Employment service available for area’s senior community
Experience Works Inc. has been serving mature workers from its office in the Carolla Plaza, Uniontown, for over three years. Services include the Senior Community Service Employment Program for those age 55 or older and with low income and special training opportunities. Last year, in a continuing effort to find innovative ways to better serve the mature worker, Experience Works submitted a proposal to the U.S. Department of Labor in the form of a three-way partnership, involving Experience Works, High Touch Mentoring Works! and TeleTech Holding Inc. The grant was received, and five cities in four states, including Uniontown, the only city in Pennsylvania, and Morgantown, W.Va., are serving as sites for the pilot program.
Like Experience Works, High Touch Mentoring Works! is a nonprofit organization.
First called the Kansas Welfare-to-Work Senior Mentoring Initiative, it was funded initially in 1998 through a grant provided by the Southeast Kansas Area Agency on Aging.
As John L. Green, director of High Touch Mentoring Works! and the program’s creator, explains in the mentoring training manual he wrote, “Mentoring – A Window to the Heart,” “The project emphasized a public-private partnership of the Kansas Departments of Aging (KDOA), Human Resources (KDHR), Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) and the private sector to develop jobs and help those making the transition from welfare to work to retain those jobs.”
TeleTech is the private-sector partner of the project.
The company provides customer management services to Fortune 500 companies in such areas as telecommunications, financial services, government, health care, travel, and transportation. TeleTech is one of the top five employers in Fayette County, employing nearly 800 individuals at its Uniontown Mall location. As a senior work force solutions organization, the Experience Works office in Uniontown is charged with recruiting participants for the pilot program.
Once a participant is recruited by Experience Works, he or she receives pre-employment mentoring from Betty Washabaugh, a mentor for High Touch Mentoring Works! in Fayette County.
Green defines a mentor as a person who “invests time, energy, and personal know-how in assisting the growth and ability of another person.”
In pre-employment mentoring, the mentor may, for example, teach the mentee how to write cover letters and resumes and go over much needed interviewing skills. In addition, Washabaugh provides basic computer training to her mentees.
Having completed pre-employment mentoring, participants are interviewed and tested by TeleTech personnel. Those who are hired are eligible to receive post-employment mentoring from Washabaugh.
Post-employment mentoring involves helping the worker deal with a wide range of problems – from employment to personal problems – which may prevent the individual from retaining his or her job.
Remarking on the hiring of older workers, Donya Soltis, human resources generalist for TeleTech, said, “We have found older workers act as role models to other employees in our center.
“Not only do their solid work ethics and attitudes positively influence others, their life experiences add value and inspire their coworkers to dedicated service. Having these individuals in our center makes for a more enriching environment.”
Individuals 55 years of age or older who have limited income and are looking for a good-paying job with an excellent benefits package should contact Washabaugh at 724-439-9890.