A bell rung for job-winners

Ronnie Seagren

The performance statistics place Training Inc among the best employment-training programmes in the USA. Its Indianapolis site was the first job training programme to rely on performance-based funding. Of candidates who start in the Boston programme, for example, 90% complete the demanding 14 week schedule and 85% of those get jobs soon after graduation. A year later, 80% are still on the job and almost all have won a rase or promotion.

The key factor is having the trainees act the part. Their activities mirror the real world six hours a day, five days a week. They are expected to dress for work, to arrive on time and to interact professionally with the staff and fellow trainees. The office has departments, not classrooms. Every day one of the trainees rotates into the role of receptionist for the entire office. Simulated work projects provide the feel of the professional world. In a typical site, 36 people work on typing, word processing, data entry, filing or book-keeping in learning groups of 12 or 13, using materials that simulate business content.

Rather than training people in a union hall, church or community centre in the trainees' neighbourhoods, the programme purposely highlights the potential work environment. The professional office with beautiful rooms for the various departments tells the trainees clearly from the start that they are worth the investment.

On a field visit, they may go to an insurance company to tour the departments, to meet with personnel, see the flow of work, hear about the experience of a Training Inc graduate, and eat lunch in the corporate dining room.

'All kinds of mock interviews: by pairs, before a panel of peers, on videotape, with outside interviewers, with professional human resource people, at a job fair, and in other offices'

The preparation for job search involves individual work through a manual and seminars on wardrobe and first impressions, followed by all kinds of mock interviews: by pairs, before a panel of peers, on videotape, with outside interviewers, with professional human resource people, at a job fair, and in other offices.

'Whenever someone gets a job, their placement is added to the 'job board', a bell is rung, and work stops so that everyone can hear about what happened'

When it comes actually to looking for a job, however, the trainees do it on their own. A job developer may help with leads, but the trainees set their own appointments, and get the job (or not) themselves. They debrief after every interview, with a staff person and sometimes with a team of other trainees. Whenever someone gets a job, their placement is added to the 'job board', a bell is rung, and work stops so that everyone can hear about what happened.

Early in the cycle, trainees organise an Open House at which they host usually over a hundred family and friends. This has helped build family respect and support for the training effort, often easing personal pressure on the trainees.

Training Inc has a strong follow-up component. Graduates feel free to come back, rejoice over their victories, discuss their failures, and seek advice for further career steps. The initiators of Training Inc are the Institute of Cultural Affairs who have added a peer mentor programme in Indianapolis. Graduates who have been employed at least a year volunteer their time to work with current trainees during the programme and during their first three months on the job. A Life Methods Training Programme is also available for graduates who have worked for one to six years. The programme focuses on developing life management skills for upward mobility - economic planning, supervisory skills, meeting facilitation, public speaking, presentation skills, parenting and family conflict management.

This is a brief extract from 'Imaginal Education' by Ronnie Seagren (of ICA Canada, 577 Kingston Road, Suite 1, Toronto, ONM4E 1R3, Canada, tel 416 691 2316); which appeared in a special 'Transforming Education' issue of 'In Context' journal, available for $25 per year (from PO Box 11470, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, USA, tel 206 842 0216; fax 206 842 5208). Training Inc won a Social Inventions Award. Their address is: Sheila Maguire and Carol Walters, Training Inc, 730 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey 07102, USA (tel 201 642 2622).

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