WIOA Helps Dislocated Worker Match Transferable Skills to New Industry

Laid off worker gains confidence to switch industries.

Morgan* lost their job in the state government in January 2021. They connected with the WorkSmart Network and learned about the services available to them under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Dislocated Worker Program.

Morgan wanted to transfer industries but wasn’t sure where to start. They had worked in the state government for 18 years and had a resume, but it wasn’t designed to showcase their transferable skills.

“I know if I can connect with [employers] I can sell my transferable skills. But if I have this resume and they won’t call me back, none of it matters.”

They worked with their WIOA Career Planner to choose what skills to highlight on their resume and format it to match various industries.

Morgan knew they were interested in project management and worked with their WIOA Career Planner to narrow down the industries they were interested in as well as search available jobs.”

“I think there’s a lot of people that are in my situation where I’ve done something for a long time and, for whatever reason, this isn’t going to work out for me anymore and that’s all I’ve known. But it’s mentally hard to get to that point of knowing what I want to do.”

Morgan accepted a project management position in September 2021. Their goal is to become more familiar with the industry and climb the career ladder as they learn more through training and experience.

“I absolutely love [my job]. It is literally like I woke up one day to an entirely new life. that’s how enthusiastic I am about what I’m doing now and I know I would not have gotten to that point if [my WIOA Career Planner] hadn’t helped me […] They gave me confidence that I could do something else.”

*The individual’s name was changed to protect their identity. 

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