Angelina Avina was a stay-at-home mother to her three children for several years but found herself looking for opportunities that would allow her to support her family and open the possibility of one day buying her kids a house.
However, after several years out of the workforce, she was not getting hired.
Having worked at the America’s Job Center of California in Palmdale (operated by JVS SoCal), she knew to sift through the programs on the website to find one that appealed to her. Even though Angelina was initially skeptical of its free nature, thinking it could possibly even be a scam, she felt drawn to the MediWork$ program.
“I was like, is this really free? Is this a scam? But it wasn’t — it was completely free.”
MediWork$ (formerly CareerWork$ Medical) is a free, eight-week job training program from JVS SoCal that prepares participants for non-clinical roles in the healthcare industry, such as administrative assistant, patient service representative, and insurance verification.
Having long been interested in a career as a medical receptionist, she was delighted upon finding out that she had been accepted to the program.
The program covers healthcare fundamentals and medical terminology alongside career-building skills like resume writing and interview preparation, and it is partnered with leading Southern California hospitals and clinics to support job placement and career advancement.
The transition to both work and training was difficult to balance, but with the support of JVS SoCal, Angelina obtained both a Basic Life Support (BLS) and a Medical Terminology certificate. She made use of several of the resources available to her, including receiving a “gas stipend and clothing allowance for professional clothing,” easing the burden of a 2–3-hour commute. These supports made a real difference, easing the everyday hurdles that might otherwise have stood in her way.
Since graduating from the program, Angelina has started a job at Maxim Healthcare. She is most grateful to MediWork$ for the consistent career support and communicativeness, citing two of her instructors as being notably warm and helpful as she navigated the journey from training to interviews to getting hired and finally starting the job.
When asked about which skills she found most helpful, Angelina cited the resume-building skills she gained throughout the program as being essential to her current success. She even suggested that she felt confident enough to help others in her community looking to make similar transformations, eager to pass along what she had learned.
“Before, I thought my resume was good. Now I’m like, oh no — it’s way better now. And I feel like I can help people with their resumes.”
She thanks the MediWork$ program for “changing my life.” In terms of long-term career goals, she wishes to get promoted at her hospital to a job with full-time pay and benefits to best support her family’s long-term goals.
Looking ahead, Angelina hopes to grow into a management role in the medical field “even general manager, the one doing the hiring.” For now, she’s grateful for how far the program has carried her: “Thank you, JVS SoCal.”