Gaining new skills in a challenging economy

County retraining programs can help

By TOM KANE

HONESDALE, PA - The nation’s economic downturn is beginning to hit Wayne County, affecting individuals and not just automobile agencies.

Pete (his real name is being withheld at his request) was a tree climber for JAFLO, the largest tree trimming company in the state, which has numerous contracts with PPL to clear anticipated problems with tree interference with the high wires.

“I worked for them for 13 years and they laid me off two years ago for lack of business,” Pete said. He then attempted to start his own company.

“I purchased a chipper with money I had saved,” he said. “I started to get some private customers. As I progressed, I bought a small pick-up, but then after a while people started not buying and that effort failed.”

After several attempts to get another job, Pete ended up with no income. He had used up his unemployment benefits.

“I lost my home and my car, so now I have to depend on friends to take me around,” he said.

At Wayne County Job Training, located in the county courthouse in Honesdale, where he turned for help, he was told he had a possible job with a fabrication company in the southern part of the county that would train him. The employer would receive half his salary from the state’s training program, said Marie McDonnell, job training director said.

“We are seeing a 25 percent increase in people like him coming into our office since last fall,” said McDonnell. “We have limited money to pay this employer for half of his salary,” she said. “We are expecting a flow of money from the stimulus package, but haven’t heard anything about when the money will flow,” she said.

At the site in the courthouse, people who are unemployed and looking for a job can receive help searching the numerous websites that list jobs and assistance with resume writing (see sidebar.) “It’s totally free, and all they have to do is walk in off the street and we’ll help them with training and searching for a job,” McDonnell said. “People are not utilizing our program enough. I guess they don’t know about it.”

McDonnell’s office number is 570/253-7276.

Right now, however, the problem is that there aren’t many listings. Businesses are very slow to hire anyone, she said.

Training at Lackawanna College in Honesdale

Another avenue for those seeking training is at the Lackawanna College on Main Street in Honesdale.

“We have trained many people and put them in good jobs, even recently,” said Susan Birtch, instructor and job training coordinator at the Honesdale location. “I am surprised that we don’t have more people seeking our programs,” she said. “I think people aren’t aware that we exist. The county has announced this program for several years but people don’t respond. I think perhaps they will now that people are losing their jobs, and jobs are scarce.”

Karen Osecki, one of the trainees, was a small business owner, and her company had to close its doors a few months ago. Osecki, who is being trained in accounting and bookkeeping, attends a 16-week program at the college, funded by the Workforce Development program, that will train her in a wide number of skills.

Lynn Morrow had worked in the restaurant business for 15 years and left it because she was “burned out.” After getting a job with Gumble Hardware, she was let go because business was extremely slow.

“I’m working to get into the health field where jobs have always been plentiful except for right now,” she said. “I’m told that the field will again be a good place for employment now that the Obama administration is making health care a priority.”

People out of work can use their home computer to link up with the state’s employment programs, McDonnell said. “The address they can use is www.cwds.state.pa.us,” she said. “Once they are logged into the program, they can access it every day from their homes.”

The county also has a specially funded program for people on welfare, where training, job placement and other kinds of assistance are available, like day care and even receiving an automobile to travel to work.

“Anyone on welfare should contact this office to learn of these programs,” said Stacey Mizwinski, welfare program coordinator. The phone number is 570/253-5970, ext. 1755.

Job searching and retraining sites

Federal jobs fedjobs.com

PA Civil Service Commission www.scsc.state.pa.us

NY State Civil Service Commission www.cs.state.ny.us

PA Job Bank pajobsearch.org

NY job source nyjobsource.com/companies.html

NEPA Job Finder www.worknepa.com

Wayne County www.co.wayne.pa.us

Pike County www.pikepa.org

Sullivan Works One-Stop System co.sullivan.ny.us/orgMain.asp?orgId=285&sId=

Indeed www.indeed.com

Hot Jobs www.hotjobs.yahoo.com

Freelance Opportunities www.freelance.com