“I’m so thankful for the time I had with my Big Sister. Truly, without her, I would not have gone to college.”
– Jane, Alumni Little Sister & new Workplace Mentoring Director at BBBS
At Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest, our team has built a strong community of compassion and caring that has Alumni Bigs, and Littles, coming back years later. Many come to us with a strong desire to pay it forward after having such transformational experiences in our program. Alumni Little, Jane, is now at the height of her career and credits her Big Sister for showing her the path to college. She has built a beautiful career directing career services at universities like the University of Oregon, Michigan State University, and California State University, Bakersfield. As the author of the book “WHO Logic: What, How & Outcome: A Practical & Tactical Valuation Tool for Career Management,” Jane is a master at coaching students on how to recognize the value of their skills for success in job interviews.
Recently, Jane came back to her roots in the Pacific Northwest to lead a resume-building workshop for high school Littles and recently became one of Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest’s newest employees. Jane will be starting as the Workplace Mentoring Director on our Program team at the end of this month!
“My Big Sister and I were connected for five years. She was so pivotal to my growth and development from age 10-15. As a college student in her early twenties, she instilled in me the importance of an education to change my life circumstances.” said Jane. Match relationships can change the trajectory of a young person’s life helping them focus on higher aspirations, greater confidence, and better relationships in their lives. Each match sets individual goals for the year to focus on things like academic performance, interpersonal relationships, and even serving the community together. The impact of a connection can last a lifetime and Jane is one of many Alumni Littles who has returned to help the next generation.
Jane was excited to lead this workshop to share her experiences with Littles and to provide them guidance in building their big futures. The workshop was held at the BBBS offices and hosted students ages 13-18 and their Bigs. Jane began by explaining the importance of creating value propositions to sell your skills to an employer and they jumped right in for an exercise to try it out. Each student was assigned a generic product, with no branding, and they each went around the room to explain the selling points and value of their assigned object. This icebreaker gave the Littles a solid understanding of how to differentiate themselves on paper when drafting their first resume.
Jane then instructed the group to switch gears to personalize the exercise, having them write down value points about an experience they have had, like a volunteer experience, club, or activity they have been a part of using her WHO Logic Framework. “This session was soul-feeding for me” shared Jane. They then looked at two sample resumes, one that had limited detail, stuck in the “What” when describing their past experiences. The other, which had robust detail, dove into the “How” listing skills and outcomes. The students were asked, if they were the hiring manager, which person would they hire? “The students REALLY got it and as they started to share out around the room, you could see the lightbulbs going off for them as they saw the importance of value propositions,” said Jane.
There was one student, who was 13 years old, who shared with Jane that this workshop helped him realize that his resume was stuck in the “What” and he realized now that he had to be more descriptive. “I thought to myself, oh my gosh, this kid is going to rule the world one day. To care so much at 13, about his resume and future, it was powerful to see” Jane shared.
Throughout the year, we host over a dozen high school workshops to help students learn about things like resume building, financial literacy, completing the FASFA, and learning about different career paths through a career panel. Last year 92% of the high school Littles we served graduated from high school, compared to the state average of 80%. We are on a mission to make sure that high school Littles have all the tools and support they need to create their own BIG, beautiful futures. We are so thrilled to have Jane as a part of our growing team.
