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Job-skills program aims for placement in weeks
AUSTINTOWN
Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition and area partners are launching a job-skills training program that could put worthy, yet unskilled, applicants in one of the hundreds of high-paying manufacturing positions available in the county – all in a matter of weeks.
WorkAdvance 2.0 builds on the success of a pilot program coordinated last year by the coalition, Goodwill Industries and Mahoning-Youngstown Community Action Partnership. It also draws in education partners such as Eastern Gateway Community College and Choffin Career and Technical Center.
Orientation sessions are set for this week and in another two weeks. Coordinators hope to put a dozen applicants through job-readiness courses, then eight weeks of skills training and continued training once they’re on the job and earning a paycheck, said Jessica Borza, coalition director.
“Before this time, either individuals didn’t really understand what was required or how to access these manufacturing jobs or they weren’t willing to take a risk and leave their part-time or relatively lower-paying job to go through a training program,” she said.
“This really lays it all out and helps them step through that and gives them a paycheck while they’re in training, too.”
Goodwill Industries’ Job Connection and Resource Center, which opened in December at its Belmont Avenue location, is where clients and WorkAdvance candidates can get career coaching and learn job-interview skills such as handshakes, speech and eye contact and supported employment.
Gerald Queener, 59, of Youngstown, was one of two Goodwill employees who participated in the WorkAdvance pilot program last year. For years the veteran kicked around from job to job – truck driver, then an overnight supervisor, then a phone salesman for VXI Global Solutions in Youngstown, making only $10 an hour.
“They learned people loved my voice but wouldn’t buy a thing from me,” he said, laughing in a textured bass.
He’s now at Nordson Corp.’s Victoria Road machining facility, making more than $19 an hour, with a 58-hour work week and guaranteed overtime – at least until the company can fill its empty positions.
Queener completed eight weeks of preliminary manufacturing skills training at Choffin, then another six weeks of full-time, paid training while working at Nordson. After doing well during the probationary period, his pay was bumped.
Ashley Woloschak, Nordson’s human resources operations specialist, said she’s hired more than 160 people in the past year and a half after turnover of most of the company.
“This gives us an opportunity to find good, solid individuals who want to come to work every day and work hard,” Woloschak said. “It really opens up the candidate pool for us.
“You still have to be dedicated to finish [the training program], so I feel it’s a huge test to their character and whether or not they’ll be successful here,” she added
Borza said in the future, WorkAdvance coordinators plan to draw in other manufacturer partners looking to grow their ranks.
“That is our hope and plan, to take this to scale and be able to use it as a strategy to help other manufacturers and get more people manufacturing jobs,” Borza said.