Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont

“It’s easy to think, ‘What’s wrong with me?’ Goodwill made me feel better about myself. My counselor Wanda was a positive influence. Goodwill wants you to be successful.”

After losing her job at 55 years old, Lynne was terrified her age would make her less appealing to an employer. Today, Lynne is working again. She tells any mature worker to believe in themselves and not give up.

Lynne says she was in survival mode when she turned to Goodwill’s Concord Job Connection for help after her medical transcriptionist job was eliminated at a Charlotte-area healthcare provider. For the first time in her 28 years in the workforce, she was unable to find employment. To make matters worse, she lost her home during the process.

“Goodwill changed my life for the positive by just walking through the door,” Lynne says. “I was desperate. I knew my unemployment was running out at the time.”

Lynne says she quickly realized Goodwill offered something that wasn’t advertised as part of the job resource center – a support system that made her feel like she wasn’t alone. She brushed up on her computer skills, polished her resume and worked with Wanda Weeks, a career counselor.

While Lynne looked for work that matched her transcription experience, she received paid work experience – helping other unemployed people like herself – at the Job Connection through the Title V program. Title V is a work experience program for mature and older workers.

“It’s easy to think, ‘What’s wrong with me?’ Goodwill made me feel better about myself. My counselor Wanda was a positive influence. Goodwill wants you to be successful,” Lynne says.

Lynne says was inspired by other Goodwill success stories, recalling moments during her Goodwill work experience when they would celebrate another participant’s employment.

Lynne’s patience eventually paid off. Just days before she was scheduled to relocate to New York for employment, she was offered a job with Piedmont Plastic Surgery and Dermatology in Ballantyne as a medical transcriptionist.

“I told the moving guys I was going to New York, or Pineville if I got the job at Piedmont,” Lynn recalls. “If I didn’t go to Goodwill, a lot of what happened wouldn’t have happened.”

Lynne’s advice to others her age: you’re never too old to learn.

“Older people need to know they still have a chance,” she says. “You have to be willing to catch up your skills. We’re competing against people of all ages and against technology.”

Getting a job at the Ballantyne medical office didn’t just reignite Lynne’s career and provide her financial stability, it allowed her to stay in the Charlotte area close to her daughter and first grandchild.

“I feel more accomplished now. I am contributing to society again. I have that ‘you can do it’ attitude. You can still be successful at 56.”