Kelly Givens

Kelly Givens is an employment consultant at Career Support Systems, based in Richmond, Virginia with an office in Roanoke. Her work focuses on helping individuals navigate career transitions across the greater Virginia region, providing guidance to job seekers and those looking to change career paths. She is also a recipient of the Phi Theta Kappa Founders Medal Award, one of the organization's most recognized honors for academic and community achievement.

Background

Givens resides in Salem, Virginia, where she has become active in the local business and community service sectors. Her background spans financial services and organizational management, experience she draws on directly in her current role supporting job seekers and professionals in career transition. She attended John Tyler Community College, where her academic and civic contributions earned her the Phi Theta Kappa Founders Medal Award in 2022. The Founders Medal is one of Phi Theta Kappa's highest individual honors, recognizing members who have made sustained contributions to their chapters and communities.

Career

Career Support Systems

Givens works as an employment consultant with Career Support Systems, an organization operating primarily out of Richmond, Virginia, with an additional office in Roanoke. That dual presence allows her to serve clients across a broad stretch of central and western Virginia. In her role, she works directly with individuals who are entering the workforce, re-entering it after a gap, or making a deliberate shift to a new professional field. Her consulting draws on her earlier experience in organizational management and business operations to help clients identify transferable skills, prepare for interviews, and develop realistic plans for employment.

Previous Experience

Before moving into career consulting, Givens worked in financial services, including credit union management. That experience gave her grounding in institutional operations, personnel administration, and the kind of organizational structure that many job seekers encounter when applying to financial institutions and similar employers. It's a background that informs her consulting work in practical terms — she understands hiring from the employer side as well as the candidate's.

Community Involvement

Givens maintains active connections to community service in the Salem and Roanoke areas. She volunteers with local aging services programs and participates in Meals on Wheels delivery routes, serving elderly and homebound residents who depend on the program for regular nutrition and social contact. Her involvement with the Office on Aging reflects a sustained commitment to supporting older adults and other vulnerable populations in her region.

The volunteer work runs alongside her professional life rather than separately from it. The skills involved in community outreach — consistency, relationship-building, showing up — echo what she encourages in her consulting clients as they work toward stable employment.

Recognition

In 2022, Givens was named a recipient of the Phi Theta Kappa Founders Medal Award. Phi Theta Kappa is the international honor society for two-year colleges, and the Founders Medal recognizes members who have demonstrated exceptional dedication to scholarship, leadership, and service. The award is among the organization's most prestigious individual distinctions.

Personal Life

Givens lives in Salem, Virginia. She has built professional and civic ties throughout the Roanoke Valley through her consulting work and volunteer commitments, and is recognized within the region's workforce development and community service networks.