ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 28, 1996 TAG: 9601260016
SECTION: ECONOMY PAGE: 23 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
Roger Jarals was 48 when new management took over the golf course where he had been superintendent of grounds maintenance for 21 years. Jarals was let go last May.
Marguerite Iseley had worked for eight years as human resource director at a local mill known under successive managements as Roanoke Dyeing & Finishing, Virginia Mills Cotton Products and Dye Tex Ltd. As employment at the plant fell from 300 to 65, her job was terminated at the end of August.
What happens to people in good jobs who, through no fault of their own, are laid off in midlife?
The first stop for Roanokers Jarals and Iseley was the Virginia Employment Commission, where they qualified for unemployment compensation.
Faced with only 26 weeks of unemployment pay, Iseley said she was frightened. She prepared a resume with help from her former employer, read the help-wanted ads and made the rounds. "It's tough out there, I'll tell you," Iseley said.
Jarals, familiar only with golf course maintenance, also looked at the job market for a couple of months. "There's not that many jobs," he said, and certainly nothing comparable to his old pay.
Then, at different times, they were called by VEC to attend a class in job opportunities, where they met a representative from the Fifth District Employment and Training Consortium.
Both began working with the commission staff on retraining.
Jarals said he and the staff considered several options, but most were skilled apprenticeships inside a plant. He was accustomed to outdoor work.
He opted to try to qualify as a truck driver and was sent for four weeks to a course on transportation technology in Martinsville. The consortium paid for the schooling.
When he graduated, Jarals went to work as a local delivery driver for Conway Southern Express of Roanoke.
"It was a real neat thing," Jarals said of his training for a new line of work, at an age when many people are contemplating retirement. "It really helped me out."
Without help from the consortium, Jarals said, "I probably wouldn't have a job still. It's given me another career line."
Iseley, who lost her job later, started with the consortium only recently against an April deadline for expiration of her unemployment benefits. Now she has had help in preparing a better resume and has qualified for retraining and, if necessary, relocation.
Iseley believes she is hampered by the lack of a college degree. She's had two years of college courses at various schools and, with help from the consortium, learned she could put them together, with just a little more work, through Virginia Western Community College for an associate's degree.
But her unemployment will run out before she could earn a four-year degree, So she's opted to take computer classes through Virginia Western and Roanoke County. The classes run through the end of February.
Iseley hopes to find a job with her new computer skills, even if it's only with a temporary worker agency. Then, she said, she will go on her own to the local Mary Baldwin College program to earn her degree.
"They're really very good," Iseley said of the consortium. "They try to help any way they can," especially psychologically, so that she's no longer afraid.
"They give you the tools," Iseley said. "They don't tell you what to do."
Vickie Price, director of the consortium, said dislocated workers are highly motivated to qualify for a job. They are accustomed to getting a paycheck, and they have obligations for mortgages and college tuitions.
People who are eligible are those who are laid off or terminated from jobs through no fault of their own such as a company downsizing, Price said. They are called dislocated workers.
Most of the clients are referred by VEC, chosen because they seem unlikely to find work for which they are qualified within the six-month cut-off date for benefits.
Education levels vary from high school dropouts to college graduates, Price said.
Price said the consortium also looks at what's available in the job market, because there's no sense training people for an industry ripe for layoffs. Advice on the job market comes from VEC staff, the Weldon Cooper Policy Center of the University of Virginia and a private industry council.
The program pays tuition, assistance with supportive services such as resume writing, and miscellaneous expenses such as the cost of gasoline for driving to classes at Virginia Tech. It can also help with child care.
The consortium is one of 14 regions in the state that receive funds for the program. Another share of agency money comes through VEC as a contractor for its employment programs.
The Fifth District consortium is just closing out a two-year grant for specific help to workers laid off several years ago by Gardner Denver and the former Dominion Bank. Gardner Denver, a maker of industrial tools, was purchased by a Texas company and its operations moved outside Roanoke. Dominion Bank was purchased by First Union Corp., which based its Virginia operations in Roanoke.
Some of the people are trained at Virginia Western, Virginia Tech and Radford University, where they may even complete degrees. Others work at private schools such as the one in transportation technology or a beauty school.
A current priority is training for about 160 workers being displaced from the L'Eggs plant in Salem. Some of them have been with the company for 28 years.
Jeannine Blackburn, client services supervisor, said that 83 percent of graduates of the program were still in their jobs last year.
"Case management is the key to success of the program," Blackburn said, and each trainee is assigned to a case worker who coordinates all of the services. "We have a relationship."
Blackburn said all resources of the community can be brought in to help the dislocated worker. Some who are having trouble budgeting, for instance, are referred to Consumer Credit Counseling. Some people who need self-assurance might be sent to a speech class.
LENGTH: Long : 109 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by staff: Job training.by CNB