Owosso - Heather found she hadn’t quite bounced back from losing her job as a Loan Clerk Manager in 2020. She was making ends meet with as a Clerk at a local business but had taken a significant pay cut. Heather decided to make the daunting task of building a new career when she found an opportunity with Indian Trails in Owosso.

Indian Trails offers daily scheduled bus routes throughout Michigan and the Midwest and were looking to hire and train new Bus Drivers. As the position requires a Commercial Drivers License (CDL), that she did not have, an investment needed to be made by either her or the employer to accomplish this. Heather qualified for On-The-Job Training through the WIOA program, and GST Michigan Works! was able to reimburse a portion of her wages to Indian Trails during her training period to help cover the cost of this training requirement.

Heather started her OJT with Indian Trails on 11/29/21 working full-time, and completed her On-The-Job Training plan on 2/2/2022. After earning her CDL her wage was increased over $2/hr. As of November 2022, Heather confirmed she is still with Indian Trails and enjoying her new career.

“I honestly found my dream job when I was hired into Indian Trails,” Heather states. “I never pictured myself ever driving a bus, it was very intimidating! I have made multiple trips to St. Ignace going across the Mackinaw Bridge. I learned the route we have that goes to Milwaukee and seen so many amazing things along the way! If you love to drive this is definitely the job for you.”