At Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana, two thirds of our over 6,000 employees have a barrier to employment such as a disability, a lack of high school diploma or criminal background. Another barrier that is common in the workforce but often overlooked is age.
To combat that, the United States recognizes the last full week of September as National Employ Older Workers Week. This is a time to increase awareness of older workers and their contributions to the workplace. Here at Goodwill, older workers, like Susan Sheets, help carry our mission of changing lives every day forward.
Before joining Goodwill, Susan was a teacher at a traditional public high school for 23 years. After taking a break from teaching to take care of her mother, Susan learned about The Excel Center®, Goodwill’s tuition-free high school for adults. A new location was opening in her area and she wanted to be a part of the opportunity.
While working at The Excel Center, Susan often collaborated with TalentSource™, Goodwill’s in-house workforce and career coaching intermediary. TalentSource connected students and alumni to employment opportunities and local employers, which Susan considered a lifeline in her role.
Susan retired from The Excel Center in 2022. However, when an opportunity opened up to work with TalentSource 18 months later, Susan leapt at the chance.
In her current position as a Rural Career Pathways Coordinator, Susan works with graduates of The Excel Center to help them discover their short and long-term career goals and design a pathway to reach them. She also develops relationships with current students, employment partners and training providers. The overall goal is to find training and employment opportunities that would allow Mission and Education Alumni who are TalentSource participants to thrive in local communities with sustainable incomes.
“I work directly with graduates and their families and take full advantage of the wraparound support provided both internally and externally outside my career coaching services,” said Susan. “We form a web of support that allows us to change lives even when we encounter barriers that feel insurmountable to the graduate.”
Susan not only finds fulfillment in helping participants discover their passions, but also growing in her own career as an older individual.
“Every older worker has a skillset that has been built over decades,” said Susan. “With that skillset comes confidence that we can do more and do better than we thought possible earlier in our careers. We look for opportunities to do that in an environment where age is considered to be a real strength, not a liability.”
Even now, Susan still feels like she has more to learn.
“At age 63, there are many things that I still want to do as a professional and I feel that I am continuing to learn more about my own agilities,” said Susan. “I am a confident classroom teacher, but I have discovered that I have other skills as well.”
As Susan has transitioned from a teacher to a career coach and career pathways coordinator, she hopes to lay a strong foundation for the continuation of Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana’s work in rural Indiana.
“I always knew that my parents were proud of me as a teacher,” said Susan. “I wish they were here now because I think their pride would be magnified by a million.”
To learn more about TalentSource and their career services, visit goodwilltalentsource.org.