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Getting People Jobs

Stephanie Clay, Employment Counselor “The job is very rewarding. I love to see people go from welfare to work. I love being there when an applicant gets a job. They are so happy. “I give them motivation and supportive services: transportation so they know they can get to work, child care so they know their children will be cared for, and work-clothes—whatever they need. I also help motivate them. I call them at home, in the evening, and find out how they are doing. I tell them if it gets rough, before you quit, call me. And usually we can talk it through.”

by Richard Bermack

Dec. 2001

Employment counselors describe clients as fitting into three categories. First, there are those who are employable and actively seeking employment. For them, welfare is just an extension of unemployment benefits during particularly rough times. The second category includes those who have some barriers to employment, such as a lack of education and job skills or self-confidence and motivation. The barriers can also be economic: they may lack transportation, child care, or even the proper clothes to go out on an interview. These clients are a perfect match for the services employment counselors have to offer. And then there is the third group, the hard-core unemployed, who have serious barriers to employment, such as physical disabilities, mental health problems, and behavioral issues that make them unemployable.

Education and Training

Employment counselor Alisa Williams

Employment counselor Alisa Williams works one day a week at the welfare office and is then out- stationed at the Private Industry Council office in Oakland, where she helps people with job hunting and related employment services. She describes the help she can provide: “A person may come in with a 10th grade education, and no one will hire them because they don’t have a GED or diploma, and they want to get a job. I’ll first suggest that they find a school where they can get a GED. And second, that they decide what they would really like to do and then get that training. Usually the GED takes about six months or less, and they can do the training along with GED and it takes about the same time. So we have someone come in with a 10th grade education and six months later they have a GED, a training certificate, and a job, or are at least employable.”
The jobs and training range from clerical and computer skills to truck driving. “Truck driving pays well, $16 to $20 per hour. I have people lately that prefer truck driving, but I would say the majority of jobs our clients get are clerical, maintenance, and hotel jobs,” Williams says.

Hard-Core Cases

Employment counscelor Carl Lomelino

Carl Lomelino began working as an employment counselor in 1988 with the GAIN (Greater Avenues to Independence) program. He feels the new program has made some improvements, but he does not have the resources to tackle the hard-core clients with complex barriers. “I think we are able to serve the clients better, but it all depends. We are limited and don’t have enough facilities to work on their barriers. We don’t have enough mental health and domestic violence counseling, for example. We don’t have enough help in the area of homelessness.
“One of the things with mental health issues, we have to first identify them.” Lomelino offers an example: “The person I am dealing with wasn’t able to complete their assignment, and if they don’t respond or explain why, I’m forced to write them up as non-compliant. It is at that point when they come in and say, ‘Oh, I didn’t tell you that I have this problem or that problem.’ They could be bi-polar.

“Our clientele are much more at risk for behavior problems because of the surroundings they live in. If there are a bunch of drug addicts running around where they live, that is stressing them out. They are more likely to take drugs because it is right there, and that affects their systems. They can’t think clearly and eventually need mental health services.”

Employment counselor Alfredo Concel worries that many of these people with hard-core barriers are falling through the cracks. They are being sanctioned and denied welfare benefits when they are really unemployable and should be getting Supplemental Security Income, a benefit program for people who are either too disabled to work or unemployable for other reasons, such as mental illness, that would make them undesirable to employers. “Some people are being sanctioned who have learning disabilities,” Concel reports. “They may not know how to read and write. They may not show up because they couldn’t read the notice, and the employment counselor doesn’t find out why the person didn’t show up or didn’t do what the program required. That really worries me. People are being sanctioned who should really be getting SSI.”