Love
Love’s journey with One On One started in 2022, when they were working as a host at Peach’s, one of our employer partners. Love participated in youth employment programs such as the Illinois Youth Investment Program and One Summer Chicago before leaving their job at Peach’s in 2024.
During this job search period, Love was looking for an administrative or restaurant role. They were paired with an employment coach and met weekly throughout the summer to help them identify job leads and apply for jobs. In October 2024, Love accepted two job offers: the first to be a host and server assistant at The Kitchen American Bistro in River North and the second to be a schedule coordinator at an orthodontics office in the Bronzeville area.
“Helping me get those two new positions changed my life and got me back on track.”
Love thinks that coming into the One On One office each week was helpful. They said that putting the effort into going into places physically helped them mentally prepare for going back into a professional space.
At the Kitchen Bistro, Love is a host and a server assistant. Love notices a lot of similarities between hosting and reception work. This is Love’s first time working at a high-end restaurant in downtown Chicago. As a host, Love makes sure guests are seated promptly and with good service. They help make sure that things look uniform and work together with their coworkers to make sure restaurant patrons have a great experience.
“I value connecting with people even if it’s just checking them in and making sure they’re in the know about where they’re doing next. I just love helping people,” said Love.
From working at One On One, Love valued the consistency and effort that they had to put into their job search process.
“It’s easy in theory to open a laptop and insert your information somewhere, but I feel like the easiness of that task will leave that overlooked. I feel like actually having to come in every week and put the effort in got me in a good place.”
Looking to the future, Love wants to go back to school, specifically in the field of counseling and behavioral health. Love’s biggest motivation is to help others. Love credits their work at One On One as one of the things that inspired them to go back to school.
“I struggle with hyper-independency, so being able to show up and even if there’s not an instantaneous solution, getting the help I need that I know is getting me in the position that I want to be in is very helpful.”
Love has noticed that a lot of people, including them, struggle with feeling alone in their job search process, so it was meaningful for them to know that One On One was a place that was meant to help them get to where they wanted to go next.
For those still looking for jobs, Love says not to give up.
“‘No’ is never the end of anything; it’s a reroute. Don’t let the ‘no’s’ take away your hope, let it light that fire in you to find that yes.”
