Her Story
About Frances
I started my career in human services in 2015 at Good Shepherd's Group Home for girls, and from there I transitioned to where I work now with HRA and Public Assistance. I've been with this company for 9-10 years, starting from reception and working my way up to supervisor. In my current role, I help clients find work and prepare them to go back into the working field after they've been on public assistance, whether for a long time or a short time. We help them with everything they need - clothing, interview skills, resume building, cover letters. We try to find trainings in the community that are offered for free, and if they want to go back to school, we help them enroll in community programs for high school diplomas or GEDs. A lot of our clients are coming home from jail, so it's about re-acclimating them with the world and easing them back into the working world after they've been incarcerated for years. Many of our clients also have mental illnesses and disabilities. I naturally like helping people - I went to school for this because I wanted to help people, and I'm just a natural helper. The pay in human services is not that good, so clearly I'm not here for the money. I'm here because it feels good to help people find an outlet when they're going through something. It's a pivotal moment in a client's life when you help them find a job and get off public assistance. They remember you for their lives, especially the young kids who don't know what they want to do. It's always good to have them come back and thank me or write me an email, or when I run into them in the street and they say 'Miss Alexis' - it's nice to see them doing okay.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Frances
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I've ever gotten was: if they ask you to do something and you're not comfortable with it the first time, you have to say no, because the moment you say yes, it's over. It's basically the longer version of trust your gut. You have to listen to that gut feeling and not do something if it doesn't feel right, because once you say yes that first time, there's no going back.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
You gotta do it because you love it, not for the money. You need patience and empathy. And number one, do not take anything personal. It's a very tough field because you're dealing with people from all walks of life, different backgrounds, and a lot of our clients have mental illnesses and disabilities. They might come at you and be a little disrespectful, but it's not personal - they just... it's not personal. You gotta not take that in. I'm big on checking myself when I get out of work and checking myself when I get into work. You just never know what somebody's going through, and you saying something can either trigger that or make it better, so just be mindful of what you say and how you deal with people. There's a difference between being kind and being nice. I'm a nice person, but sometimes nice people get walked all over, and in this field you cannot be nice, you have to be kind.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values that are most important to me in my work and personal life are trust, honesty, and communication. I need to be able to trust the people I work with. I also value growth - I want to keep learning and developing. And I value hard work. These are the foundations that guide how I approach both my professional responsibilities and my personal relationships.
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