Incentives for Employers in 7 Hudson Valley Counties Offered by Jobs Waiting

As the labor market tightens, competition has heated up for employers to find workers to fill the thousands of skilled job opportunities in healthcare, the region’s fastest-growing employment sector, business officials say.

“But employers looking for highly motivated applicants who are ready to work need look no further,” says Donnovan Beckford, Executive Director, Westchester County Office of Workforce Investment & Westchester-Putnam Workforce Investment Board. “The Jobs Waiting program, which provides the industry with a pipeline of focused, committed employment candidates, has available $2.7 million in funds for paid work tryouts, on the job training, and customized training opportunities for Hudson Valley employers. This is an amazing opportunity.”

Jobs Waiting is a federally funded Ready to Work grant program designed to retrain the workforce and help long-term unemployed workers get back to work.

It offers several incentives designed to help employers in Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, Orange and Dutchess counties find qualified candidates and train them with the skills needed to succeed:

• Paid Work Tryouts: Employers may “try out” a graduate of the Jobs Waiting program to see if they are a good match, in a risk-free environment: 100 percent of wages are paid by the program for a six-week period.
• On-the-job (OJT) training: Employers receive funds for occupational training and skills development in preparation for the position they have been hired for in the organization. The grant pays between 50 and 90 percent of the employee’s wages, depending on the company’s size, for a period of up to six months.
• Customized training: Employers receive funds to pay for classroom-based training for groups of employees with specific needs, such as industry certifications and customer service and management training, at up to 50 percent of the cost of training.

“This is a public works program that works!” says Eric Saidel, Director of Human Resources at ENT and Allergy Associates, a growing regional medical practice with offices in the New York-New Jersey Metro area. “The incentives help employers tap into a pool of enthusiastic candidates with less financial risk.”

ENT and Allergy has hired 15 Jobs Waiting graduates and expects to receive nearly $50,000 in on-the-job reimbursements. The company also has taken advantage of the OJT component to train new hires in proprietary software, customer service training, corporate structure and systems, and industry-specific skills.

“This program takes less effort than traditional recruitment methods,” says Saidel. “Anytime we bring in a new employee, there are costs. Jobs Waiting helps us quickly find candidates who are very interested in working, and the on-the-job training helps them get up to speed faster, and with less financial risk. Employees see the training component and know what is expected of them as well. It helps build confidence on both sides.”

Once an employer registers with Jobs Waiting, the organization is eligible to apply for the incentives, and receive the many services the program provides, including the opportunity to post job openings on JobsWaiting.com and ongoing support from the program’s job developers.

Major healthcare organizations across the Hudson Valley have hired Jobs Waiting graduates, including WESTMED Medical Group, Montefiore Health System, VNS Westchester, and Crystal Run Healthcare. Several are now taking advantage of the training incentives, including ENT and Allergy, Cabrini of Westchester, and Northern Westchester Hospital.

Jobs Waiting is an invaluable resource for Hudson Valley employers as the program saves employers time and money in the recruitment process, provides funds for training—from on the job training for new hires, to specialized industry skills and management skills for incumbent workers. “We are building a talent pipeline to sustain our region’s growth as a hub for healthcare innovation,” Beckford says.

About Jobs Waiting

Jobs Waiting is a $9.8 million federally funded Ready to Work grant led by Westchester County and managed by the Westchester County Association, in partnership with the Westchester-Putnam Workforce Development Board and the employment centers throughout seven Hudson Valley Counties. The program aims to re-train 500 long-term unemployed individuals for jobs in the healthcare sector, a $15 billion industry with thousands of available positions throughout the Hudson Valley. Jobs Waiting includes a rigorous six-week healthcare career training boot camp, which provides specialized career readiness training and support services to prepare candidates to work in healthcare, with ongoing training opportunities and career support services for program graduates. Since the program’s launch in October 2015, over 230 participants have participated in 9 boot camps, with nearly 60 percent of graduates now working or enrolled in further specialized training.

PHOTO: Christopher Elliott, a graduate of Jobs Waiting's Westchester County “boot camp,” talks with a recruiter, Susan Hynson of Memorial Sloan Kettering, at his boot camp graduation in Westchester. / contributed