Strategies for a Down Economy: Part Time or Short Term Work

We’ve been having some luck building client resumes, confidence and skills while helping them earn some money with part time and short term work. It requires multiple placements before a client is earning enough to cover basic expenses, so it’s more work for us. But, we see a lot more of this type of position than full time jobs. If we can get clients started along this path early enough while they still may have some financial assistance from RCA or Match Grant, we believe it will help them achieve self-sufficiency in this touch economic climate.

For example,
· We placed an African client in a six week gig at a local private school polishing the floors and preparing classrooms for the school year. We helped him leverage that new skill into a part-time evening janitorial job. He already knew how to do floors and now he’s learned vacuuming, trash collection, bathroom cleaning and other basic skills. With two US jobs on his resume, we’ve just applied for a full time lobby attendant job at a hotel. We don’t know the result, yet, but he has definitely gotten an interview and we think he’s competitive because he has some specific skills and local work experience that he didn’t have 3 months ago.

· One client helped two members of a senior citizen support organization with light housekeeping and companionship as a PRN home health aid. Later, he was able to get a competitive position in an in-house CNA training program at a very high end nursing home, in part because of the related experience on his resume.

· We’ve placed a couple of clients in part-time work at late night food carts or as on-call banquet workers for a staffing agency. The hours aren’t perfect and the clients have to really be proactive to get hours. But, they are gaining skills and experience, as well as local references. We’re in the process of watching for full time positions they might be able to get with that local experience on their resumes.

Even when this strategy hasn’t worked perfectly, it definitely builds client confidence and understanding of the soft skills expected in our work culture. It would be great to hear about other strategies for building client competitiveness in this economy. Feel free to share your experiences here.

It’s now been nine months since Caritas of Austin was able to initiate my position as full time Job Developer. With this blog, I want to share what we’re learning and strengthen our efforts by learning from others.