MoSTEMWINs Success Story (State Technical College of Missouri)

​Mary Jo Henke, first contacted the grant office on August 18th, after seeing a flyer about our grant program at the JC Career Center.  

I contacted her by phone.  She informed me that she is currently unemployed.  She previously worked for a dentist in the area as an office support assistant.  This dentist retired, leaving her jobless.  We talked briefly about her employment/education goals.  She inquired about the health science programs here at State Technical College, but was not interested in any long term educational programs.  However, she expressed the importance of the knowledge and use of computer applications in any employment field and wants to learn more.   If possible, she desires to continue to work in the dental field.

I expressed my desire for her to enroll in the Computer Concepts class which would begin in just a few days.  Because of the obtainment of an NCRC and a minimum net score of keyboarding at least 10 WPM prior to class attendance, I asked that she please call or visit the JC Career Center as soon as possible to schedule a time for WorkKey testing and to fill out an application, which she did.  On September 7th, I stopped by the Career Center to pick up her application and to speak to several of the staff about Ms. Henke.  Her husband is a Veteran, so I spoke with the Vet Representative, S. Burch, who said he will discuss further opportunities for her, since she is a spouse of a veteran.  I also consulted with Jerri Bowles, to make her aware of her employment goals. 

I personally met Ms. Henke the first night of class, September 11th, 2017.  I previously registered her with the Learning Express Library website, so I took the opportunity that evening to show her the content and availability of various resources, such as sample career practice exams, academic material, etc.  Also, because her keyboarding score was less than 25 WPM, I gave her several free keyboarding websites for her to access and encouraged her to practice.  I also gave each class participant, including Ms. Henke, a packet of material including instructional guides on:  filling out the job application, first impressions in a job interview, dynamics of interviewing skills, ad resume writing.  I suggested that she contact me any time, if need be.

On September 26th, I informed the class of an upcoming Career Fair that was scheduled at the Capital Mall on 9/28/17, and encouraged all to attend.

Several phone calls were made back and forth.  At one point, she considered not completing the class because she didn’t have enough confidence in completing/passing the class.  I encouraged her to continue in the class.  I also suggested several open employment opportunities that I thought she’d be interested in.  She was applying at several locations, but she either did not hear back from them, or they were only hiring part-time.

Ms. Henke continued with class and completed/passed the Microsoft Digital Literacy Certificate and the Microsoft Word Reproduction exit assessment.  However, she did not earn the Certificate of Completion because she was not able to increase her keyboarding score to at least 25 WPM.

I personally spoke with Ms. Henke again on 12-5-17.  We sat and discussed each other’s career goals, retirement, employment, etc.  She continues to search for employment.

Today, 1/2/2018, I received a phone call from Ms. Henke.  She accepted a full time position as the State Coordinator for the Dental Association for the State of Missouri!  She was very thankful for the assistance she received, especially the interviewing guides.  She had a phone and a face-to-face interview and said that all of the sample interview questions I gave her were almost verbatim to what they asked of her!  In addition, she said that the advice I gave her to ask the question, “What are you looking for in a good employee?” at the end of the interview was excellent.  The interviewer even commented on what a good question that was. 

The Dental Association of Denver, Colorado is flying her out to Denver next week for a  one week training and then her office will be located in Jefferson City soon after training. 

I emailed her a website that provided free tutorials on Microsoft Office applications, requesting that she may want to ‘brush up’.   Furthermore, I encouraged her to continue on her keyboarding skills, and that if she felt confident and could prove that she could keyboard 25 WPM or more, I would be glad to document that and give her a Certificate of Completion.

I congratulated her, not only on her new employment find, but of the many successes along the way, especially her ‘pressing forward’ when the going got ‘rough’.

We’ll stay in touch; I’m sure.

​Janet Kremer
Grant Reentry Coordinator/Instructor
State Technical College of Missouri
Linn, MO  65051