frolova used to study in Russian Industrial University in Volgograd city. In L.E.N. Business and Language Institute she started learning computers, ten-key, typing skills, bookkeeping, and English classes helped her to improve her basic knowledge of accounting and language skills. Before coming to L.E.N. Ekaterina had no idea how to write cover letters or how to make good resume. She didn’t even know how she would pass a job interview. Ekaterina used to type 6 words per minute when she just came to L.E.N. Institute. In the beginning she refused to listen to Nancy, but the resume she wrote on her own didn’t help her at all. So now she is very thankful to Nancy and her teachers for their help. She has been working part time at Genentech since January of this year and recently got another part-time job with them. Ekaterina is very hardworking person, good at multitasking, doing research, and good at numbers and calculations. She is working as a project coordinator and CAD operator/drafter at Genentech. She loves her job and is very happy to have the opportunity to have such a good job in the U.S.