ATD Blog
Mon May 04 2009
(V. Dion Haynes, Washington Post Staff Writer) Karen Collins Henry, who lost her real estate job when the housing market began to collapse in 2007, says her applications for work in a variety of fields have been rejected or ignored, so she's given up looking. Last fall, she began taking computer graphics courses and is pinning her hopes on a career developing video games that help special needs students learn in the classroom.
Henry is among a growing number of unemployed people in the Washington region opting for job training, some using government funding and others getting tax credits, to reinvent themselves after an often drawn-out and fruitless search for work.
"It seems like the requirements have changed, the stakes are higher, there is a bigger pool of people" looking for work, said Henry, who is enrolled at Montgomery College and plans to transfer to the University of Baltimore.
"I'll have my education in a cool field," Henry, 46, of Damascus, said. "Hopefully, I'll be employable."
Training officials caution that there's little guarantee that a job will be waiting given the economic climate, even in the Washington area, where proximity to the federal government has largely shielded the region from the large-scale job losses seen in other parts of the nation.
You've Reached ATD Member-only Content
Become an ATD member to continue
Already a member?Sign In
More from ATD