The MicroTrain Blog

"Retail Professional Uses MicroTrain Experience to Take Career to the Next Level”

by Morgan Richardson on March 23rd, 2018

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Before advancing her career by gaining professional certifications, Tracee Jones was already a success story. Tracee started her career in retail and worked her way up from an Assistant Manager at Aeropostale to the Business Development Manager of Apparel at Sears. With 10 years of experience, she demonstrated skills in marketing, staff training, and change management. Yet when Sears eliminated hundreds of positions in 2016, Tracee was laid off.     

After being contacted by MicroTrain, Tracee decided to take advantage of her time off by gaining certifications through the Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act. When explaining why she decided to complete her training at MicroTrain, Tracee stated “I heard about [WIOA] through my outplacement, but they made it seem like we had to do a lot of the leg work...MicroTrain guided me through the whole process. I was really appreciative of that.”

Once at MicroTrain, Tracee took ITIL and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt classes and studied hard to receive her certifications. In addition to the new skills she learned, Tracee took advantage of MicroTrain’s career services by going through a job search workshop. “I think the class really helped,” Tracee said. “The instructor guided us on how to set up our LinkedIn and add our certifications. Doing that really helped my profile get noticed.” Adding her new certifications to LinkedIn made all of the difference as it got the attention of her new employer.

Now, Tracee is a Field Engagement Manager at a loyalty and marketing services provider in the Chicagoland area. In her new role, Tracee supports clients by training in-store teams on new loyalty programs. When reflecting on her MicroTrain experience, Tracee remembers the support she received from MicroTrain staff as being a great help. “Even when I didn’t pass my exams, they said ‘We’ll help you do this.’ They were very supportive.”

Raves & Praise

Kaycee Ekufu

MCSA

The instructor [Al Khalfan] was very knowledgeable in the field. He presented the materials and concepts with a professional touch. He also frequently adds humor to his teachings, which made it easier for me to understand. The support staff was all nice, gentle, caring, and very helpful. The materials, rooms and amenities were excellent and exceeded expected standards.

Karine Bucci

Project Management

Great class, loved the interaction and team-building exercises. Plenty of materials and learning tools supplied. Although it was a full week's class, never boring. Donna [Russell] was awesome and gave many supporting examples for better understanding.

David

A Cisco Success Story

I attended a resume writing seminar & conducted mock phone interviews with a Microtrain career counselor. These two activities gave me a leg up on distinguishing myself from all the other people looking for work. Since the career counselor's at Microtrain had a track record of getting people hired, their insight and positive past experiences helped me tremendously in getting hired with a Cisco Voice Systems Integrator in the Chicago area. I was hired as a Cisco Voice Tech Engineer with a starting salary of $65,000 / year with a Cisco voice systems reseller located in the Chicagoland area. Microtrain was very instramental in making this a reality. From expediting my WIA grant, to providing excellent hands-on training from knowledgable instructors I was able to achieve becoming certified with my CCNP. Microtrain's career services was the final catalyst in connecting me with this company by communicating with them on my behalf and with me in setting up the interview. One week later and I was hired. No joke. Thanks Microtrain!

Robert Graf

MCSA

Microtrain presents the course material in an interesting and concise manner. Microtrain gives the student all the resources necessary to pass the certification exams. Both the Chicago and Lombard facilities were excellent, and the staff goes to any length to accommodate any student changes.

Jean S.

PMP Certification Training, Lombard, 2008

I was laid off for many months and not really getting many callbacks for my resume and no job offers. After I put the letters PMP on it, not only did I see an increase in quantity, but also quality of interviews. I had been spinning my wheels for 5 months, and after the PMP went on, I had 2 job offers in 6 weeks. It really was the "golden ticket"

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