How a Course Catalog Changed a Career
Alumna explains her career move from insurance to collision repair
In 2009, when alumna Susan Bock was laid off after 16-plus years in the insurance industry, she credits a Fox Valley Technical College course catalog for steering her toward a new career. On the last page of the publication, that’s where she saw the Vehicle Refinishing and Repair Technology program.
At 39 years old, Susan returned to school and got to work on her associate degree. She called her experience at FVTC eye-opening.
“I had a complete misconception of how much knowledge you need to have to actually know how to do the repairs; to understand what you’re repairing, and how to repair it,” Susan said.
Fast forward more than a decade, and today Susan works at I-CAR in Appleton where she is a Senior Associate, Industry Technical Relations. Susan recently shared her unique career track with FenderBender. The website was creating an article about the current labor shortage in the automotive aftermarket and used Susan’s story as an example of how the industry needs to recruit differently and find employees in unsuspecting places.
“It sounds so cliché but just because that’s how it’s always been done, that doesn’t mean that’s how you [have to] do it now,” Susan said.
Read the complete story on FenderBender: From the Outside In