Moving from a statistic to gainful employment

DEMANDING RESULTS: PC Troubleshooters remote support specialist Ty Holden left, speaks with IT On Demand graduate Ben Lyons. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
DEMANDING RESULTS: PC Troubleshooters remote support specialist Ty Holden left, speaks with IT On Demand graduate Ben Lyons. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

Eight previously unemployed Rhode Islanders with information technology experience now have full-time jobs in the state as a result of a 14-week program that oiled some rusty skills and added up-to-date technology training requested by employers.
Of the group of 16 in the IT On Demand program, the remaining eight participants have completed internships providing them with a step-up in the job search.
It may be a job-by-job struggle for the Ocean State to bridge the stubborn gap between positions sitting vacant and the lack of skilled employees to fill them. Then there’s the state’s unwanted ranking as first in the nation, tied with Nevada, as having the highest unemployment rate of 9 percent in November. The U.S. unemployment rate is 7 percent.
Statistics aside, those who were out-of-work despite tech experience and are now gainfully employed in their field are breathing a sigh of relief and moving forward in their careers.
“I’ve worked on computers for 15 years. I did a little network administration and desktop support,” said Ben Lyons of Coventry, who was an aircraft mechanic in the Air Force for 10 years, then a civilian aircraft mechanic who also worked for Textron and Computer Sciences Corp. Unemployed since last February, Lyons was not making much progress in his job search.
“I probably sent out 75 resumes. I was having a tough time,” said Lyons, 52. “It’s hard because you don’t understand why you’re not getting hired. You don’t know if there are 50 people applying for the job or it’s age, or you just don’t have the skills they need.”
Like many native Rhode Islanders, Lyons has a strong attachment to the state.
“I was away for 15 years between the military and civilian work, but I want to stay in Rhode Island,” said Lyons. “Family keeps you here.”
Lyons is one of the 16 graduates of IT On Demand, a collaboration that included the Governor’s Workforce Board, which provided an Innovative Partnership Grant of $218,000 for the program developed by the Tech Collective. Another $15,000 in funding came from the Community College of Rhode Island’s Pathways to Advance Career Education, or PACE, program.
“My IT skills were a little dated and in a down economy, if you don’t have the latest and greatest skill set, you’re not very marketable,” said Lyons, who moved from an internship at PC Troubleshooters in Warwick, which was part of the IT On Demand program, to a full-time job at the tech company as a remote support technician on the Monday immediately following the Dec. 20 graduation. “I went from having nothing to having something – I feel great,” said Lyons. “The program got me back into the workflow. We got training in the thing that all the companies are looking for – VMware.”
The program also included training in soft skills such as project management, leadership, business writing and dealing with customers.
“It was kind of a refresher on soft skills,” said Lyons. “In my job now, I’m on the phone with customers on a daily basis and it’s important to be able to put the technical information in layman’s terms.”
Lyons got a full-time job even though there wasn’t an immediate opening.
“We told Tech Collective we‘re growing and would eventually need to hire, but we didn’t guarantee we’d hire anyone from the program,” said PC Troubleshooters Vice President for Marketing Lisa Shorr. “We’re always looking for great talent, but in Rhode Island it’s very hard to come by people who have higher skills in technology. It just happened that Ben is a great fit.”
The training in VMware was chosen as the main tech element for the IT on Demand program because companies said that’s one of the things they need most, said Giselle Mahoney, spokeswoman for the Tech Collective.
“The key to the success of this program is that we were engaging employers from the beginning,” said Mahoney. “They wanted VMware.”
While Tech Collective has done many types of training, IT On Demand focused on unemployed people with midlevel technology skills.
The three-part program consisted of technical training done by New Horizons and soft-skills training by instructors from Bryant University. The third part, the internships, was provided in collaboration with Atrion Networking Corp., Brave River Solutions, Carousel Industries, CVS Caremark Corp., Envision Technology Associates, GTECH, netsense, PC Troubleshooters, R&B IT Solutions, Rhode Island Foundation, Rite-Solutions and the state of Rhode Island.
Tech Collective recruited 30 eligible people for the program, but only 16 were selected after interviews with the employers. The program began in September and some participants had job offers, and were working, before it was over. The participating businesses paid interns $200 a week during the internship in the third phase of the program. Interns also got a $500 stipend from Tech Collective after the first four weeks of the program and another $500 stipend after the second four weeks.
“Some of the top candidates had multiple offers. That was exciting. We didn’t expect that,” said Mahoney. “That definitely boosted the confidence of the participants.”
Meeting the potential employees made a big difference, said Cheryl Russell, chief strategic officer for R&B IT Solutions in Pawtucket. The firm hired two of the participants.
“I’ve been trying to fill one spot for two years and another spot for a year,” said Russell.
Obviously, the two hired by R&B IT Solutions had been available before the program.
“One had been out of the job market for too long, so I probably wouldn’t have called him if he sent his resume, but he’s worked out great,” said Russell. “The other one we hired, Dan Chaput, would have had a double strike. He had been teaching IT for 15 years, but hadn’t been hands-on,” said Russell.
R&B IT Solutions joined the IT On Demand program during the last two weeks.
“The contacts were priceless,” said Chaput. “That’s the most important thing that made it work out for me.”
A lifelong resident of Rhode Island, Chaput had been unemployed since last January. It didn’t take him long to refresh his skills and find a company that saw his talent. The IT On Demand program began Sept. 16. Chaput didn’t even get to the internship – he started working at R&B IT Solutions on Nov. 4.
“Learning VMware was really important. I’m doing a huge VMware installation in Providence with $120,000 worth of equipment,” Chaput said in mid-December. “I’m setting up a company going into virtualization.”
Even participants who don’t yet have a job have some promising developments.
Envision Technology Advisors Chief Operating Officer Mike Ando said the company didn’t offer positions to its two IT On Demand interns, but instead referred them to some opportunities within their client base.
“Early on we identified the hard-working nature and willingness to learn within both of our interns,” said Ando. “We know that these are the types of qualities that our clients look for, so opening up these opportunities to the interns was a no-brainer for us.” •

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