Work program gives new workers a taste of the grind

Summer 2009 has seen the return of a summer jobs program that was very popular in years gone by. Although it is much smaller now, it has given 18 McDowell young people a first taste of full-time employment for eight weeks.

Overseen by Tim Hutchins, the cabinetry teacher at McDowell High, and funded through the federal Workforce Investment Act, the program places first-time workers (ages 14-24) in assignments in the schools or in various county or not-for-profit offices to work 40 hours per week. Not an internship, theses young people are paid for their work and subject to all the same painful tax withholdings as any other worker.

There are 14 job sites, Hutchins explained, including schools, county offices, the Senior Center and more.

The work is hard, but recent high school graduate Suzanne Proctor, 18, said the opportunity has been invaluable.

"It's been great," she said of her assignment as a clerical assistant at the McDowell office of the state Employment Security Commission.

"There are a lot of kids in or out of high school who want a job," she said, "and they're just about impossible to get. I've put in applications everywhere." She listed restaurants, retailers, groceries and offices.

"I have never gotten an interview," she said.

Kay Duckworth supervises Proctor's work at the office. She praised the young lady's abilities and reliability. "We're having her do everything," she said.

Hutchins and high school carpentry teacher Elton Allison visit each work site every day, as much to keep up with the paperwork that goes along with the program as to coach the workers. The pair help the young workers with all sorts of issues, from-specific skills to dealing with workplace conflicts.

"They're definitely not left alone out there," said Hutchins. His and Allison's goal, he said, was to make the workplace managers as happy with the program as the students.

Eighteen-year-old Jeffery Pettit relishes his work at the high school. He has performed maintenance and custodial chores at the school all summer and said there was no part of it he didn't like.

"I'm loving it," he said during a break from carrying heavy office furniture into the hall in preparation for buffing the floors. "Today I learned to work a floor buffer. I've pressure washed the building, trimmed bushes, cut the grass," he listed. "I like it."

Pettit said there was not much about the job he didn't like, except that it would end soon.

Hutchins said the custodial staff had been glad to have Pettit. "He hasn't missed a day," he said. "He is a very good, reliable worker."

He said the ultimate success of he program was when a manager hired the worker when the program expired. But with this year's hiring freeze in most government offices, that is not likely.

"We've had so many apply," he said. "There's a lot of kids out there just looking for a chance to get started."

Duckworth agreed, saying that young people today face far greater employment hurdles than in years gone by. Not one summer job had been listed this year, she said. As far as her office is aware, there are no jobs available for after school or otherwise flexible to the needs of youth.

She added that the program had been very popular in the late 1980s, with as many as 80 or 90 participants a summer working and learning workplace skills.

The program, as funded this summer, had space for 21 kids, according to Hutchins, and three quit or fell out quickly. That's not bad, he said, to have 18 out of 21 first time workers stick it out.

That success, said Hutchins, is due to the quality of the training and orientation in the first week of the program. Several folks came to speak to the participants on a range of topics: Dr. Joshua and Jacqueline Hand, Misty Hensley of the State Employees Credit Union, County Manager Chuck Abernathy, Jerry Broom of Job Link, the high school's Mary Finley and several others conducted trainings.

Topics covered included personal finance, bank account management and work ethics, and how to use free services in job searching and career planning.

For Proctor, the program has been a blessing, one she's recommend to others. "I'd like to see it extended," she said. "A lot of kids need this."

She'll attend Lenoir-Rhyne College this fall, to study business and German.

Pettit said he would seek a new job as soon as his assignment ends. He is also considering job training options.