Get to Work

OneWorkSource can help you do it

Story and photos by Bob Bennett

"Employers don’t necessarily look at a high school diploma and see achievement," says Paul Grasso, executive director of the North Country Investment Board. "One of the biggest home builders in the area interviews people by asking them to cut a board 7 1/16 inches in length. They say, 'if they can’t, we don’t hire them.'"

OneWorkSource, the Plattsburgh division of Workforce New York, is an organization that helps people compete in the job market by connecting schools and employers. Essentially, it's a middle man between those seeking employment and those seeking workers. The organization is a direct result of legislation passed in New York State in 1998, which recognized a need for people, who do not qualify for public assistance, to receive better job training.

According to Jon Votraw, Supervisor of business services, people that come through the organization have a lot of channels depending on their circumstances —where they stand in life or whether they come from a company that has laid them off. One goal of the organization is to match workers up with employment in which they can apply previously learned skills.

Votraw also says that when people come in who have been laid off, they are theoretically eligible for unemployment. OneWorkSource helps them with the application process, and if they qualify and receive unemployment for 26 months, the organization helps them with job searching skills and resume writing, so they can find a job sooner.

“We’re trying to get people back to work.”

In Fact, OneWorkSorce teaches resume writing, interview skills and job searching skills right in the Plattsburgh office. According to John Masella, operator and regional team leader at OneWorkSource, GED programs are done there, as well. CV Tech, NY State Department of Labor, Clinton Community College, and Plattsburgh University are all partners that work with the organization. In addition, the organization works with local school districts to train people; Grasso says on-the-job training is also contracted out to companies that are willing to hire inexperienced workers. CV Tech, an online school, participates with the Work Readiness Certificate Program, which enables students to show potential employers proof of experience. Grasso says the organization also emphasizes work-based learning, which gives students the opportunity to be matched up with internships. Speakers will also go to area schools to demonstrate relevance in what’s being taught to students.

Grasso says he explained the importance of math to students by using fire fighters as an example.

"When fire fighters hook up a hose there is more to it than hooking it up to a hydrant," Grasso explained to the class. "They have to figure the distance to the fire and whether it’s running uphill or downhill so the pressure is right and the fire fighter is not fighting the hose. So math is important. They have to figure this all out in about ninety seconds without a calculator." 

"Lots of young people have an image of what a job is going to be like," Grasso says, "but we know it can be different."

Grasso says the organization has three goals: communicating with those in the private sector, figuring out what population should be served, and figuring out how to help a generation that does things drastically differently than previous generations. On the subject of communication, Grasso tells a story about when he was working for a similar organization to Workforce New York in San Diego, Ca. He says a shipbuilding company was in need of workers, but they kept turning down those being trained for the job.

"We finally spoke to someone from the company to find out why they were rejecting our people, and we found out that in order to do this job you need to be able to weld upside down under water. We don’t train people to do that," he says. "So it’s all about communication."

Grasso says the need to help African-Americans and Hispanics in the community is equally important because they are among the highest growing populations, but they also have the highest school dropout rates, so there’s an income disparity.

"There’s a need to import workers, as well," he explains. "Foreign workers are going elsewhere because it’s harder to get into the country since 9/11."

Grasso also explains that this generation does things differently than previous generations.

"We need to understand the way they job search and network. If people are using Craig’s List and Facebook, they can write their own resume in hours. They don’t need to come here when they have computers. We have to adjust the business model for a new generation. You have to get out of the business-as-usual mentality."

But in the end, it all comes down to one thing for Peter Dubuque, a training councilor at OneWorkSource. He sums it up by saying, "We’re trying to get people back to work."

Have you ever struggled to find work?