Platform to Employment helps unemployed get back to work
By Kent Pierce – News 8 Reporter
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — Finding a job can be a ‘job’ in itself, and it always seems to be harder to find a job if you don’t have one; but some people in New Haven are getting a big leg up thanks to some specialized training to help them get back to work.
Platform to Employment is a program that helps the long-term unemployed get back to work. We’re talking about people who were good at their job, but were not so good at looking for a new job.
One of the people graduating from the program today was Mary Lynn Barber. She has plenty to be happy about now, but it was a lot different for her not too long ago.
“I had worked for AT&T for 20 years, and I had found myself in a downsized position,” Barber said.
She had skills, but selling herself to employers was not one of them. She’s been out of work for over a year. That’s why she came to Platform to Employment. It was the same situation for Nigel Wynter.
“The frustration part was, for me, what I was doing, I realized I was really bad at looking for work,” said Wynter. “The thing about it here is, they help you find a hidden job market.”
This is a national program started by New Haven’s own Joe Carbone. He was frustrated by the way unemployment is measured. After you use up your 26 weeks of unemployment benefits, you don’t count in the unemployment statistics, so there was no one helping the long-term unemployed.
“Until they would finally get so discouraged that they would give up, and when they gave up, the statistics would favor the critics,” Carbone said.
This class has 97 graduates who have had training in resumes and interviews and in where to look for work.
“I just didn’t realize how it all pulled together, but one of the keys that I’ve pulled in is that you’ve got to network,” Barber said.
And all the training is working for these graduates.
“As a matter of fact, I have a second interview with a non-profit in Hartford two days from now,” Wynter said.
If you look carefully at the video, you might have noticed that it didn’t really look like there were 97 graduates there. Well, there weren’t. 30 of the graduates couldn’t make it to their own graduation, but they had a good excuse – they already started their new jobs.
You can learn more about the Platform to Employment at their website: www.platformtoemployment.com
http://wtnh.com/2015/01/13/platform-to-employment-helps-unemployed-get-back-to-work/