November 2011 Archives

Okay, admit it, as a new employee, those first few weeks or months on a new job, everyone is pretty useless. Find savings in the budget, heck, you can't even find the room where the coffee pot is!

Then, there is the problem of finding a job when you have no experience, because it is costing your employer to train you. They have to pay you a salary even while you are learning to operate the copy machine, do that track changes thing in Microsoft Word, operate the machine that cleans the floors, figure out what angle a ramp needs to be built so people in wheelchairs can use it, or whatever it is your job requires.

I'll be at Fort Totten next week meeting with the staff from Spirit Lake Vocational Rehabilitation to discuss, among other things, the on-the-job training program for tribal members with disabilities. It's a very helpful program that funds a large part of the salary of new employees. They even work with the tribal member to figure out what type of job he or she would like to do, find a job training opportunity and then help the employer pay for the salary on top of it.

If you are interested, call the Spirit Lake Vocational Rehabilitation office at
 (701) 766-4446
or find them on Facebook 

or email Rick Walter, Jr. or Marshall Longie