Kristen Conte started volunteering with CareerCatchers in 2017. Because she benefitted from good mentors in her career in

Organizational Finance, she knew the importance of a good teacher and a good listener. Kristen started working right after high school and didn’t decide to go to college until her late 20’s. Since she was also working, it took 12 years to finish her Bachelor of Science program.

Kristen likes financial forecasting and interpreting financial information. She likes the precision required in finance and accounting, and has built financial models to help businesses make sound decisions about starting a new product line, hiring staff, or opening a new location. She also wanted to be a teacher, and in elementary school, dreamed of that opportunity. At CareerCatchers, she can combine both her financial expertise and teaching. She teaches Bookkeeping, QuickBooks, Microsoft Word, and Excel.

Clients in Bookkeeping and QuickBooks ask questions from both a business and technical perspective. One client had a  consulting firm and wanted to learn how to transition her  finances from paper to a software program. Another client  owned a market and wanted to save time and money by recording all transactions in QuickBooks. During the course, Kristen describes how businesses bring money in and spend it, discussing how budgets are developed and monitored.

In the Word and Excel classes, Kristen explains problems that can arise when formatting changes are made, or when information is added to or removed from a Word document or Excel spreadsheet. She admires clients taking control of their situation and actively signing up for online training classes. Her hard working students are equally admiring.

Ann has been volunteering with CareerCatchers since February 2021. She has expressed how much she loves volunteering with CareerCatchers. Ann is a certified professional résumé writer, and a certified branding strategist. Ann has taught a wide range of people how to write resumes, respond to interview questions, and conduct job searches. Her background includes assisting adults, refugees, and displaced workers. Ann regularly facilitates interview workshops for CareerCatchers' clients focusing on questions that people find difficult. She has also facilitated Job Club focusing on interviewing skills. As if that weren’t enough, she also works individually with clients who have attended her workshops to help them practice their responses.

"Ann helps me not to be nervous. “Tell me about yourself” has really given me confidence." - MK

Being out of the workforce for a number of years, this has been an awesome workshop. Thank you Ann! Thank you Career Catchers!" - JK

"Salary negotiation is something that I struggle with and Ann has really given me great tips and confidence." - CF

Mhambi has been a volunteer with CareerCatchers since May of 2020. Initially, he volunteered to meet his required high school

student service learning hours and never stopped once that requirement was met. Mhambi offers a great perspective and has continued to work with the social media team since his graduation in June of 2022. Here are his thoughts about CareerCatchers:

My experience volunteering at CareerCatchers has been an informative one, because of our efforts, CareerCatchers has a prominent voice within various social media platforms — which has led to an increase in engagement.

Volunteering has taught me that everyone's role within a non-profit is valued and is paramount to the execution of the mission of CareerCatchers.