From high tech training manager to counselor of the bereaved

Is there life after the high tech service and training industry? Of course! Trainers, training managers, and service engineers develop many skills that are useful in other careers. Realizing this is one step toward “recession-prooofing.”

How do you find these “other” opportunities? Some time ago I mentioned volunteering. Here is how it worked for one of my colleagues, a major PBET supporter, who had worked for several semiconductor equipment supplier companies in California.

From Test Equipment Training Manager to Volunteer

Omy Ronquillo was laid off from his position as Training Manager at Advantest in October 2007. Advantest enrolled him with Right Management, a career management company. Even though Omy did not get a job by going through Right Management, he found ProMatch through them.

According to their web site, ProMatch is an interactive career resource center for professionals who are seeking work in Silicon Valley and the greater San Francisco Bay Area. It is sponsored by the California Employment Development Department (EDD) and the NOVA Workforce Investment Board. There are no fees associated with ProMatch.

ProMatch offers:

Targeted job search workshops
Professional networking opportunities
Success Teams to help you add accountability and team support to your job search
ProMatch alumni contact opportunities, to increase your networking opportunities
Guest speakers
Career coaching

Omy explains, “In order to be a member of ProMatch, one has to give back by volunteering to do things like helping in the administrative work, facilitating workshops and managing different committees. This was the kind of volunteering work that I did for 6 months at ProMatch.

“In the meantime, I had always been active at my church so my parish priest knew me very well.”

From Attending a Funeral to a New Job

As Omy Ronquillo was attending the funeral of a friend, a parishioner who worked for a funeral home, invited him to join and work with him. “Our parish priest heard this and mentioned that he had received an email from the Diocese of Oakland that there were job openings at the cemetery. Our parish priest gave me two names to call,” Omy recalls.

“The next day, I called and left a message to 2 managers. I later found out that they were pretty high up in the organization of the cemetery.

“To make a long story short, the Director of Funeral Home asked me to come in for an interview. The interview that I had was not your typical interview compate to the high tech world I was used to. Two managers talked to me for about 20 minutes and then I was asked to come back on Wednesday. The interview was on a Friday.

“When I returned on Wednesday, I was introduced to one of the Family Service Counselors and she started to introduce me to all the other employees as the new hire!

“Then I said to myself, I better accept the job. Hmmm. I just got myself a job! Thank God.”

The Diocese of Oakland owns six cemeteries around the Bay Area. Omy spent two weeks in training at one of the smaller cemeteries and then began work at the main cemetery.

Just Do It!

“I guess you can say that I just decided that I was going to make this job work for me,” Omy explains. ”I didn’t ask questions. I just did it. As Nike puts it, ‘Just do it.’ And I did it.

“I went in with an open mind and learned the process and now I am the go-to person at work. People come to me for answers to their questions now. I have been working at the cemetery since May 2008.

“As a Family Service Counselor, I meet with families at their time of need with their burial needs. A Funeral Director helps them with their funeral needs. The office where I work at, has both funeral and cemetery services. If a family doesn’t have any cemetery plot, I help them select their grave. If nobody had died yet, I help them with their pre-arrangements.

Making the Transition

I asked Omy what skills as an equipment training manager prepared him for the work he is doing now. He says it was the customer service aspect, the experience he had working with extremely demanding and difficult high tech customers who expect a lot from a supplier.

“In my new job,” Omy says, “I have to do a lot of customer service. For example, when families call me to ask where their headstone is. Or why the second inscription on their loved ones grave is missing. Or why the grass on the grave is brown instead of green.

“I don’t think I will go back to the high tech industry anymore. I am able to make the kind of money I was making when I was a Training Business Manager. To top it all, I like my new job. I don’t have the same stress as I had when I working in the high tech industry.”

* * * * *

I want to thank Omy Ronquillo for all that he shared with us! In his words: “I really enjoy telling people what I do now and how blessed I am to find this new ministry and career.”

Recession-proofing: Look at your skills. Look beyond yourself. Just do it.

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