Jennifer Berenguer – Administrative Assistant

I never dreamt, nor was it my goal, to become a Leadership and Management trainer. Life gave me a lot of lemons, and I made them into lemonades; being a trainer was one of the best lemonades I have ever done in my life. I was in a precarious, depressing situation with my ex-husband, who took everything I had, including my self-worth. I decided to pick up the pieces and get a stable job and start from there.

A friend of mine recommended I apply to this company that is looking for a salesperson. Little did I know, they were looking for a trainer, and I only found out during the interview. I was honest to tell them that I didn’t have any experience and that I didn’t particularly appreciate talking to big groups. They were interested in my sales experience, so I told them I was confident that I could do that for your company. They asked me to do a short presentation on my second interview. I put on my brave face and said, sure, I will try my best, but I knew I tanked this interview deep inside. Why go ahead with it? Why did I agree to come back? I should have said no, but that small voice of hope and excitement started to get louder, telling me I should try new skills. I studied the whole weekend, and I was able to produce a simple presentation, and after a week, the company hired me. I was shocked. I believe that they saw potential in me, and that gave me courage.

I realised my work experiences from my previous jobs allowed me to be a skilled trainer in hindsight. I gained so much insight, learned what problems companies face, and dealt with different industries that gave me more experience in critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Those experiences have allowed me to be a training director for an international company partnered with a local firm. This new position gave me new experiences as this was a different ball game for me. I had the autonomy to make decisions, have initiative, and use critical and creative thinking and problem-solving skills with the help of using all the available resources. I was able to apply all experiences, my learnings, and remembering my past mistakes to keep me grounded and levelheaded. As my new career in the virtual world, these experiences have been more than gold to me, and it has brought me success as I have shared and used my experiences and have the mindset of an open-minded learner.

For a copy of Jennifer’s resume please click here.