Linh Tran
Orange County, CA

I immigrated to the United States in 2008 on Christmas Eve. In my  home country, I obtained a bachelor’s degree in Law and had studied  English, so communicating and understanding English was not so difficult  for me. However, my law degree was not considered valid in the state of  California. I was disappointed because I wanted to continue pursuing my  career in the law field, but I would have to go back to school again. I registered into Kensington College and obtained a Paralegal Certificate  in 2010.

Unfortunately, I did not have any luck finding a position with the  certificate. I thought if I chose a more general route and change my career goals, I would get more opportunities since the paralegal field  has not worked out for me. Just when I almost felt discouraged, the New Year brought me a surprise: I found NAPCA’s Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) in Orange County at the end of January 2011.

I was assigned to the Vietnamese American Cancer Foundation, where I learned about community resources in Orange County and to share the  information with the public. The job training has helped me to become  eligible to apply to the City. In October 2012, I found a full-time  position as a City Technician. I enjoyed the stability of a full-time  job and benefits. However, in 2015, I was laid off. I struggled for  several months, and one day I stopped by NAPCA-SCSEP’s office and found  out that I have not reached my durational limit, so was still eligible  for the program. I was re-enrolled into SCSEP during the Christmas  month, with a different goal: an administrative assistant. I was assigned to AASCSC, an organization that helps Vietnamese American  participants to adjust to the challenges from moving to the States  through providing a variety of services and programs. I was joyful  because my language skills and experiences became helpful to same  language speakers. I felt so rewarded with this second chance at  NAPCA-SCSEP to do meaningful work. I stayed until the end of the  durational limit because I needed time to think about my career goals  after leaving the program.

As I continued to do job searching, one of the NAPCA SCSEP staff suggested to apply to Amazon, since they had just opened a brand new facility in Northern Orange County. I took the advice and applied and got the job with benefits and a flexible work schedule. I was so thrilled – life is full of ups and downs, but if you keep working hard and help others, and allow others to help you, you can still make it!

As we continue to celebrate 40 years of service, we will share more stories from our seniors, please click here to read more stories. You can also support more seniors like Linh and click here to donate now to support the continuing mission of NAPCA.