DLT now targeting re-employment

RESUME BUILDING: The R.I. Department of Labor and Training is taking steps to help bolster the resumes of the state’s unemployed. Above, DLT adviser Stephanie Gove, left, works with Andrea DeBritto, center, and DLT workforce coach Olivia Byron. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
RESUME BUILDING: The R.I. Department of Labor and Training is taking steps to help bolster the resumes of the state’s unemployed. Above, DLT adviser Stephanie Gove, left, works with Andrea DeBritto, center, and DLT workforce coach Olivia Byron. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

The R.I. Department of Labor and Training wants people to see it as a re-employment agency, rather than the place to collect unemployment benefits, says DLT Director Charles J. Fogarty.
The agency believes it has taken a step in that direction, with new rules requiring those seeking unemployment insurance benefits to post resumes on website EmployRI.org within six weeks of filing a claim, or see those payments stopped.
The rules went into effect Aug. 31 and apply to those filing new claims, not to unemployed workers who are already in the process of collecting payments, usually for up to 26 weeks.
The DLT simply wants to get unemployed Rhode Island’s back into the workforce as quickly as possible, Fogarty says.
“We have a lot of services, like resume-writing workshops and training programs, to help them get back into the workforce,” he said.
“The first thing you have to do to get a job is let employers know who you are, your background and your skills,” Fogarty said. “A resume doesn’t have to be a five- or six-page document. People shouldn’t get overly concerned about it.
“We have resume-development classes at our DLT One-Stop Centers. There are computers at the libraries,” he said. “We’ve anticipated possible issues people might face and we’re doing all we can to help them meet this requirement.”
As with any change, there has been some resistance.
“There have been a few calls from people who don’t want to do it and I think we’ll get more calls,” said Fogarty. “We explain that the reason for requiring them to post their resume is to help them get jobs. I think people will get accustomed to the change.”
As of Aug. 31, the day the new regulations went into effect, the DLT site had 9,849 resumes from individuals who posted them on their own, said spokesman Mike Healey. As of Sept. 8, the site had 10,286 posted. Before the change, posting resumes was optional. “Although there seemingly is a correlation between the increase of active résumés posted … [and] our new policy, there’s no causation that we can definitively show,” said Healey.
For the first week of the new regulation in Rhode Island, beginning Aug. 31, there were 645 new unemployment claims, according to Healey. Of those, 475 claimants will be required to post their resumes on EmployRI by mid-October, he said.
Under the new regulations, 170 of the new claimants are not required to post a resume for a variety of reasons, including being in good standing in a trade union, having limited English proficiency or being temporarily laid off with a definite return to work date, he said.
During the first week the new rules were in effect, 17 individuals got assistance with their resumes at DLT One-Stop centers, said Healey. During the second week of the new regulations, an additional 29 people got assistance with their resumes at the One-Stop centers.
One unemployed Rhode Islander, Andrea DeBritto of Providence, was ahead of the curve on meeting the requirement to post a resume.
Her updated resume, done with assistance from DLT staff during an On-Ramps program that helps people get re-employed, finally got DeBritto interviews.
Before her extended unemployment, DeBritto worked in the jewelry industry for nine years as an expediter and import coordinator. When she was laid off, she decided to learn new skills that were in demand, so she got training in medical coding and billing.
“I couldn’t get a job in medical offices because they all wanted you to have one or two years of experience,” she said.
She went back to a job in the jewelry industry, but got laid off again. That was in June 2013.
As her unemployment benefits ran out, DeBritto had to sell her car – a Kia that was paid for – move out of her apartment in Pawtucket, put her things in storage and stay with her mother. During the two weeks of the On-Ramps program, DeBritto updated her resume and reposted it.
“I had the skills. I just didn’t have them on my resume before,” said DeBritto. “Now it includes collaborative, self-motivated, creative, disciplined, multitasker and customer-service certified from medical coding and billing training.”
The refreshed resume got her two calls and two job interviews within days of being posted. She’s gotten one job offer for a position.
“While I was unemployed, DLT helped me with my resume and getting interviews. The doors are opening now and I’m happy,” said DeBritto.
Even though DeBritto is not affected by the required resume-posting phase, others in the state will soon be confronting it. Some will be exempt, including those seeking jobs through unions and those involved in state workforce- training programs.
Rhode Island isn’t unique in the resume-posting requirement, although states vary in how they approach it. DLT staff reviewed best practices in other states to develop a plan that would work in the Ocean State, said Fogarty. One program that stood out is in Louisiana.
“We sent a team to Louisiana in November and our team really liked the way the two parts of the department work together there,” said Fogarty. “The unemployment services and the workforce-development sides of the Louisiana Workforce Commission have developed a good model,” Fogarty said.
“Until 2009, Louisiana had a traditional state department of labor structure with knowledge locked up in different departments,” said Tom Guarisco, spokesman for the Louisiana Workforce Commission, who is based in Baton Rouge. Based on changes passed by the state legislature in Louisiana, the department was restructured.
“Our Web-based system is the first state labor department where unemployment and workforce development are fully integrated into one system,” said Guarisco. “Our business-service reps engage and speak with employers in every corner of the state and we have data on everything. “When someone is laid off and files for benefits, we plug them immediately into the workforce part of the agency,” he said. “We know employers’ needs and we work with the educational system and the businesses on training, so we can increase the available trained workforce.”
Louisiana did require unemployed workers getting benefits to post a resume beginning in April 2012, but discontinued that requirement in June 2014, said Guarisco.
“We did focus groups around the state and found out the resumes just weren’t as effective as working with people who were unemployed, meeting with them in-person several times to improve their resumes, their training and their job skills,” he said.
“Some of the resumes seemed hastily prepared and our staff found job seekers were posting the information just to comply with the rule and the resumes weren’t really helping them get work,” said Guarisco.
Louisiana’s unemployment rate was 5.8 percent in August, compared to Rhode Island’s rate of 7.7 percent.
One state that’s initiated a requirement for a resume to be posted online in order to get unemployment benefits is Ohio. That went into effect in April 2014, Benjamin Johnson, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Jobs and Families, told Providence Business News.
Ohio doesn’t wait around for those collecting unemployment to get a resume posted. An initial resume is posted from the application for unemployment benefits and claimants have eight weeks to update it, or their payments are suspended.
“Since the new requirements took effect, 34,252 claimants have visited OhioMeansJobs.com and updated their resumes,” said Johnson. “We don’t have any data on how many of those have found work.” •

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