Roger Slowinski Finds a Technician Position Amid the Coronavirus Crisis : A Candidate Success Story

A young Black woman leads her team in a project meeting

By

Siel Ju

Categories

Before his layoff in early 2020, Roger Slowinski had never applied for a job online.

“I’d been with my company for 28 years, through a few acquisitions,” Roger said. “I started out as a field service engineer, then when the company moved me to Omaha, I did tech support and bench technician work.”

But in January, Roger’s company reduced its workforce. So for the first time in nearly three decades, Roger had to update his resume—and learn how to conduct a job search online. The first month, he tackled the process all on his own.

“At first, I just added to my old resume and put in my new information. I tried that and, well, I did have some interviews, but those jobs didn’t pay enough.”

Then, the coronavirus pandemic hit. The number of open positions shrank, and a job interview he had set up was put on hold—indefinitely.

“I would send off these resume applications, and I wouldn’t hear anything back,” Roger said. “I didn’t know whether the job was on hold, or they didn’t care for my resume.”

So Roger decided to get some help. He activated Intoo’s outplacement solution, a career transition service he’d been given by his former employer as part of his severance package. Once he logged on to the platform, he was able to quickly submit his resume in for review. Intoo career coach Karen took a close look at it, and the two got on the phone to start the revision process.

 

“Karen would go through and change stuff, then I would look at it, until we finally got it to where I wanted it,” Roger said. “It was nice being able to talk to somebody that knew what’s current and what needs to be on the resume now. We expanded more on my last job—30 years ago, you didn’t have to put all that in there. So that was just nice talking with her and figuring stuff out.”

The two worked collaboratively, with Karen listening closely to Roger talk about the specifics of his job—down to the types of equipment he worked with—and finetuning her suggestions to match. Karen also gave Roger tips to ward off potential age discrimination.

“A lot of my stuff had my dates on them. That was the highlight. And now that I’m 63, you don’t want to highlight that. So I redid the resume so the dates weren’t so obvious, so when someone first glanced at it, it wasn’t something that drew your attention. And we took off one of the jobs I had back in the day. We got it down to one page.”

After a couple meetings with Karen, Roger’s new resume was ready. He started sending it out—and getting better responses. Soon after, Roger accepted a technician job with Fiserv, a financial services technology company. He started work the first week of May 2020, problem-solving and repairing equipment breaks.

As a Intoo’s outplacement solution user, Roger had unlimited, on-demand access to career coaches as well as many other premium services that help candidates compete in the current job market—such as video interview prep, personality and skills assessment tests, and LinkedIn networking and branding resources. But because Roger found a job fairly quickly, he didn’t need to use the services for very long.

“If it had taken longer, I would have probably asked Karen about other tools,” Roger said. “But we didn’t have to go that far. It wasn’t long after we got the resume done that I got the interview with Fiserv. I think the new resume made a difference, especially since with one company, I had applied twice before with my old resume and didn’t hear anything. The third time was when I heard back, and that’s when I used the new resume that Karen helped me write up.”


Intoo’s virtual outplacement helps transitioning employees land their next job 2.5 times faster than the national average time it takes to find employment—all without leaving their homes. Designed for employees of all levels, industries, and backgrounds, Intoo’s coaching-first, award-winning online platform accelerates career transition by connecting candidates with career coaches faster and by providing personalized guidance for each individual.

Learn how to effectively build and transition your workforce.

Latest Posts

How to Conduct Effective Stay Interviews 
How to Conduct Effective Stay Interviews 

Stay interviews are a proactive tool for employee retention. They focus on listening and fostering open dialogue between managers and employees to strengthen engagement, boost morale, and address potential concerns before they lead to turnover.What Is a Stay...

How to Manage High-Performing Employees Effectively
How to Manage High-Performing Employees Effectively

High-performing employees are often self-motivated, deadline-driven, and very collaborative, and exhibit strong leadership qualities. As a result, some managers may overlook the fact that these team members still need support.  This may present dangers to the...

Outsourcing Training: Why It Matters for Business Success
Outsourcing Training: Why It Matters for Business Success

Internal training teams everywhere face the same challenge: too much work and not enough time.  Requests for new programs, in areas such as onboarding, compliance, leadership development, technical upskilling, and more, come in constantly. As a result, internal...

How to Influence Others in the Workplace 
How to Influence Others in the Workplace 

The ability to influence others in the workplace is a core leadership skill that empowers employees at all levels to foster collaboration, drive meaningful change, and build deeper professional relationships.  People who master the art of ethical influence become...

How to Improve Workplace Collaboration 
How to Improve Workplace Collaboration 

Collaboration has become the new currency of business performance. Companies that get it right innovate more quickly, solve problems faster, and keep employees more engaged.  Yet most workplaces still treat collaboration as something that “just happens” when people...

10 Characteristics of a Good Leader 
10 Characteristics of a Good Leader 

Leadership sits at the heart of every organization’s success. The right leader can elevate performance, inspire innovation, and shape positive culture, while poor leadership erodes trust and fuels disengagement. Importantly, leadership isn’t reserved for the few who...

Report: 80% of Employees Say Companies Underestimate Layoff Fallout
Report: 80% of Employees Say Companies Underestimate Layoff Fallout

INTOO announced September 16 the publication of its Culture in the Balance: Leading Through Layoffs Without Losing Trust report: a summary of findings from a new global survey that explores how companies can mitigate the negative impact of layoffs to preserve their...

INTOO Masterclass Wins Best Professional Development Innovation
INTOO Masterclass Wins Best Professional Development Innovation

INTOO is proud to announce it has been named a winner of the Silver Award in the 17th Annual 2025 Globee® Awards for Innovation, also known as the Golden Bridge Awards®. This prestigious awards program honors the world’s most innovative initiatives, products,...

Subscribe to our newsletter!

Learn about career solutions and trends that matter to the HR community.