For Sabrina Almarode, who was, admittedly, “scared” after learning that she was being laid off from Invista in 2009, the chance to go back to school under a federal education program was a lifeline.
And the Fishersville woman is taking full advantage, working toward a degree in business at Blue Ridge Community College in Weyers Cave, and thinking that she’ll continue from there in the adult-degree program at Eastern Mennonite University with the aim of launching a career as a business-operations consultant.
“The idea is to be able to go in and look at their operations and try to find cost savings that they can apply to their bottom line,” said Almarode, who was at Invista and DuPont in Waynesboro for 20 years, including a stint as an operations manager.
“A lot of companies have had these positions on their payrolls. More and more are moving to contractors to save on overhead. It’s an interesting field to be in, it’s growing, and it’s something that I’ve had an interest in,” Almarode said.