HIRED LEARNING: Dana Vavrova's Persistence leads to Success

By Kam Minhas
There is nothing more rewarding than closing a marketing committee meeting and seeing a member take a call to accept a job offer and glow in elation, relief, and tears of joy. To witness this is to experience the feeling first hand.
I had met Dana Vavrova back in January 2012, when we were both taking the PSGCNJ training class.  My first impression of Dana was that she is a “go-getter” and in the process of finding a job, she would leave no stones unturned. What is monumental regarding Dana’s landing is that she received the offer with Bohler Engineering, as a Senior Design Engineer after a five-year gap in working in the field.  While she worked in managing a Honey Bee production and Website development during the five years, she never lost sight of getting back into civil engineering.
Dana attributes her success to her persistence in effort and networking with a former manager at her new company. The landing was her fifth attempt in applying for similar positions at the same company. Each time she was passed over in spite of the fact that a former manager was pitching for her.  But she did not let this discourage her.  She had applied for the job on Monster.com and after two meetings scheduled over a four-week period with company principles, project managers,  she was offered a job and was asked to report to work three days later. The landing is a dream comes true for Dana because she could not ask for a perfect fit for her skills.
Dana also, attributes her success to PSCNJ and her experience in Marketing and Technology Committee Meetings. She mentions the support and training she received through PSGCNJ gave her the confidence and public speaking skills to communicate effectively in her interviews and on LinkedIn. She urges members to volunteer actively with PSGCNJ committees and maintain a structured approach to their job search. She also worked out and advises to take the job search out of the home office (i.e. coffee shops) to maintain motivation, stamina and to stay in touch with the human factor.
We wish Dana every success in her new job.  She is living proof that PERSISTENCE, PERSEVERANCE and NETWORKING pays off.