Program teaches new workers how to get along

By Kay Luna

Anger management.

Personality types.

Personal hygiene and customer service.

For some, like 33-year-old Teresa Knapp Roark of Davenport, these are common-sense workplace traits that employees should pay close attention to.

For others, its new ground to cover.

Those are the people Iow@Work wants to connect with through its soft-skills workplace training, offered through the Promise Jobs program for welfare recipients  and also during in-house company training sessions throughout the Quad-City area.

For a lot of people, its not their skills, its their soft skills  its getting to work on time every day, getting along with other workers, being a team player, said Shirleen Martin, assistant director at Iow@Work, a division of the Eastern Iowa Community College District. Some people would say, My kids are sick, so youre home three or four days with your kids and the employer should understand. They dont.

The training deals with critical-thinking skills, life survival skills, and addresses barriers people might have at work, Martin said.

For some, the training is required by the Iowa Department of Human Services for welfare recipients. In order to receive payments, they are mandated to attend the course and take other action to lead them to employment, she said.

The curriculum design, development and content are based on research on what employers want to see in their employees.

For welfare recipients, the course includes a 30-hour curriculum divided into five units. The entire session is delivered in a week, with each unit building upon the other.

For companies and other customers, including the Scott County Jail, the curriculum is a little different  but the message is the same, Martin said.

The more you assess a person, the better you can map out a career plan for them, she said.

Thats how Roark found herself in the class in September.

A single mother of three, Roark found herself divorced a year ago and in need of financial assistance. She went on state aid, and through the Promise Jobs program, was required to attend the soft skills class.

She now is a student in the paralegal program at Kaplan University in Davenport and plans to go on to law school afterward.

The thing that was really interesting was naming the fact that employers really look at people who have soft skills training. I didnt know that, she said. Its just a really great class.

Dawn Schaaf and her boyfriend, Robert Strahlman, both of Davenport, took the course together when they were getting state financial assistance earlier this year for themselves and their two-year-old daughter.

Some of the information was a review for the couple, but Schaaf said she also learned some new things  like what to wear to a job interview.

It teaches you how to respect people, respect your bosses, do your job  I guess just how to behave while youre on work, Schaaf said.

Since taking the course, the couple no longer is receiving state aid. Instead, Strahlman works full-time at Miller Container Corp. in Rock Island and Schaaf is working part-time at a Burger King, while both study for their GEDs.

Ive got quite a few success stories, Martin said. But you cant go in late everyday and expect to still keep the job.

Kay Luna can be contacted at (563) 383-2323 or kluna@qctimes.com.