Students Get On-the-Job Training in Setting Goals

Before Lilian Rodriguez had a job of her own, the 14-year-old believed the ways other people found employment and performed their duties at work was a difficult and mysterious process.

“But work isn’t at all like I thought it would be,” Rodriguez said Saturday. “I thought it would be hard--like difficult questions and difficult tasks and a lot of pressure. But it’s easy once you get the hang of it.”

Rodriguez is one of 750 Santa Ana students who have been placed in jobs through the federal Job Training Partnership Act for six weeks this summer. Rodriguez does clerical work at one of the Orange County Social Services Agency welfare offices.

“It’s a good job, but I wouldn’t want to do it all my life,” she said. “I love to mix things together, so I want to be a scientist.”

For three Saturdays during summer, they gather at Century High School in Santa Ana for job-training skills workshops. Motivational speakers are invited and the students learn to write resumes and cover letters, figure out how to dress for work and master successful job interviews.

In mock job interviews, the standard interview opening “Tell me about yourself” at first elicited literal descriptions of their daily lives from some students, said teacher Nate Guerriero.

“They’d answer ‘Well, I have a little sister, I have a puppy, and I like to kick it watching MTV,’ ” Guerriero said. When it was made clear that employers only wanted to know about the skills and experience that make them good candidates for a job, many giggled.

“I told them I don’t care if it’s McDonald’s or McDonnell Douglas,” he said. “These are the same skills they’ll need everywhere.”

The same skills may be used in interviews everywhere, but for many of the students to believe that doors at major corporations are as open as those at fast-food restaurants will take more than role-playing and aptitude exercises.

Many of the students, all of whom must meet federal low-income levels to participate in the program, do not come from families whose parents have gone to college or work at professional careers.

During an exercise to determine jobs best suited to the students’ likes, Jose Segovia, 14, wrote at the top of his list that he wants to be a doctor because he wants to help people.

Does he really see himself as a doctor? He shakes his head. “I know I’m not gonna be a doctor,” Jose said.

This summer, he works at Roosevelt Elementary School in Santa Ana helping the custodians paint walls. It’s a job he likes. “After I graduate, I’ll probably do something like that,” Segovia said.

Most of the students work at either maintenance or clerical jobs, but program supervisors have made an effort to place them near adults with supervisorial and management duties so they can serve as mentors.

“We tried to minimize custodial maintenance positions,” said Rafael Anguino, 24, who lined up jobs.

The students work in a variety of offices. Some are helping teachers in Spanish and Vietnamese bilingual classes. Others work at the Internal Revenue Service, the district attorney’s office, the American Red Cross, UC Irvine and Orange County Superior Court.

Jose Prado, 17, works at a medical clinic, filing charts, answering phones and using a computer.

“It isn’t really hard, but it’s interesting--they look at tissue samples to check what’s wrong,” Jose said. “I would like to be a manager for that clinic, I think.”

The desire for a good job, he said, is a practical one. A good job--making $60,000 or $70,000 a year, will lead to a good life.

“I picture Laguna Hills,” Prado said. “A weekend car and a weekday car. Two kids. That would be a good life.”