Alumni Spotlight: Andrea Lacko
Andrea Lacko has been a successful editor for over 20 years. When she lost her job in December 2020 during a third-round of Covid layoffs at her former employer (a publisher of educational testing products and cognitive tests), she was, as she said, “freaked out.” That didn’t stop her, however, from hunkering down immediately to begin her search for a new job.
“I was in full panic mode and signed up right away at CRC. “I knew I had to update my resume. It had been 16 years since I’d looked for a job. And I knew job hunting had changed a lot since I’d last looked for a job.”
Andrea looked at the resumes of friends who had recently been hired into new jobs and talked with them about how they went about finding new employment. She found working with her CRC advisor quite beneficial, and she “took just about every CRC class that was offered. The LinkedIn classes and specialists helped me sharpen my profile page. And meeting with CRC’s Interview Specialist was super helpful because I hadn’t been interviewed in years. It was good to practice and learn about online interviewing even though I ultimately had an in-person interview for the job I got.” In addition to working with CRC, Andrea relied upon several local libraries for online/virtual classes.
Andrea is now working as an editor at the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. She learned about the job initially via a job board. “I applied through the job board but also went to the ABPN website and applied” (something she learned to do during a library program hosted by CRC). Applying through both avenues did the trick— Andrea was contacted and then interviewed by the HR rep a few days after submitting her updated resume. She was interviewed by an HR rep and the hiring manager the following week and hired a few days later—the entire application to hiring process took only two weeks!
Andrea admits that traditional networking is not something she likes to do and was grateful that her job came through in a less expected way. Nevertheless, the networking and other job seeking skills she learned at CRC were invaluable. “I was prepared with answers to the ‘50 Behavioral-Based Interview Questions,’ but my interviewer spent most of the time selling me on the job!”
What advice does Andrea have for current job seekers? “Take advantage of as many of the programs at CRC and elsewhere” that you can find. “Learning how to present myself successfully” was key, “especially because how you get a job now is so different from 20+ years ago. “Andrea also found CRC’s weekly newsletter particularly helpful. “Knowing there’s a place like CRC is really comforting. I tell everyone I know who is out of work about CRC and how much it helped me. And I encourage them to either join CRC or find a similar program where they live.”
- Interview and story by John Strauss, CRC Board Member
