SER SCSEP Program Makes Dreams Come True
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The dream of one day working in a book store has come true for Ed Fladeland, a SCSEP participant in SER’s job-training program working with the private sector in Chicago.

Ed Fladeland lived most of his life without a permanent home and was struggling to afford life’s basic needs when he joined the SCSEP program with the Chicago Federation of Labor. Central States SER partnered with CFL to recruit participants for its job training program under a special grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to train seniors for jobs in the private sector. In his community work with SCSEP, Ed was volunteering at the Howard Brown Health Center when he was chosen for the training program. SER’s business partner in Chicago has been Borders Books.

Ed had set a life’s goal to collect books and essays by Tolkien and now with a job at Borders he can not only talk to customers about his passion but he can get a start on his personal library.

Ed is only one of several seniors placed in private sector jobs as a result of the SCSEP 502(e) grant. SER first received the grant in 2004 and since that time has partnered with CVS/pharmacy in 4 geographic sites around the country and with The Home Depot in 6 sites, and is currently involved with a pilot project with Borders and Waldenbooks in Chicago.   

The challenges for older workers who have been out of the workforce for many years are many. They need to have opportunities to increase their self-confidence and self-esteem and also update their skills. Computer training is very important not only for the workplace, but to get through the application process successfully, especially the retail online questionnaire that asks a series of screening questions looking for the “right’ applicants.  An applicant can pass or fail based on answers to questions that test dependability and customer service knowledge.

The interview has become more and more important, say officials at The Home Depot. They’ve reduced their online questionnaire but have increased the time spent in the interview. They use role playing to determine how an applicant will behave with customers. The interview is very important at Borders also, as they ask questions from key categories. Questions from all employers range from why do you want to work for us, what skills do you bring to the job to how would handle a difficult customer.  All in all, the older worker must come across as knowledgeable, personable and assertive in the job seeking process. 

CVS says, if you have good people, we will hire them, but all employers want people who have the ability to drive sales and understand customer service. The training program for participants provided those skills and prepared them for the application and interview process. It lasted three weeks with 25 hours of instruction each week on computer skills, job readiness and customer service.  Pre and post tests in customer service drew attention to the need to learn and practice customer service skills and most participants passed the post test and received customer service certification from the National Retail Federation.

Rod Cameron, who was hired at $15 an hour at The Home Depot in Dallas, said. “The training helped tremendously. I was a bit rusty on the computer. The training enhanced my knowledge and also was very motivational. It gave me the feeling that ‘Yes, I can do it’ and get a job with a great company. It inspired me.”  Rod said that he believed that The Home Depot was interested in hiring older workers because of their involvement in the 502(e) program.  Not so with other corporate and blue collar companies, he said.  Rod has already received a 50 cent raise selling appliances at Home Depot.

Steve Wing, director of government programs for the CVS drugstore chain, anticipated the demographic changes in the workforce and began preparing for this shortage over ten years ago. He said, “Older workers are important to the development of a diverse workforce, which helps in serving a diverse customer base that includes many older people. They serve as role models for younger people and excel in such areas as customer service.”

A diverse workforce also is needed to serve the Spanish-speaking consumer and companies have turned to SER to fill that need.  Maria Gomez was a SCSEP participant in the Austin training
program for jobs with CVS.  Maria was determined to get a job, but did not have computer skills. The skills she learned in the classroom helped her get through the online application successfully and she has worked at a very busy CVS store for over a year. 

One of the incentives to hiring older workers from the SCSEP program is that funds are available for 6 to 12 weeks of on-the-job training with a 50% reimbursement to the company. While this has helped to sell the program, human resource people still look to hire people with skills to start working immediately. The Home Depot provides an intensive training program that continues to update skills every 30 days. This is important for those people with excellent customer service skills that need to learn more about products sold in the store.

SER has developed national partnerships with corporations that are committed to hiring the older worker, but in the end, it comes down to the fact that relationships must be established at the local level and the job seeker needs to work diligently to get the job with, of course, support from SCSEP staff. At Central States SER in Chicago, 502(e) coordinator Diego Diaz has continued to train participants on interview skills following the training class. But once in the interview they’re on their own and that is where self-confidence and customer service knowledge is needed.

Helen Hull, another participant hired full time at Borders, had all the attributes needed by the company. She belonged to a book club and had a love for ancient history; she taught Bible study and was adept at sign language and she could work a flexible schedule. All her activities and interests helped her through the interview process successfully.

In the Los Angeles training class, both Jesus Gonzalez and Clara Sanchez, two participants who got jobs with The Home Depot, worked for weeks to seek an interview by calling back many times and updating their application on line.  Clara said, “Now I know why it is hard to reach HR, they are so busy!”  All companies are interested in hiring good people; age does not seem to matter to companies serious about serving a diverse customer base.  But it does take perseverance on the part of the job seeker.

SER’s SCSEP program will continue to work with national partners to place people in private sector jobs. While weeks of training classes are not possible, funds are available to the company for on-the- job training.  With the support of SCSEP staff and a little ingenuity and fortitude on the part of seniors, jobs are waiting for them.