Marine Transitions to Corporate America with Help of IBM Project Manager

When Sherry Rebstock, Grass Valley resident, heard the wounded Marine’s story of how he was injured by a detonated improvised explosive device in Iraq, she got chills. “It is hard to imagine what he and his family must have gone through”, Sherry said. Her newly formed mentorship with this young hero, who is living at Camp Lejeune Wounded Warriors Battalion East in Jacksonville, North Carolina, began in mid September.

His name is Michael; he is 28 years old and is being treated at the traumatic brain injury clinic in Jacksonville and will retire from the Marine Corps at the end of this year after five tours of duty. He entered the Marines at 17 ½ years old.

Sherry Rebstock who lives 2,866 miles away from him, works for IBM Corporation as a Senior Project Manager and manages a software implementation Project Management Office.

How did these two find each other?

IBM encourages their employees to give back to the community and company each year. Sherry has been meeting this requirement by mentoring and coaching junior project managers within the organization for the past several years. This year, she took her mentoring and coaching to the outside world.

Giving back to her community was inspired in part by her nephew who recently graduated from college and entered into a project management position in construction. Sherry’s nephew’s wonderful opportunity is a great career stepping stone to a bright future in project management. “I began to think how to make this kind of opportunity possible for anyone”, Rebstock said.

With that idea and desire, Sherry created, in her spare time and with her own money, the pmcareer.org website. The website content focuses on how to become a project manager including education requirements, certification resources, skill assessments and personal recommendations from lessons learned during her career.

The website was introduced to Sherry’s network of IBM colleagues. Sherry and Michael were introduced by a fellow IBMer via email and eventually over the telephone. Their initial meeting consisted of introductions, hearing Michael’s story and career aspirations, answering questions and creating a plan to start him on his way to finding a job.

Today, Michael’s resume is polished and soon he will begin submitting his resume to companies for consideration. In addition, Sherry is helping Michael with interviewing skills. “He wants to be ready for civilian job interviews and I can help him through practice interview sessions”, the IBM Senior Project Manager continued.

“This young man’s journey now shifts to civilian life. What I have offered him is a guiding hand to enter into corporate America”, stated Rebstock. “He is the bravest 28 year old I know and to have endured and seen all that he has in the past ten years is amazing.”

Sherry is looking to help more veterans and others who are interested in a career as a Project Manager. Contact Sherry at rebstock@us.ibm.com to inquire about how to start or transition into a career as a project manager. Check out www.pmcareer.org for more information.