Unemployed or PT employed? HRA will send you to America Works/Back-To-Work for a month or so to find a job. If you don't get one at AW, HRA will give you to WEP as a slave. WEP will work you but they won't pay you. You'll end up mopping subway cars. If you're lucky you'll end up doing what would otherwise be a decent city union job but you won't have a chance at that job for real, and you still won't be paid
America Works is not here to lift you out of poverty. Its one mission is - to get you a job - ANY job - so that you'll cost the system less in benefits. Thats it. Thats what this program is. Its not about finding you a career or updating your job skills. Its not about making you self sufficient. They don't care if your rent costs more than the job pays. You're not allowed to refuse a job. I'm not kidding. If they get you a job and you lose your apt. you're considered a success. They got you employed. They're done. Buh-bye.
Why do employers use American Works?
1- AW has a huge number of exploitable unemployed people who aren't allowed to refuse
2- Employers can hire them for free - no listing or screening fees.
3- Employers get $1,000s in tax credits for hiring someone from AW. Thats like getting employees for less than minimum wage! And its all legal !
Orientation
It took me a few days to figure out AW. THey werent doing orientations at the time. Attendance lasts an hour or so, you talk to a job counselor, do your resume in the computer room, watch an upbeat powerpoint slide show. If you're lucky you'll go on a job interview. Its mostly a waste of time. If you miss a day, or part of a day, you have to bring back a letter or forms as proof.
MetroCards !!!
Ask for one. You'll be traveling to AW every day. Going to other AW locations or classes, searching for clothes, attending HRA appointments, and hopefully going on job interviews. You NEED that MetroCard. Without it, travel will easily cost $35-$50 /wk. GET that MetroCard before you leave for the day. It is THE most valuable thing at AW.
Clothing
They want you interview-ready EVERY day. You'll have to sign several forms about their dress code. Each form has a DIFFERENT dress code (why?...because idiots are in charge). Most say wear dresses, skirts or slacks, closed toe shoes. No jeans, no Ts, no sandals, no sneakers, no 'spandex' (whatever that means). If you dress wrong you can be marked absent, or you can be sent to a charity to find work clothes.
I was sent for clothes a few times. That meant hours of travel, then hours of waiting on line in the sun, then hours waiting in a church basement. They never had anything you could go to work in. The clothes were skimpy and had multiple stains- garbage that shouldn't have been accepted as donations in the first place. Yet dozens of hopeful women from AW and all over the city would be there. We ALL left empty handed. The men seemed to have better luck.
Job Counselors /aka Sales Reps
Reps have AW job listings on their computers but they're kept secret. Occasionally they'll read some of the jobs out loud after attendance. If you like one, a Rep can set up an interview.or, you'll be sent across the city to a DIFFERENT Rep. Then, if THAT Rep likes you, they'll set up an interview.
The Far Rock branch has many jobs in the middle of nowhere in Nassau with crazy commutes. I dont remember one job in the city or in downtown Brooklyn. Most jobs paid $9/hr. They called $12/hr 'good pay.' Do some math. Thats $1,440/mo after taxes IF you got paid for 40 hrs/wk. (but these jobs don't pay 40 hours).
Some Reps try their BEST to help you. Others? Be wary. One Rep bragged that his client was ready to hire 25 people for the same dead end, PT, minimum wage, no schedule, food service job. Then he bullied two grown men into that job. The jobs were PT so these guys had to make up the rest of the 40 hour week by coming back to AW and sitting there. Don't let this be you. Come up with something else that the counselors can use. Be proactive. If you hate food service, express an interest in construction or security or whatever. Don't make it easy for them to force you into the worst of the worst jobs. The employer who wants 25 PT workers can just as easily hire 15 FT workers instead.
Training
I couldn't get any. They had classes like: Get your GED (TASC), Become a Certified Home Health Care Attendant, Food Handling Safety. Supposedly, different AW locations offer different things, but they're secretive about whats offered where. Far Rock mostly works with Jamaica. Every day they would tell us if we were really good they would send us to Jamaica.
Computers
Some computers don't work. Others have no antivirus software. They know. They don't care. There won't be any signs. There are no printers. You can use a USB key, but your counselor won't accept it because they're afraid of viruses. You have to use email.
Much appreciation to Peter, Robyn, & Tayana for making this place bearable. read more
