Some have been laid off. Some want to make themselves more
marketable and move up in the workforce. Some have faced age
discrimination and need help prying their way into a job.
Some have been laid off. Some want to make themselves more marketable and move up in the workforce. Some have faced age discrimination and need help prying their way into a job.
For help, they go to the San Benito County One-Stop Career Center.
Marshall Propst, 22, is using the career center’s services to get training in courses he needs to improve his employment prospects. He hopes to attend a university in Utah and earn a General Equivalency Diploma.
“They (the career center) make it really easy to look for a job,” Propst said. “I don’t have the money to go to college for all these courses. It’s a good opportunity if you messed up.”
Propst had attendance problems in school and would like to become an accountant. Since he didn’t graduate from high school he knows he needs to catch up and plans to take as many courses as he can in college.
Propst said he chose Utah for his higher education because he can get into the school quickly, it offers the greatest amount of classes and it will get him out of California.
The move to Utah will help Propst grow up and secure a better job, he said.
“I feel like we’re the hope givers,” said Denise Ceballos, employment program manager with the career center. “They come to us looking for us to give them skills.”
The One-Stop Career Center is a partnership between all of the service agencies that provide job training or related services in the San Benito County area. All have been housed in the same building for two years to make it easier for job seekers and employers to visit one location. The center is funded by the various partners and the federal Workforce Investment Act.
The career center offers employment services, including access to education and training along with labor exchange functions, services for veterans, unemployment insurance, adult education, assistance for moving from welfare to work and Workforce Investment Act programs. On-site partners include Community Services and Workforce Development, the State of California Employment Development Department, Job Corps and the State of California Department of Rehabilitation.
But it’s important to place people in jobs with the skills they already have and, while they’re working, look at better training them for other jobs, Ceballos said.
“Unemployed people are coming in looking for positions. We help them get through these tough times,” she said. “They’re asking, ‘How do I repackage myself?’ … It’s showing them strategies at how to work wiser.”
In any given month, the career center provides services to 1,300 community members, said Sylvia Jacquez, employment and training services counselor. The career center employs approximately 11 full-time and 10 part-time employees, Jacquez said, some of whom serve as case workers for job seekers and look for job opportunities for their clients.
Lowell Shearin is utilizing the Experience Works program that helps older people find jobs and overcome age discrimination. Even though this is Shearin’s first experience with the career center, he said it’s been “nothing but positive.”
“There’s nothing like that personal touch,” he said, speaking of case worker Joan Wilson. “Joan gets in there and hustles for you. She really doesn’t have to do that.”
Shearin is of retirement age and has been out of work for a year. He recently interviewed for a position at Lowe’s, which will open soon in Gilroy. While looking for a job, Shearin is taking resume and interview workshops offered by the career center.
When a person walks into the career center at 1111 San Felipe Rd., Suite 107, they sign in and see if they’re eligible for unemployment insurance. There is also a computer lab open to everyone to search for jobs or put together a professional-looking resume.
“They’re grateful the service is available,” Jacquez said. “They want to know what is it employers are looking for, how to answer those tough questions. It helps build up their self-esteem.”
The center also offers public use of a copier and fax machine and a telephone to set up interviews. There is a phone number that serves as a callback number for people who don’t have phones at home.
The computers are pretty popular, Ceballos said. The best place to look for jobs online is www.caljobs.ca.gov, which has a statewide list.
“There are lots of jobs. We tell them not to give up. They need to see what’s available,” she said.
Most recently, the career center spent most of its energy getting clients interviews at Costco, which opens March 1, and Lowe’s. Both are in Gilroy.
The career center also targets at-risk youth, trying to get them to achieve their educational and vocational goals, through the Youth Employment Opportunity Program. The program offers peer advising, job referrals, placement assistance and referral to training. To be eligible, youth must be between 15 and 21 and at risk of not achieving their educational goals. Youth offenders, teen parents, gang members and the economically disadvantaged are among those eligible.
Cynthia Silva went through the program and now mentors others as a Youth Employment Opportunity specialist. She said the program pushed her more, and she’s now attending Gavilan College and plans to transfer to a university in Fresno and become a criminal probation officer.
“They open up to me right away,” Silva said about the peer advisors. “We can relate better. We try to push kids in the right direction.”
YEOP is a education-based program. Specialists ask youths why they’re looking for a job instead of attending school, Silva said.
Although the career center opened in 1997, some don’t know about its services or can’t find it since the building is behind another building on San Felipe Road, Ceballos said. Most older people know about the available services because they learned about them in school.
The One-Stop Career Center is open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, go to sbcjobs.org or call 637-JOBS.
