Jamaul attributes much of his drive for self-improvement to supporting his family and serving as a positive role model for his two children. After out of high school, Taylor worked for retail and customer service positions as a third-party contractor, but he didn’t find a field…
Think about the coaches you’ve had in your life. When you were younger, maybe you had a sports coach who encouraged you when times were tough and helped call your next moves. As you got older, maybe you had a coach when you were trying to…
No childcare. Lack of transportation. College is too expense. There’s no time left in the day. Thirty-somethings don’t go back to school. These are just some of the worries our FastForward coaches hear when talking to people who are interested in career training. And we’re here…
Terence Song won a lottery and almost three years later, he has graduated from the Southside Virginia Community College Power Line Worker Training Program at Pickett Park in Blackstone, Virginia. A native of Cameroon, a country located in Central Africa, Song had applied for the Diversity…
FANTIC is fantastic, but do you qualify? Woah, WIOA is a great way to pay for training, but are you eligible? There are a lot of grants and financial assistance out there, but figuring out if you can receive the support is another thing. One of…
We’ve flipped the calendar page to a new year. Welcome to 2019! Some people think New Year’s resolutions are a bit of a joke. But for a lot of us, we do take some time at the start of the year to set some goals. “Way…
Matt has been a drone enthusiast for several years. The avid outdoorsman was fascinated by the vantage point that a flying quadcopter could give while out hunting, fishing or hiking – but he soon realized his drone use could go far beyond his weekend hobbies. “I…
For most of her adult life, Jennifer Merrill has made a living by helping students navigate the obstacles that often come with pursuing an education. Serving as one of two FastForward Career Coaches at Northern Virginia Community College, Merrill has worked in a variety of campus-related…
We could just say that being a FastForward graduate leads to a 25-50 percent increase in salary, which might be enough for some people to enroll. But the benefits of going through FastForward go well beyond your paycheck. We surveyed hundreds of FastForward graduates, and of…
“Everybody’s got the same equipment and machinery. What differentiates us from anyone else out there in the marketplace is our people.” – Jeff Stapel Shickel Corporation H.R. Manager Jeff Stapel knows that skilled, industry-credentialed workers give his Shenandoah Valley firm its edge in a very competitive…