Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Helping the Unemployed: Pete Kindchi, an employment program representative at the California Employment Development Department office on Bascom Avenue, helps Cindy Tran figure out if she can get financial assistance to attend cosmetology school. Tran was laid off six months ago.
EDD helps job candidates offering free counseling and career services
Workshops, retraining counseling available to the area's unemployed
By Moryt Milo
For seven months, Woldeslasa Welezgu has been looking for a job, but he hasn't had any luck. It's the end of January and he is getting worried. As he sits at one of the computers in the Campbell Employment Development Department typing in his resume, he is trying to be optimistic. But he has one week left until his unemployment insurance runs out.
"It's been really hard," he says. "I'm an electrical technician and I can't find any work. I keep sending out my resume but I don't get any calls."
EDD Manager Chuck Steligo hears stories about people like Welezgu and wants to make Welezgu's situation the exception rather than the rule. But times are still tough in Santa Clara County.
Last December, before everything collapsed in the dot-com bust, unemployment in Santa Clara County was a paltry 1.3 percent. Today, it hovers at 6 percent, and it's why Steligo wants job seekers to come into the Campbell EDD offices and talk to his staff.
"Filing unemployment claims are a small part of what we are about," Steligo says. "We have more than 30 workshops on an ongoing basis that deal with everything from salary negotiations to interviewing skills to resume writing."
The EDD also has a bank of phones, computers, fax machines and copiers, which are all free to everyone seeking employment, Steligo says. People can come in and use any of the services without an appointment "We are the best-kept secret in the valley," he says.
The EDD of today is completely different than it was just five years ago. The department no longer subjects the unemployed to stand in long lines, where laid-off workers wait their turn to file unemployment claims. The claims are completed over the phone.
EDD job counselors also do not meet with unemployed workers and determine what jobs they should go to for interviews. Job seekers today have free access to CALJOBS, an online job bank, which lists more than 7,000 job openings a month, and one can access this information from any computer. Job seekers can go to the library, do it from their home or come into the EDD office.
The EDD has turned into a one-stop service center, with more than 25 different partners--a combination of businesses and organizations--working out of the EDD offices to help the unemployed find work.
"If you are a veteran, you can see a veteran's representative," Steligo says. "If you are disabled we have various partners who help you find work. We also have a large youth partnership program."
One of the youth programs, Job Corps, was one of the first partners to work in the EDD office and provide youth counseling and job assistance to adolescents ages 16 to 24.
Job Corp employee Sally Garnett calls the EDD offices her second home. "At the EDD facilities we help the kids connect with various programs and teach them how to care for themselves. We don't want to hold their hands; we help provide them with a direction."
All the partners at the EDD focus on a specific sector of the population, and coordinate with other EDD departments to offer a customer one-stop service.
It is why the veteran's administration is located next to various agencies that help those with disabilities.
The goal of the EDD is not to send a person all over the county for necessary services, but to bring all the services under one roof in the most efficient and convenient way possible.
This approach is how the local job fairs at EDD began. EDD staff found it made more sense to bring the job fairs to the EDD facility instead of sending people out to them, Steligo says.
Last year, when unemployment in the county was at an all-time low, the EDD job fairs drew about 300 people. Now the same jobs fairs draw more than 600 people. The fairs also introduce first-time visitors to the other available EDD services.
One of those services is teaching people about skill transferring. People are laid off from a high-tech job and don't realize they can transfer their skills into a non-high-tech environment, Steligo says.
"When I hear people say, 'I was in high-tech business; what do I do now?' I reply, 'Well, Macy's needs a systems analyst. They have computers and need high-tech help.' People just don't picture themselves in these kind of jobs."
As EDD was changing to a customer service approach it also changed each one of its offices to match jobs and services with community needs.
Steligo, who manages five different offices, says that the Campbell offices have a mix of workers from high-tech to hourly wage earners, but the Sunnyvale office, ProMatch, is geared toward high-end professionals, while the office's locations in Gilroy and Hollister are designed to meet the needs of a more agricultural community.
Last year the monthly traffic through the doors of the Campbell EDD hovered between 1,200 and 1,500 people, but today the number has shot up to more than 5,000 people a month, Steligo says.
EDD is located at 2450 S. Bascom Ave. For more information, call 800.300.5616 or visit www.edd.cahwnet.gov.
Campbell, California
