Ring The Bell – May 2015

Community Partner Ring The Bell

Our May 2015 Ring The Bell nomination for our community partner comes from Candace McGrue, a practitioner from our Pierce County offices. Raymond Zeck, manager for the Clover Park Tech Warehouse has partnered with Career Path Services for over two years.  Here’s what Candace had to say about Ray:

(1) What makes your nominee a great partner?

Ray is honest and caring. He mentors clients by holding them accountable and correcting workplace behaviors that would not lead to successful employment outcomes. He communicates regarding (client ) performance with practitioners and clients on a regular basis. He has supported our clients in their search for employment by providing numerous letters of reference among other employment services. Our clients tend to keep in touch with Ray long after they have completed our program due to his role as a mentor for these job seekers. Ray exemplifies everything we like our supervisors to be towards our clients.

(2) What are some of the things Ray has been able to do to promote an effective partnership?

Ray and his counterpart, Phil, are extremely honest with our clients. There have been several times when a client may be suspended from a site due to lack of job logs or attendance issues.  Ray is the first one to let us know of areas of improvement or where the client will still need coaching. He asks for clarification on our guidelines for clients to remain in good standing.  He is also willing to jump right in with job coaching in order for that to happen. Our clients respect and listen to him, because they value not only his opinion but the information he provides.

Employee Ring The Bell

Intuitive, Creative, Passionate, and Tenacious are all words Sharmon Hilliard’s team used to describe her.

Sharmon has been serving our Wenatchee office since August 2013. During her time with us, she has received kudos from co-workers, clients, employers, and DVR.

Sharmon focuses her efforts on initial engagement – getting to know her clients well ensures that she makes a great employer match that leads to success for her client. She takes principals from her background in coaching team sports and uses these in her day-to-day work with clients. She emphasizes to clients that she and the client are a team, partnering in job search and their success. Sharmon is not afraid to go the extra mile – she believes in her clients and will advocate for them. When she receives a “no” from an employer, she takes it to mean “come back later”. And, she’s even been known to scale fences to make sure her client got to work.

Sharmon sets high expectations for herself and her clients targeting job placement within 30-45 days of their enrollment. Year-to-date, 11 of her 16 placements have been within this timeline. She receives phone calls on a weekly, sometimes daily basis from her employer network looking for their next employee or asking to host someone for an assessment. When she can’t fill the need, she reaches out to DVR or the Wenatchee Partner’s group for job seekers. She works closely within the Wenatchee Partner’s group network and has partnered on clients to provide DVR services, while tapping into SkillSource for On-the-Job Training dollars.

Sharmon’s efforts are paying off – she’s currently at 100% goal attainment, has a 73.68% placement rate,and has an average wage of $10.84 an hour.

Sharmon’s team would like to recognize Sharmon as the May 2015 Ring the Bell Winner. Sharmon – thank you for the passion and enthusiasm you bring to work everyday!