More than a Counselor blog series: #3 - Choosing the Right Path

In Month 3 of the More than a Counselor blog series, Holly Hanson, career counselor and job developer for JobTrain’s construction training programs, Project Build and Laborers Construction Fundamentals, speaks to her work with a student who previously attended community college.

As the counselor that works with students learning the trade in an industry considered non-traditional in Silicon Valley, I generally see the same type of individuals – those who didn’t follow a traditional path in life, according to society’s rules. Then one day I met with a new student, Tony, who was interested in the construction courses at JobTrain and yet had previously been following a more traditional track.

Tony wasn’t like one of my typical students upon first impression. He was only 19 when I met him (but mature for his age), a high school graduate and had no criminal background. When I asked him why he wanted to be in construction, this is the story he told me: “I was raised by my sister who always kept me on the right path in life, always telling me that I need to be the first in my family to go to college.” So he did.  Right after high school graduation, Tony enrolled in community college. However, one year into college, his sister fell on hard times and couldn’t provide the stable living environment he needed to succeed in college. Tony essentially became homeless, moving from one couch to the next.  He knew he had to find a way to earn a living because now it was “my turn to care for my sister”.  He needed to put college on hold for now and find a fast track to a solid career. His friend suggested JobTrain and I told him he came to the right place.

Now I don’t want to give the wrong impression that this young man shouldn’t go to college.  However sometimes the path to success is not in the order you expect it to be. I sat down with Tony to create a career path that would start in construction and lead him back to college. Today, he is on his re-directed path to success – working a union construction job, supporting his sister and pursuing construction management courses in the evening. He checks in regularly with me and tells me all the exciting and challenging things that are going on in his life. When I tell him that I will always help him if he gets stuck along the way, he says “I know – you’re like my sister." 

More than a Counselor blog series: #2 - Re-entry Client

In Month 2 of the More than a Counselor blog series, Holly Hanson, career counselor and job developer for JobTrain’s construction training programs, shares a story about one of her students who is re-entering the workforce after being previously incarcerated.

Today I’d like to talk about one of my students named Chris.  He was like many of my other students – in his early 30s, from a disadvantaged neighborhood, and spending his life in and out of prisons.  When I first met Chris, we had a long conversation about what he wanted out of life.  He shared with me how he had just finished a 4-year prison sentence and how tired he was – tired of his life on the street and needing to make a change for his kids.

I hear this often but there was something different about Chris.  In spite of his background, he was calm, sincere and was willing to ask me (someone he just met) for help.  As a student at JobTrain, he definitely struggled as school is a big adjustment compared to the instant gratification of the streets, but he stuck with it.  I could tell that in spite of his past experiences, he had a core of being thoughtful and genuine that naturally surfaced.

We had many conversations about him struggling with change.  He had no support at home and many times wanted to quit.  I told him I couldn’t let him quit and that as long as he kept coming to training, I would be his support.  I said, “Let’s prove them wrong.”  That was the first time I ever saw him smile.

So why was this student so different from all the others?  Because I didn’t get the chance to finish helping him.  Two months ago in April 2015, he was gunned down at a party by a jealous man over a girl. Lives wasted.  As I sit here at his funeral, wearing all white at the request of his family, I can’t help but think, my students are, in a sense, my family and family is important to help anyway we can.

More than a Counselor blog series: #1 - Meet Holly Hanson

Meet Holly Hanson, career counselor and job developer for JobTrain’s construction training programs, Project Build and Laborers Construction Fundamentals. Holly provides students with one-on-one career counseling and job placement assistance to ensure their success. However, her work goes beyond counseling, career placement and a 9-to-5 schedule. She is a mentor and is available to her students for just about anything.  For the next 8 months, Holly is going to share stories about her work with different students so you can have a better understanding of JobTrain’s students and the impact JobTrain’s work has on their lives.

In this first blog post, Holly shares the story of her work with a single father in Project Build.

Mike was unemployed and came to the Unemployment Development Department, located at JobTrain’s offices, to file for unemployment. It was during this meeting that he first learned about JobTrain’s free vocational training classes and decided to enroll. I first met with Mike at orientation and he shared with me that he had previously attended vocational training offered by another organization.  He was now $30,000 in debt and still had no job.  The previous training had promised him a job at the end of his training, but when he graduated he found that there was little to no demand for the position he had trained for. Mike is a single father so to support his daughter he took a job as a security guard. Unfortunately, he was barely making ends meet and then to make it worse, his work hours were reduced.

Mike was determined not to fail his daughter. When I met with him for our first one-on-one session, I knew that he would be a great candidate for Project Build because he was organized, punctual and thoughtful about his future. I also connected him to our on-site child development center so that his 4-year-old daughter had a safe place to be while he attended classes. Shortly after he enrolled in the program, I noticed that he was struggling to maintain focus in the class. I asked Mike to meet with me to see if he was okay. Mike then shared that the mother of his child is an alcoholic and abuses alcohol in the presence of their child. He was in the process of helping her enter a treatment facility. Mike explained, “My child needs her mother whether we are together or not. My daughter deserves to have two parents.”

Mike is a good student despite his personal struggles with single parenting. We continue to have regular check-ins to see which unions he has researched and applied for as well as regular updates on how he and his daughter are doing.  I love seeing him and his daughter leave together after school.  The true happiness I see on their faces shows that despite Mike’s stress, he never lets it affect his ability to be a good father.

Stay tuned for next month’s blog post on Holly’s work with a student who was previously incarcerated and looking to start a new chapter in his life.