You've Been Served!

Since the beginning of the year, foot-traffic at our career center has increased dramatically. In fact, we have served nearly as many job seekers so far this program year as we served all of last year...our program year just began on July 1, 2012. Who we are seeing and what they are saying is raising a lot of questions about services that are available to job seekers as they try to reenter the workforce. Many workers are seeking help for the first time because the job market has certainly changed. Here is a short sample of what our job seekers are saying: 1. A gentleman in his seventies is reentering the workforce because his retirement took an unrecoverable hit over the last four years. As a veteran, he sought help via a local veteran services agency. Despite his limited computer skills and the fact that he did not have an email address, he was told to fill out an online application on his own. He came to use for help with the application, but has yet to hear back from the veteran agency. 2. An eighteen-year-old, smart, articulate, recent graduate of an urban high school would like to be a nurse. There is a major hospital and nursing school located right in her school district's neighborhood. To get her foot in the door, she applied for an entry-level position at the hospital...as an environmental services aide. Her application has been put on hold because of lack of experience. The young lady did not even get an interview. 3. A woman in her seventies, retired from the Nat'l Guard, sought assistance at her local State employment agency. They put her on a computer to complete an enrollment despite the fact that she had never touched a mouse. Uncomfortable in the setting, she left the office the minute staff turned their attention to somebody else. 4. A client who had been previously incarcerated due to a drug offense found out that this driver's license had been suspended for five years. The suspension is related to his drug offense not a driving violation. In fact, he has never had a driving violation. The five year suspension, he assumed, ran concurrent to his five year incarceration. He contacted the State to learn how he might reinstate his driving privileges. The State informed him that his five-year suspension never began because he never filed an acknowledgement form with the DMV. As such, this gentleman who received carpentry training while serving time, has to wait five years before getting his driver's license. Needless to say, this cripples his chances of working in the construction industry. I could go on and on. I could point out the obvious, but I will let the readers draw their own conclusions. What I would like to do is hear from you all. What is going on out there? Have you sought employment assistance? If so, has it been a good or bad experience for you? Please share your stories because they will provide value to other job seekers, services providers and the like.