Upcoming training will prepare older job-seekers for local in-demand jobs
Nonprofit seeks eligible candidates. Imagine the difficulty of finding a job if you lack the right skills. It’s a reality for many older Minnesotans as they struggle to re-enter today’s workforce. For the third year, Experience Works, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people age with dignity and purpose is gearing up to offer another free, 16-week innovative training program called Job Quest, designed to help eligible older job-seekers get the skills they need to find good jobs in their communities.
Job Quest offers certification in four career paths: child care fundamentals, medical records assistant; retail sales fundamentals; and clerical assistant. Its unique blended approach to learning combines virtual instructor-led occupational skills training with computer-based and online e-training tools delivered in an online learning environment. Participants work their way through specially designed courses that include computer literacy; occupational skills training; soft skills development; workforce re-entry training; peer interaction and coaching; job search and development.
“We did some research and discovered these specific training areas respond to employers who are hiring locally,” says Michael Myers, State Program Manager for Experience Works. “Job Quest will connect participants with training, despite disability challenges or living in remote or rural areas, so they can focus becoming confident and job-ready.”
Experience Works is currently seeking Job Quest candidates who are 55 and older, unemployed with limited income.
“We know there are many folks out there who might qualify,” says Michael Pattee, employment and training coordinator for Experience Works in Benton, Big Stone, Chippewa, Clay, Douglas, Kandiyohi, Lac qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, Pope, Redwood, Renville, Stearns, Swift, Todd, Wilkin, and Yellow Medicine counties. “This opportunity can help give them the competitive edge they need to secure employment and an improved quality of life.”
Job Quest is a special initiative training that compliments additional training offered to qualifying adults through the Senior Community Service Employment Program or SCSEP. Both are funded through the U.S. Department of Labor in nine states, including 40 counties in Minnesota.
Job Quest is scheduled to begin Oct. 1, 2018. For more information and to find out if you qualify, contact Experience Works, (855)
270-9660, mpattee@experience
works.org, or visit www.experience
works.org.