Caring Navy Vet Fast-Tracks Medical Career

Upon his medical retirement from the U.S. Navy, James was referred to Goodwill after completing an extensive vocational rehabilitation program at the VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System.

At his first meeting with a Goodwill Veteran Services career coach, James expressed a sincere empathy towards people with health challenges, as well as a strong desire to give back to his community. Together they identified a career path that would take James from training as a medical assistant to becoming a registered nurse.

However, James had been out of the civilian workforce for 20 years, and during that time he also had not completed any training programs. To assess James’ commitment level and ability to successfully navigate a traditional training program, the career coach assigned James three virtual workshops. Not only did he complete the three assignments, but through Accenture's Skills to Succeed Academy—a free, highly interactive online training program—James completed an additional 36 training segments on his own initiative.

Given James’ clear commitment, the career coach encouraged James to begin his medical training by attending the NV HOPE Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) Bootcamp and subsequent CNA training. After successfully completing the bootcamp, James was inspired to enroll in the Medical Assistant Training program to accelerate his employment in the healthcare field.

Throughout the 90 days of classroom and lab exercises, James mentored his less experienced classmates and graduated among the top three in his cohort. At the inaugural 90-Day MA graduation ceremony, James and his cohort were ushered into full-time employment at a regional health provider, where they began a paid externship while earning their MA certification.

James loves the direction his career path has taken and sees nothing but opportunity on the horizon. “I can’t wait to finish training and begin working as a medical assistant so I can help people that need help!” said James. “I can’t thank Goodwill enough for the opportunity.”

Goodwill helped James embrace new possibilities.

Learn how Goodwill’s Career Services and Veteran Services can work for you.