Jonathan Garland

"In 2018, I was working with a large mortgage company as a people manager on the operations / servicing side of the business. The company had announced that they would be selling off their servicing business to a third party which meant that my job function would end in about 2 years.

I began working with a mentor to explore outside opportunities that I might be suited for and my mentor suggested I might try Facilitation. He explained what that was and mentioned that there was a local organization which offered professional development and networking opportunities for folks in the training industry and suggested I check them out.

Well, that organization was the St. Louis Chapter of ATD and the Facilitator group he was referring to was one of the Special Interest Groups or SIGs. In 2019, I attended my first meeting with the Facilitator SIG, not knowing a single person in the group! I soon realized that the people I met and interacted with were 'my people'……I wanted to be a part of that world and so my journey began.

In Sept of 2019, I attended the Learn St. Louis conference and was blown away by the guest speakers, the breakout sessions, and the people that I met there. Once such person I met during a breakout session worked with Edward Jones as a trainer and he took the time to listen to my story and encourage me to look for training opportunities with this company.

Fast forward a few months to the end of year holiday ATD Facilitators SIG meeting. I met someone named Jess Mader in this meeting and told her, that I had just applied for a trainer position at Edward Jones. She was so gracious and encouraging and even offered to help me prepare for in-person panel interview. By the way, I took her up on her offer and ended up accepting a position as a Branch Team Trainer with Edward Jones in February of 2020.

I am a living example of someone who dared to change careers at an advanced life-stage and found what I believe to be my dream job with a dream company. This would not have been possible if not for the encouragement and support that I received from my involvement with the ATD St. Louis group. I am a direct recipient of their purpose to promote lifelong learning and professional development and I will be forever grateful to my mentor who guided me in their direction and for all the wonderfully talented, intelligent, and supportive people that I've met in this chapter.

ATD St. Louis Rocks!"