Deciding to Move Was Difficult – But TERRA Made Finding a Job Easy

By Jezabel Southard

Posted on November 7, 2017

Dahlia Pillias was a successful administrative professional, living in Guam, who one day found herself having to make a difficult choice.

You see, her daughter decided that she wanted to go to college outside of Guam. She wanted to go to school in the United States.

After careful deliberation, Dahlia determined that it would be easier, financially, if the family moved to the U.S. too.

“I couldn’t afford to stay in Guam and pay for my daughter’s full-time college tuition,” Dahlia shared.

They settled down in Portland, Oregon.

This major move was not the easiest. “We left our family community in Guam and moved to this bigger place. It was a total shock.”

Wanting to acclimate to her new home, Dahlia waited a couple of weeks before beginning the process of finding a job.

When she was ready to begin her search, she shared her resume online. Within two days she was being contacted by employment agencies. One of which was TERRA, a top temp agency in Portland.

“Many staffing agencies called me, but I felt more confident going with TERRA.” She explained. “I felt like TERRA could actually help me. They seemed more sincere…I could tell over the phone. Then I met with Josh.”

Josh Byrnes is Branch Manager of TERRA’s NE Portland location.

As manager of a well-connected staffing firm, he knew that finding a job for someone with Dahlia’s skills would not be a problem.

He shared, “Dahlia was the kind of candidate you don’t see very often – two employers in the last 27 years! That, combined with her increasing responsibilities in those roles, made me confident that she would do well anywhere I placed her.”

Dahlia told Josh that she was interested in doing office administration work, since that was in line with her previous experience.

“I also wanted to work with good people and for good management. It was just as important as the type of work I’d be doing. I just wanted to make sure it was the right fit for me.”

Josh had a client that was looking for a temporary Office Administrator., and in less than a week, Dahlia was working for them.

Though this was meant to be a short-term assignment, the client quickly realized that Dahlia was a great asset to their business.

She said, “Within three days of starting, the VP had a meeting with me and was offering me a full-time job.”

And Dahlia is pleased with her new work home.  She said, “I like the people I work with and look forward to seeing them. I am very happy. I am glad I found them.”

It goes without saying that the client absolutely loves Dahlia.

According to Josh, “The client told me, ‘She handles our crazy so well!’ They love that she requires minimal instruction and training. She figures out what works and makes things happen.”

He added, “Dahlia is the sole office personnel for this location. She is the liaison between many departments. She enjoys being the person that leadership relies on to get information and keep things moving. I knew she would be what they needed and that it would result in job satisfaction for her.”

Some people prefer finding a job on their own, but Dahlia was happy to have Josh on her side.

“Josh was there to support me, to listen to me. He was very helpful and reassured me. I felt like he would do anything for me. He was honest and straight with me,” she began.

“It felt so good knowing that I could tell him if I had a problem. I always felt confident that he could help me – and he did.”

Dahlia had never worked with a staffing agency before, but she had this to say to someone in need of help with their job search.

“Temp agencies will do the leg work. You get to pick the job that works for you. They will look for the kind of work you want.

I recommend working with TERRA. As a matter of fact, my son is coming to Portland and I am telling him to go to TERRA.

Other agencies didn’t care about my feelings. ‘Do you want the job or not?’ You can feel the vibe of a good environment and I really didn’t get a good feeling from other agencies.

TERRA can help you find something to do to make money. Have confidence! Go out there and try!”

We are so glad that we could help Dahlia with her job search.

How TERRA Can Help You

Need help finding a job?

TERRA Staffing is a leading temp agency that works with companies large and small, across a variety of industries and we can help open the door for new career opportunities – so you can do the rest.

Getting started with us is easy. Just check out our current job openings.

We have offices in the Seattle-Puget Sound, Portland-Metro, and Phoenix-Metro areas and our expert recruiters are waiting to speak with you!

Categories: Success Stories

Tags: finding a job, how to get a job, Portland, Success Story

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