Spokane DD/DVR Team Featured on KHQ Connect Center

Jerry — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:08:43 +0000

The Spokane DD/DVR Team was featured on KHQ’s Connect Center, and helped to spotlight employment assistance for people with disabilities. Once a person is assessed and approved to work with either the Division of Developmental Disabilities or the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, they can be referred to Career Path Services for all aspects of assistance in securing employment.

The Video:

May 8th, 2012

KHQ 2012-05-08 6pm Connect Center Career Path Services” type=”video/flv” />

Note: Firefox does not support the format of this video – the most recent versions of Google Chrome and Internet Explorer do support playback. Older versions of these browsers may not supports embedded playback.

Launch Video In External Program

Virus Alert! DHL/Fed-Ex/UPS Virus

Jerry — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:46:11 +0000

DHL is a package delivery service similar to UPS or Fed-Ex. Recently, emails have been floating around asking users to open an email attachment from DHL in reference to a package that DHL is trying to deliver.

Do not open the email or the attachment, as it is a virus that will infect yours, and possibly other people’s computers. Note that this attack is not limited to just DHL, but other delivery services including UPS, Fed-Ex, and the Post Office.

As a general rule, never open an unsolicited email , especially with attachments, until you have verified the authenticity of the email. As it can sometimes be difficult to verify a message as being valid, consult with your closest technical support staff. Alternatively, snopes.com is a fairly reliable website for discerning which virus threats are real or not.

Below is a screenshot of the message that has been delivered to a user’s SPAM account, but remains unread (click on the thumbnail to enlarge it):

In the event your system is infected, it appears that it may be possible to do a ‘System Restore’ if you are using Windows 7 Professional or higher.

Student Loan Forgiveness

Jerry — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:14:11 +0000

Do you have student loans that you make payments on each month? Does it seem like you’ll be making payments on them for the rest of your natural life? Not necessarily. By virtue of you working here at Career Path Services, Congress has created a way for your student loans to be forgiven. As a private non-profit organization helping individuals and organizations meet their employment goals, Career Path Services is a qualifying organization for purposes of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Act.

While the act of loan forgiveness is not quite as quick as the title might imply, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Act allows individuals working full-time in a qualifying public service job to have the remaining balance on their eligible federal student loans to be forgiven after making 120 monthly payments on those loans. Congress is currently debating changing the number of payments to 60, and we hope to know more by the end of the summer.

Things To Remember:

With this plan, only loans received under the Direct Loan Program are eligible for the PLSF. Loans taken out under the Perkins Loan and Federal Family Education Loan Program do not qualify. Consolidation of these loan types into a Direct Consolidation Loan is possible to take advantage of the PLSF.
Keep in mind that under this program, you are required to keep of your progress towards meeting the requirements of the PLSF. Only payments made while a full-time employee at Career Path Services will count towards the 120 qualifying monthly payments, and you must be a full-time employee when you apply for loan forgiveness and at the time forgiveness is granted. Also, only payments made after October 1, 2007, qualify (at this time – this may change).
Parents who have taken out PLUS loans for their children may qualify for forgiveness as well.
Qualifying repayment plans include the Income-Based Repayment Plan, the Income-Contingent Repayment Plan, and other plans where your monthly payment would cause you to exceed what you would pay in a 10-year Standard Repayment Plan.

To read more on this benefit, please visit the information page on loan forgiveness at studentaid.ed.gov.

Bloomsday 2012

Jerry — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:39:17 +0000

Congratulations to all our Career Path Services Employees, families, and friends who earned their finishers shirt for Bloosmday 2012. We had a record number of people attend our pre-event breakfast. Below is a picture of some of our Career Path walkers and runners and our Breakfast Chef George. Thanks goes to his Chef-in-Training Nathan Gray and our friendly greeter Toby. As always, it was a great event with food, fun, and fellowship, as well as a good dose of fitness. I hope you will all plan to join us the first Sunday in May 2013.

Below are the results of our two Corporate Cup Teams. Hire Finishers placed in the top 25 of the team naming contest, but couldn’t crack the top 3, They did place 17th in their division out 29 teams. I want to give special props to Nick Hughes who was on the Hire Finishers team, who finished, even with a pretty serious injury. (I heard that we had a few other staff who completed the course injured; my hat goes off to each of you along with special thoughts for a speedy recovery.)

Company:	CAREER PATH SERVICES
Team Name:	HIRE FINISHERS
Division:	50 to 89 employees
Division Place:	17
Overall Place:	192
Points Scored:	1927

Team Member Break Down
Name	Points	Time
Decesari, Jodi	602	1:23:06
Gray, Juanita	607	1:13:24
Hanson, Cami	718	1:11:49
Hughes, Nick	273	2:28:37
Valdez, Ricardo	538	1:12:44

Team Details
Company:	CAREER PATH SERVICES
Team Name:	JOG DEVELOPERS
Division:	50 to 89 employees
Division Place:	28
Overall Place:	329
Points Scored:	1072

Team Member Break Down
Name	Points	Time
Boldt, Joyann	362	2:18:24
Cerenzia, Brenda	317	2:21:52
Fischer, Cherice	317	2:21:51
Guerrero, Patty	348	2:23:58
Spencer, Lisa	362	2:22:39

Updated Mileage Reimbursement Form

Jerry — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:22:33 +0000

The update staff mileage form is now available on the Peyton Post and can be found under Vouchers->General Vouchers->Staff Mileage Voucher. The form was re-designed as an Adobe PDF to allow for digital signatures and the automatic calculation of mileage and reimbursement totals.

We hope that the simplified form and automatic feature calculations will make filling out and approval much quicker for those involved in the reimbursement process. Thanks go to Lisa Spencer, Brenda Cerenzia, and the others who provided feedback to make the form better.

If you have any technical questions, or find a bug in the form, please contact Jerry Higbee at jhigbee@careerpathservices.org

Ring The Bell – May 2012

Jerry — Wed, 02 May 2012 19:41:26 +0000

Congratulations to our May 2012 Ring The Bell Winner, Mark Lovseth!

Mark is a solid rock in the Admin foundation consistently going above and beyond “other duties as assigned” in order to ensure the improvement and success of the Admin Team. Mark consistently jumps in whenever the need presents itself, putting in the effort and many hours to assist with payroll, support services, accounts payable and puts on any other hat you can imagine without being asked. He is always striving to find ways to improve and streamline processes. Whether he is trying to save the organization money by lower bank fees or providing outstanding customer service to both staff and their customers, Mark is our goto guy! We’ll ring a bell for him any day!

Spring 2012 Newsletter – Part 1

Jerry — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:44:14 +0000

Thanks go to Lindsey in our Spokane Office for putting together our Spring 2012 newsletter! Please take a look and share your ideas and feedback with her for future issues at lsalzer@careerpathservices.org. You can download the Spring 2012 Newsletter here.

Bright Spots

Jerry — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:45:53 +0000

by George Iranon, CEO, Career Path Services

Our bright spots are growing bigger:

A Table to Eat At, A Bed to Sleep In, and Pots to Cook With

One of your clients is extremely resourceful and persistent. Six months ago, she was living in emergency shelter and through persistence, found housing. CONGRATS!!!. Recently she posted an ad on Craigslist looking furniture. A woman, moving to another state, responded to her ad and donated not just a couch or table, but a living room SET, a dining room SET, a bedroom SET, and pots and pans…

I was brought to tears by the generosity of this stranger for our client and the resilience and creativity our client has to make things like this happen.

Talking With The Hiring Manager

Yesterday I went with clients to do job search in person.

In the morning, I went with a young woman who has medical assistant training and we went to specific employers where she’s applied. This particular individual is very shy and not only broke through her fear of talking with employers, but she presented herself and her skills incredibly well, showing them how professional she is!

Career Path Services had already developed relationships at two medical sites where she applied. Because of this, the client was able to speak DIRECTLY with the hiring manager at a Group Health facility. This is a rare opportunity for candidates applying at large organizations such as Group Health because of the volume of applicants and the number of resumes they receive.

The HR manager was impressed that the client took the initiative to go, in person, and turn in her resume and talk with her, and the client was able to meet with and talk directly to the HR manager because of Career Path Services’ efforts in building relationships with employers.

From A Client

Thank you so much Joyann for such a fantastic recommendation. You almost made me cry just reading it. I will never forget you in my entire life. You are one of the best things that has happened to me in Seattle. You are truly a friend and a wonderful person. Once again, thanks. I actually met with Rob last week and we spoke for a while. He is looking forward to interviewing me soon.

“Blessings!”

Your friend,

Manny (name changed)

Email From Our Spokane CJ Team

We began our day with a team breakfast at Denny’s and a quick identity exercise where went around the table and practiced introducing ourselves (out loud!) as Job Developers. Once our job developing mojo was flowing, off we went!

All together, we accomplished the following tasks:

Made contact with 78 employers
Found 60+ job openings
Took 3 Clients out one-on-one
11 current clients attended the healthcare job fair hosted by Career Path/American Institute of Medical Careers/WorkSource, resulting in 3 job offers and SEVERAL MORE leads for follow up
20 clients interviewed for open positions between those we took out and those who attended the healthcare job fair
2 candidates identified @ the healthcare job fair who would qualify for JC services; will follow up with DSHS
3 Additional Career Jumps identified and in the works
Identified some secrets for getting an interview when applying with chain stores; Costco, Sears, Walmart and others

Email From Our Pierce County CJ Team

Yesterday was a success! In the morning we met and talked about the number people who have had interviews and job offers in the last week. Pierce County had 12 people who started unsubsidized employment in the last week and 8 additional interviews are scheduled.

Additional Successes from being in out in the field yesterday include:

Contacted 29 Employers
Found 35+ job openings
Took 5 clients out one-on-one
Meet with Lakewood’s Chamber of Commerce

Great work!!! Meeting and building relationships with employers continues to expand the number of UE’s our clients are getting. Many of the employers we have built relationships with have asked us to let them know if we recommend someone who has applied. Additional, I know some of you have had Hiring Manager’s call you recently to share that they have open positions they are looking to fill.

Email From A Grateful Client

I was working at Pioneer Industries when Joan (name changed) approached to inform me that I had been selected to take the Tech I job that they had available there! I was told that Thursday was my last day as an intern and that Monday would be my first day as an actual employee. She was very proud of the way I had sold myself to the management, and I was very happy to hear her good news. Now I am working a four day, ten-hour shift schedule that gives me a three-day weekend and I couldn’t be happier. I’m doing the work that I love, and you helped me to find it, Kong! I owe you big time.

Thank you for everything that you have done for me and my family! Austin (name changed)

Team Rhino: Hit Your Mark

Watch Team Rhino, our Spokane DD/DVR team, on KHQ – Prime Time, from 4.30-6.30 p.m., as they answer phones and help folks understand how to hire people with disabilities and how job seekers with disabilities can find employment.

WSCB Is Looking For A Few Good Employers

Jerry — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 21:58:03 +0000

Below is a link to a reprint of an article from the Tri-City Herald detailing WorkSource Columbia Basin’s receipt of additional grant money allowing them to support additional employers who hire employees needing additional job training: WorkSource Columbia Basin Seeks … Continue reading →

Ring The Bell – April 2012

Jerry — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:21:51 +0000

The Benton Franklin WIA team known as “The Fast and The Furious” knows what it takes to get jobs, and they have been busy doing just that. At that start of the second quarter, they found themselves behind in placements across all programs. While they needed to wrap up the remainder of their registrations for the program year, they also needed to shift into high gear for job search and placement. They re-established a job club; they developed an on-the-job-training marketing workshop; and industry-specific cohort groups formed. Most importantly, they made numerous employer contacts.

This team’s work ethic and sheer determination has paid off for their customers. Since January 2012, they have placed 88 youth, low-income adults, and dislocated workers into self-sufficient employment. Congratulations Sheila, Letecia, Lisa O., Christine, Rick, Katie, Kayci, Michaela, and Cynthia! Ring that Bell loudly and proudly!

Placement Highlights:

Environmental Scientist- $57.67/hour (DWP)
Transportation Manager- $31.26/hour (Adult)
Teacher’s Assistant- $12.00/hour (ISY)
Medical Secretary- $11.73/hour (OSY)