Many people have questioned whether the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), commonly referred to as the economic stimulus bill signed into law by President Obama on February 17, 2009, actually created any real jobs. Well, the answer is “yes,” it did in San Diego County.
Out of the $787 billion in stimulus funds, $53 billion went to education and training, of which $3.45 billion was designated for job training. In San Diego County, the ARRA stimulus funds enabled the San Diego Workforce Partnership to offer two new programs through three training subcontractors:
- Manpower – covering North and East County
- Occupational Training Services – covering the San Diego Metro area
- Comprehensive Training Systems – covering south Metro and South County
These program are designed to help laid-off workers and unemployed persons find work and help employers find the qualified workers they need, while providing financial reimbursement to help cover training costs. The training options are summarized below:
On-the-Job-Training (OJT)
The OJT training program is designed to help businesses hire and train persons who do not have sufficient experience and knowledge in the jobs for which they are being hired. The employer’s training expenses will be paid as a percentage of the wages the new hire earns during the contracted training period. Program guidelines include:
- Subcontractors recruit applicants based on company job specifications.
- Employers make the hiring decision.
- Employers are reimbursed up to 50% of the employee’s wages for costs associated with training (usually four to six weeks of full-time work.)
- Subcontractor develops a mutually agreed-upon training plan that identifies skills necessary for the job.
Customized Training (CT)
The CT program is designed to meet the special requirements of an employer or group of employers to hire and train employees or to upgrade the skills of employed workers to prevent lay-offs. Program guidelines include:
- Employers select the training provider and pay not less than 50% of the cost of training.
- Employers are reimbursed for the balance of the cost of the training.
- Employers and training provider recruit applicants based on company’s job specifications.
- Employers make the hiring and employee training decisions.
- Employers and training provider develop a mutually agreed-upon training plan that identifies the skills necessary for the job or job retention.
The San Diego Workforce Partnership awarded a total of $2 million to their three training subcontractors, and these subcontractors, in turn, have trained 221 people that are now placed in jobs. About 60 companies have participated in the training thus far, and the program ends June 30, 2011 if the funding hasn’t been used up prior to that time.
Individual job seekers wishing to become part of the OJT or CT programs must be a member of one of the County’s Career Centers and be “job ready,” which means they have a good resume, know how to interview effectively, and have appropriate references. Those who are not yet “job ready” must take classes at their Career Center to get ready. The benefits for a job seeker of participating in the OJT program is that they can inform a prospective employer of the OJT program during the interview process, which may enhance the likelihood of their being hired for the position if they don’t have all of the specific jobs skill for a particular job. There are 11 Career Centers in San Diego County. To locate the nearest one to you to make an appointment to become a client, go to www.sandiegoatwork.com. There are 1867 comprehensive One-stop Career Centers, and 1134 affiliate One-stop Career Centers in the United States. To locate the Career Center closest to you, go to www.servicelocator.org or call 1-877-US2-JOBS (1-877-872-5627).
Some of the positions currently available for on-the-job training in San Diego County are: warehouse clerk, precision assemblers, maintenance worker, machinist programmers, Certified Nurse Assistants, and mechanical, manufacturing, and software engineers.
Besides the reimbursement for training costs, the advantages to employers of participating in the OJT program is that the training subcontractors pre-screen the job seekers and handle the paperwork involved in the program. This can be a huge relief to employers that are short-staffed in this tough economy.
In addition, all of the community colleges in San Diego County offer short term, non-credit vocational workshops as part of their Continuing Education programs. For example, the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District is offering the following free classes: “Career Exploration; Ready, Set, Work; Successful Small Business Management; Introduction to Computers; Introduction to Internet; and Introduction to Spreadsheets. To sign up, go to www.gcccd.edu/ce
As employers, don’t miss out on this opportunity to find qualified employees for your company with some help in funding the training they may need to fill your open position. As job seekers, don’t miss out on this opportunity to get help in finding a job.