He not only found a job, he found much more. Meet Jose Ortega …

There is patience and kindness in his voice as he works with clients trying to master their computer skills and need help with their job search.  “All you need to do is register on this log-in page,” he tells a woman in the computer room in the Spring Hill Career Solutions Center, “and then you can begin your search.”

Jose Ortega was once one of those who needed help finding a job.  As he rolled in to meet with prospective employers he had more than one say they didn’t have a good fit for his skill set.  Ortega says he believes all they saw was someone in a wheelchair.  What they didn’t see was the talent just waiting to be tapped.

When Jose and his family moved to the Nashville area to escape the mean streets of south central Los Angeles in 2004 they thought they were leaving the violence behind.  And after a violent encounter almost took his life, Jose came to Goodwill for the help he needed to find a job.  He not only found a job, he found acceptance, success and reward.  Watch why Jose Ortega was named the recipient of the 2011 Goodwill 110% Award.

Growing Your Skills While Serving Others

Debbie Grant, Development Director

We often hear people say things such as, “I like helping others, or “I really want to help but don’t know how” and “I just wouldn’t know what to do.”  

If you really enjoy helping others and have a desire to work in the health care field, Goodwill has a great deal for you.

Did you know that Nashville has 56 health care companies located here? Did you know that the labor market has a shortage of skilled nurse assistants who can provide home health care and care at medical facilities? At Goodwill, we are able to help the labor market by training individuals to provide non-medically certified and certified medical care.

Goodwill Career Solutions offers a basic training program called, Health Care Initiatives, with a certified trainer who teaches basic medical terminology, how to take vital signs, and when you graduate you become certified in CPR and first aid. The training is free to our students and takes four weeks to complete. Our graduates have found entry level positions and began earning a paycheck within days of graduation from the training.

But Let’s Not Stop There!

Some of Goodwill’s students want to move up the career ladder in a health care occupation. By enrolling in a five- week certified nursing assistant’s (CNA) training program, you can become a certified nurse assistant and work in a hospital, rehabilitation center or other medical facilities managing patients’ long-term care or acute care.

Our first class is currently engaged in the clinical portion of their training at a local long-term care facility. By early December they will be ready to take the state certification test and earn a credential allowing them to work in a medical facility.

We have employers who have already contacted the program and want to interview our graduates for employment. We have a case manager who will help you with your application process and work with you on other concerns you might have related to training and work. She will help you with your job search, preparing a resume, learning how to complete the job applications and support as you practice your job interview skills. She will provide you with encouragement and stay in touch with you to help you feel supported as you start your new job.

Once you start to work you can identify other jobs in health care that might interest you and begin preparing yourself for taking that next step.

Get started in the medical field today, grow your skills, and help yourself to a better life while you help others.  If you are interested or need more information, call Sharonda Parks at Goodwill’s Career Solutions Center in Nashville at 615-346-1688 and get started on a successful career.  It’s never too late to grow your skills while you help others!

Career Scoop: Do You Really Need a College Degree?

AJ Helms, Career Counselor

I have clients ask me this all the time…. do I really need a college education to succeed? The short answer is YES. Not that you won’t succeed without one, but in a struggling economy and a tight job market what better way to make yourself stand out from the pack? There are a lot of variables to think about when considering college. How will I find the time? How will I pay for it? I don’t have four years to devote to school, is there a shorter program?

Not everyone is a traditional student so why would you look for a traditional college? Many people are discovering the advantages of career colleges. Career colleges offer many one-year and two-year programs to get you on your feet and moving in the right direction fast. One of the fastest growing fields is Healthcare, and career colleges are offering courses right now in your area such as Medical Assisting, Medical Office Administration, and Medical Billing and Coding, just to name a few. A Certified Nursing Assistant is another in-demand position and most of the programs only take 4-6 weeks!

Career colleges tend to be more flexible and understanding of the needs of the student as well. It’s easy to get lost in the crowd of a big university, but if you need that little extra of one on one attention, smaller class size, or even tutoring career colleges are there. There are financial aid officers to help you with all of your financial needs from tuition to books and supplies.

So what are you waiting for? Go make yourself stand out! A college degree is not as hard to come by as you might think. Go speak to an Admissions Representative today from the career college of your choice to see what they have to offer. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Learn about the training programs at Goodwill Career Solutions that will help you stand out in the job market.

 

 

Career Scoop: Attitude is Everything

Kate Kiefling, Career Solutions Trainer

The orientation for our new Opportunities for Ex-Offenders class series here at Goodwill Career Solutions is titled “Attitude Is Everything.” Many job seekers come to the class with wonderful positive attitudes. They clearly have done some soul searching and take responsibility of their past. They are willing to do whatever it takes to find a better future, including sitting through yet another potentially boring class. They have learned about what kinds of events can trigger destructive thoughts and attitudes. They are leaders willing to help others over some attitude hurdles. They see the big picture and are already on their way to employment success!

Then again, it is heartbreaking when job seekers honestly share opinions about themselves “I have made too many mistakes in life” or “Nobody will hire me because of my criminal record.”

When these kinds of destructive messages play in our heads repeating negative self-images to ourselves over and over again, throughout the day, week, month or year, they sadly may become self-fulfilling prophecies. If these are our thoughts, how likely are we to have a positive attitude toward the job search process?

In the class, we invite job seekers to compose new, positive and hopefully healing self-images for themselves. Some of the most popular ones are:

• Although I am an ex-offender, somebody will hire me!
• I may need to work harder to get a job, but once I get one, I am willing to prove myself!
• I am not my past, I look to the future!
• I have learned from my mistakes.
• I am willing to learn new skills and attitudes.
• I am willing to make a positive change.
• I am worthy of a good job.
• I am able to handle rejection, bounce back, and continue my job search.
• It is their loss. They are missing out on a great worker!

We can sometimes be our own worst enemy. Our thoughts about the world of work, about the job search process and especially about ourselves will have an effect.

Now, can you afford the luxury of a negative thought?

Visit goodwillcareersolutions.org for more information on Goodwill Career Solutions programs.

Career Scoop: Your Career Connection

Betty Johnson, Vice President of Employment Services

I am excited to announce that for the first time Goodwill is offering an online community space where clients can interact with each other, with counselors and trainers, and learn much more about the job search process.

www.goodwillcareersolutions.org is our new Web site that provides easy access to the 17 Career Solutions centers in Middle and West Tennessee and their respective programs and services. With one click a client can meet the counselor for the center closest to them, access a map, and learn about all of the training and services provided and more.

My Career Connection is a client community that is similar to Facebook. It allows for discussion on topics related to job placement and training services and it has training videos. Since some of our clients may not having access to a computer at home, My Career Connection offers a personal profile space in which clients can save their resumes for their online job application needs. Interacting with My Career Connection also strengthens the skills our clients are learning in our Digital Literacy classes.

The Community Events Calendar offers clients easy access to the latest information on job search and placement events in Middle and West Tennessee.

We intend to keep the content current and fresh with updated success stories, new tips and resources and of course, every day, the mix of folks utilizing My Career Connection will be new and different. Anyone involved in the job search process will want to keep checking back.

How do you get started? Click here.

Career Scoop: Good Choices Make Good Lives

By Debbie Grant, Career Solutions development director

When people think about Goodwill they think about shopping and making donations to help other people go to work. But what they may not know is that Goodwill is also about helping young people in middle school and high school learn about the importance of making good choices.

Consider the choices you make each day. What will I eat? What will I wear? Will I go to school or to work today? It’s all about deciding what to do. If you go shopping, you may decide to spend money on one big item or on several small items. Each of these decisions has an impact on today, tomorrow and in some manner, the years ahead.

Goodwill wants to encourage young people to stay in school, determine future options, and to understand that the way they behave today, along with the choices they make today, can directly impact them, their family and their community, for the rest of their lives. Goodwill counselors and employee volunteers help teens learn to make good decisions by visiting their schools and presenting a program called CHOICES. The CHOICES training consists of two one-hour interactive presentations that provide information so the students understand how they do have control over their present and their future. They learn the importance of self-discipline as a key to success and they have fun while learning!

Volunteers from Goodwill Industries and the Middle Tennessee Society for HR Management have partnered to make the presentations and fund the supplies for the program. Additional funding was provided by a grant from the Predators Foundation and United Parcel Service.

Know a classroom of eighth or ninth graders that can we can train? Call 615-346-1237.

 

 

Career Scoop: Lifting job seekers to another level

By Crystal Tyler, Computer Instructor

Twice a week, every Monday afternoon and Friday morning, the computer lab at our Berry Road Career Solutions Center transforms! It becomes the home of our forklift training program. Most forklift operators will tell you, “I’ve driven for years and never had to be certified,” and that was the case.  However, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) require that all forklift operators be certified. Lucky for them Goodwill can provide that certification.

Goodwill’s forklift training program is helpful on two fronts.  First, it helps the clients by giving them a boost of confidence because they are certified. Second, it helps employers by certifying employees for their business. Busy employers no longer have to dedicate time to train their personnel when it can be done by Goodwill.

Our three hour training program focuses on sit-down trucks and teaches the safety points that every forklift operator must know.  The class allows each student hands-on training, giving the benefit of obtaining experience on the equipment, regardless of whether they have operated a forklift in the past so the class is perfect for both the novice and the seasoned professional operator.

Beginning in 2011, we will be offering a new addition to our forklift training, focusing on narrow-aisle (aka reach trucks) equipment.  This training will be offered to those who have previous experience on this type of equipment.

Here at Goodwill our training programs offer more than just knowledge.  They offer the chance at a better life.  Whether it is the ability to find a job, or the ability to move up in the position that you already have, chances are that Goodwill has a training program that can help you do just that.

Do you know someone whose life could be changed if they were to go through one of Goodwill’s training programs?  Let them know Goodwill can help.

Career Scoop: The dish on our services

Betty Johnson, Vice President of Employment Services

The Goodwill Career Solutions division provides job readiness, job training, job placement and job retention services for people who are unemployed and seeking employment. We offer many choices or “flavors” for clients to select.  We’ll speak more specifically about these choices in future postings.

Sometimes people who are unemployed have experienced some difficulties in their lives. These difficulties may make it that much harder to find a job or keep a job.  One difficulty may be someone who has been through a downsizing.  In some cases, some encouragement, assistance in updating a resume and some job leads may be all it takes.  Another difficulty may be someone who doesn’t have a HS diploma or GED.  Aside from referring someone to GED classes, Goodwill helps folks learn how to complete applications, resumes and generally present themselves in the correct light.

Our counselors work individually with job seekers to determine their particular interests and abilities to better focus the job search direction. We also offer some short term training programs for people who are interested in learning new jobs.

Keep checking back to learn more about our services and to read about clients who have been successful in their job search process through Goodwill’s Career Solutions Division. This year we hope to assist more than 11,000 people with finding jobs in their communities.  If you need our services, maybe you will be one of them.