Employment & Training Programs
Populations Served: TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families), Adult and Dislocated Workers, Non-Custodial Parents, Ex-Offenders, Refugees, Veterans and Youth
Job Readiness
EDSI’s job readiness curriculum provides clients with a comprehensive understanding of workplace expectations and the skills to meet them. Clients build successful interviewing skills and develop a quality work portfolio, including resumes, cover letters, recommendations and thank-you notes. Clients also learn to collaborate in a team environment, recognize personal styles and build positive communication skills. The program works for a variety of populations because it simulates the responsibilities of the workplace and helps clients cultivate the characteristics that are most important to employers.
Case Management
EDSI provides case management services tailored for each client’s needs. The goal of case management is to move the client toward self-reliance through employment. We help the client create and follow an individualized employment plan, working through any challenges he or she may face. We focus on the client’s strengths and provide motivation, which builds the client’s self-confidence and self-reliance.
Skills Analysis
EDSI assesses clients’ skills through the following process:
- Skilldex® – EDSI’s web-based system surveys an individual’s skills and catalogs the skills employers need—especially employers with a shortage of workers or a high demand for specific skills. Skilldex® matches jobseekers to employers through reports that identify training and skill development needs.
- Job Task Analysis (JTA) – The Job Task Analysis identifies the tasks performed in each job. We interview a company’s most knowledgeable and experienced employees—subject matter experts—who are the highest performers in their jobs to determine the tasks they perform and how their tasks are organized.
- Skill Gap Analysis – EDSI’s Skill Gap Analysis uncovers a jobseeker’s skills and identifies the needed training to be successful in a certain position.
Job Placement
EDSI strives to place people in jobs with sustainable wages. We review current job openings to match a client to an employer. The client calls for an interview. For clients requiring special assistance or a specific industry, we cold call potential employers to represent the client. We follow up with the employer after the interview and share insights with the client.
To establish a comprehensive job bank, we develop employment opportunities in all labor market sectors seeking employees, track the needs of individual employers and contact employers directly on behalf of individual clients. Staff are assigned specific industry clusters so they can develop expertise on them. We also schedule speakers who are experts on high-demand jobs to present workshops.
Retention
We provide ongoing support to all our employed clients as they adjust to the workplace. For clients in both subsidized and unsubsidized employment, we have weekly contact for the first 60 days and then monthly contact through 180 days of employment. This ongoing communication helps the client adjust to the demands of employment and gives them an opportunity to talk about his/her achievements and challenges. We help clients to develop problem-solving strategies to ensure they succeed in their new jobs.