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Grace Magazine | www.fbcglenarden.org 29 Imagine going into work and being told your company is going to lay off 100,000 people in a single day. You hold your breath and close your eyes and you whisper, "Thank You God." Today, it wasn't your job, but something inside of you feels compassion and devastation for those people who were told they no longer have a job. Then the questions begin to swirl around in your head. What will they do? How will they survive? Will they have to reinvent themselves in order to find another job? After working at IBM for 10 years, Kim Rhim learned that 100,000 people were being laid off. This sparked something inside of Rhim to help people with their resumes and find out what they wanted to do with their lives. Rhim decided to take the IBM buyout the next time that it was offered and started her non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, The Training Source Inc. Grace: When did you officially start your company? Rhim: I began the process of forming my non-profit organization May of 1993, but my non-profit became finalized in October 1993. Our first contract was to work with clients on public assistance. In the beginning, my organization focused on helping people transition away from public assistance. Grace: What type of services does your company offer? Rhim: We offer professional training in the hospitality, health care and office administration areas. We also offer training on various software programs in particular Microsoft Office programs. We offer training to small businesses with no charge to the business owner, Prince George's County businesses and low-to-moderate income people. If your company is a large business or corporation, there is a fee. Our organization offers training on resume writing, staffing, supervision, conflict management and leadership management. We are a best-kept secret. Additionally, The Training Source is an approved center by the government as a place where people can apply for social services (including food stamps, public assistance, and other services). Since we are not well known for these services, it is easy to call and get an appointment usually the next day. Typically, if you need social services, it can turn into an all day waiting to be called upon. Grace: What was your professional background before starting your company? Rhim: I did not have a background in starting a training company, but I did grow up in a family of educators. My sister is a high school department head and teacher. Despite growing up in a family of educators, my family encouraged me to study law. After one year at Columbia University School of Law, I switched my major to business and started my career by working in finance at C&P Telephone, which split off into Bell Atlantic. It was during the split of C&P Telephone Company that I recommended, created and taught a course on stress management. I moved on from Bell Atlantic to work as a proposal manager at IBM overseeing eight million dollars. I never had any formal education or training in Human Resources, but I used my natural God given gifts by seeing a need and filling it. I saw the stress and strain of the splitting of C&P Telephone and its impact on employees and I saw the pain of employees being told they were being laid off. Everything that happened in my career has led me to where I am today. Grace: How did you know that this was what you were supposed to do? Rhim: After the layoffs, I began thinking about my own purpose and what I wanted to do. Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr. preached about living your purpose. I ran over the key points of his message in my head and remembered that you must start with a vision. I began thinking about what I wanted to do next, but I was daydreaming while driving and ran through a stop sign. Somehow my car weaved around the other cars and I was not hurt. By all accounts, I should have been dead, but I took that as a sign that God was telling me that my idea was tied to my purpose. In order to make that dream of starting my company a reality, I had to have the full support of my husband. I told him that God spoke to me. Before I could make a move, my husband had to be in full support -- because I didn't know how I would be able to contribute to the household financially. The day my husband came into agreement, he came home and handed me a bracelet with encouraging continued on page 33