Hawaii firm enlists youths for training

A representative from the Pacific Educational Foundation Inc./MTC-Hawaii Job Corps Center will arrive on Saipan this month to begin job recruitment efforts that will provide local youths with opportunities to participate in an off-island vocational training for free.

The Honolulu-based company has partnered with the local Workforce Investment Agency in this program eyed to nurture responsible, employable, and productive citizens.

The visiting Job Corps staff with the assistance of WIA will hold a three-day recruitment at the Multi-Purpose Center from Feb. 21 to 23.

The Job Corps representative will facilitate the application process which will only accommodate clients that conform to a set of criteria.

Applicants must have basic skills deficiency, homeless, a parent, a school dropout, a runaway, a foster child, willing to sign a consent form for selective service registration (male), a US citizen or legal US resident, free from serious behavioral problems, meet low income criteria, and have parental consent if under 18.

WIA executive director Felix R. Nogis warned that the application process is quite lengthy, citing that it normally takes two hours for an authorized intake officer to fill in the client’s form, based on a one-on-one interview.

The WIA staff will be tapped to assist the Job Corps official who will oversee the over-all recruitment process.

Interested applicants who are residing in Rota and Tinian will be duly accommodated, according to Mr. Nogis.

“Our WIA staff will be sent to the two islands at a later date after we take care of the bulk of the program’s interested applicants who are based here on Saipan,” he explained.

A minimum of three slots for the CNMI has been reserved, though it has not been indicated how many Job Corps will take at the maximum.

Further, Mr. Nogis underscored that the Job Corps has the sole control of certification of eligibility.

WIA and the Job Corps, in a sealed Memorandum of Understanding, has a mission to promote academic, vocational, and social development training to young men and women ages 16 to 24.

According to Mr. Nogis, the collaborative efforts between the agencies would serve many advantages to local citizens especially as it targets participation of individuals from low-income status families.

Vocational and educational training programs ranging from construction, mechanics, electronics, computers, culinary arts, and general education development will be offered to chosen applicants.

All training expenses will be shouldered by Job Corps including accommodations and subsistence allowance.

The executive director is also warning prospective applicants that the training program involves a fair amount of hard work.

“We don’t want applicants thinking that it’s going to be easy and that is a convenient chance to go off island only to find out later that its quite difficult,” he said.

The new training facility in Hawaii follows stringent codes on curfew and job performance assessments.