Program Helps Find Jobs for Unemployed

Even with his bachelor's degree in agriculture, it's hard to cultivate a job these days.

Ryan Tetreault, 53, of Redding had been a blackjack dealer, a maintenance worker at Yosemite and a caretaker before he was laid off from his landscaping job in 2005 and began taking whatever work he could find.

This month, he's been a student - gaining job-getting skills through Shasta County's Steps Toward Earning Potential and Success (STEPS) four-week employment program.

"I thought it was just going to be a waste of time for me, but I got more out of it than I thought I would," he said after a recent afternoon working in STEPS' computer lab.

There, Tetreault found a park ranger's job opening at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area and filled out an application for it. STEPS teachers had already helped him improve his resume and learn how to market himself for jobs that aren't advertised, he said.

The STEPS classes, already well attended, have been more full than usual as Shasta County struggles through recession and unemployment along with the rest of the country, STEPS Job Readiness Facilitator Theresa McCausland said.

"I've seen a lot of people, with a lot of credentials, that have been laid off," McCausland said.

Shasta County's unemployment rate hit 11.1 percent in December - a 16-year high - with about 9,600 people of the 87,000 labor force out of work, the state's Web site on labor statistics reports. Unemployment was 9.2 percent in June and 8.5 percent a year ago. It averaged 7.5 percent in 2007 and 6.6 percent in 2006, the site shows.

Thirty to 35 people participate in the program designed for those in the CalWORKs program, which helps low-income residents gain employment, STEPS Employment and Training Supervisor Jacque Breedlove said. A special condensed class is available for people who have been injured.

A portion of the job search center is open to the public and includes a board where available positions are posted and offers a variety of free packets with employment tips.

McCausland said she's seeing more two-parent households participating in STEPS, with both adults unemployed. Others out of work include construction workers, nurses and truck drivers, she said.

Through STEPS, participants have found jobs as medical assistants, at the front desk of a local hotel, in the Department of Fish and Game, in food service, as manager of a dollar store and temporary Christmas retail positions, McCausland said.

Shasta County had contracted with the Smart Business Resource Center to provide the STEPS program, formerly known as Job Club, Smart Operations Director Nancy Morris said. But the county began offering it in-house, using its own employees, this summer.

The STEPS class' first two weeks focus on identifying job skills and experience participants already have, writing a successful resume, and presenting themselves well with appropriate clothing and makeup. Participants also can learn to type and get wardrobe help through other county programs, Breedlove said.

"We get some folks who can't read or write, and they've been down and out so long that they're just surviving," she said.

Some get help in the form of equipment: a well-stocked toolbox, a firefighting backpack, a chain saw, steel-toed boots, or even a bike to get to and from work.

"We've bought them little carts to tow the kids to day care before going to work," Breedlove said.

In the second two weeks of the class, students look for jobs.

A large part of the program is support and encouragement during the frustrating process of finding a job, Breedlove said. Just asking how a job hunter is doing and what they need helps a lot, she said.

"That's the one thing I do see going out that door each day is hope," she said.

STEPS starts a new class every two weeks, with the next beginning Monday.