Losing her job as an administrative assistant was a blessing in disguise for Charlene Stoddard
When Charlene Stoddard lost her job in March 2011, she had no idea how much her life would change in the next two years.
By day, the Saint John, N.B.-native was used to being an administrative assistant at an interior decorating firm. By night, she was a caregiver to her husband, who had been disabled in an accident 15 years earlier. Stoddard also has an adult-aged daughter, who was also living with disabilities.
“Like anyone else, I was really devastated when I lost my job,” she says. “But I’m also the type of person that says, ‘Okay, I’m going to get up and what am I going to do?’”
Stoddard paid a visit to Service Canada.
“I went to EI (employment insurance) and they have a seminar that everybody has to take and I made an appointment to see someone from social development,” she says.
Stoddard felt the best thing for her to do was tune up her computer skills — something she hadn’t needed before. She thought it might open some doors to future possibilities.
But the social development representative had a different plan for Stoddard.
“She said she had been doing this for over 30 years and she thought I was the perfect candidate to go back to school full-time,” Stoddard says.
Stoddard hadn’t been to school in years. She didn’t even have any post-secondary schooling.
Social development would provide financial support for Stoddard but, in order to qualify, she needed to choose a career area with a high possibility of leading to employment.
The payroll field was a hotspot for jobs.
The two decided that come September, Stoddard should enroll in the accounting and payroll diploma program at Eastern College in Saint John. With her high attention to detail and strong problem solving and math skills, Stoddard would be an excellent candidate, the social development representative told her. It was a two-year program, but Stoddard would complete the optional one-year condensed course.
“I went home to talk to my husband to see if this is something I thought I could do,” she says. “But then she called me just a few days later and told me the funding was going to change and it was not going to be in my favour.”
In order to qualify for better funding, Stoddard would have to start much sooner than initially thought — and she had only 24 hours to decide.
Stoddard turned to her husband for guidance.
“He just really said, ‘You know what, you’ve looked after both of us and you’ve raised a son beside that — this is your time,” she says.
In that moment, Stoddard’s life headed in a new direction.
“Instead of starting school in four months or five months, I was starting school in three days,” she says. “And I did it.”
Going back to school for payroll was one of the best experiences Stoddard has ever had.
“I was really nervous at first,” she says. “But once I got settled in, I thought, ‘Yeah, this is now what I do.’”
Stoddard treated school as a full-time job. Classes ran from 8 a.m. to noon, but she would remain on campus until 5 p.m. to study and finish assignments.
“I used to take my lunch and just go,” she says. “That gave me time to get all my work done and not be distracted.”
Stoddard hadn’t really worked with numbers in any of her previous jobs, besides verifying some financial information for the interior design firm. Instead of worrying, she embraced the new challenge.
Canadian Payroll Association certification
Eastern College’s accounting and payroll program includes an eight-week segment designated to training students to become a certified Payroll Compliance Practitioner (PCP), which is regulated by the Canadian Payroll Association (CPA). Having the PCP designation demonstrates to employers that the individual has the compliance knowledge required to process an organization’s annual payroll cycle and understand the accounting function as it relates to payroll, according to the CPA.
Stoddard describes the eight weeks as “intense.”
“I had a couple of instructors that were really great and they just said, ‘You know, you really, really need to have yourself ready for that eight weeks because if you want to do well, you’re going to have to be just focused on that,” she says.
The hard work paid off. Out of 1,800 professionals who received PCP certification in 2012, Stoddard finished on top. She managed to finish her certification with an average of 99 per cent and a mark of 100 per cent in the compliance and legislation component.
In June, the CPA invited Stoddard to receive her gold award at its annual awards banquet in Vancouver.
“It’s really humbling and really, really exciting,” Stoddard said after winning the gold award.
“She’s a driven individual, she had a goal in mind and she was able to succeed in doing that, so it’s a real success story,” says Steven Van Alstine, vice-president of education at the CPA in Toronto.
It’s important to recognize success in the payroll community,
Van Alstine says.
“We’ve been working hard to raise the profile of the payroll professional and by having awards that can reinforce that, it also helps to raise the profile within the business community,” he says.
Van Alstine says winning one of CPA’s awards is a proud moment for payroll professionals.
“In order to be at the top of the class, students need to be dedicated to learning and understanding the myriad of legislation and regulations associated with payroll,” he says. “Many of the award winners have developed a passion for what they do and that has propelled them to their success.”
Stoddard credits taking care of her family as a key propellant to her success.
“My husband didn’t even drive for seven years. So, all the skills that it took to take care of him and my family helped when I went back to school,” she says. “And that’s what I try to tell people.”
Back at work
Stoddard currently works at J.D. Irving in Saint John. She requested to complete her four-week unpaid work placement at the company when she was at Eastern College.
“J.D. Irving was the top of my list of where I wanted to do my student placement,” she says. “In my second week that I was here, my manager spoke to me and offered me a paid student contract for the summer for four months.”
She was offered a full-time position towards the end of the summer and now works on its PeopleSoft team, which supports the payroll department.
Stoddard says she’s so grateful for everything that has happened to her.
“When I look back now — just over two years from losing my job — I remember how I felt then to where I am now,” she says. “It’s pretty amazing.”
