No Second Career for call centre workers

Author: Frank Matys

Date: Dec 18, 2009

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Frank Matys

Former TeleTech workers who spoke with Orillia Today have learned they do not qualify for a provincial program that provides funding for skills training. Pictured are (front row) Stacey Allin, Karen Norman, Jenny Zelkovich, Margaret Tripp, (back row) Heather Hamilton and Kathy Geer.

ORILLIA - When Heather Hamilton and hundreds of other TeleTech staff learned the local call centre was cutting the majority of its workforce, many found hope in Second Career.
The provincial program provides laid-off workers skills training for jobs in high-demand occupations, with up to $28,000 for books, tuition and other costs.
Hamilton was aiming for $15,000 toward a course in medical clerical work, saying her 15-year-old education in customs administration was not proving helpful in the job search.
“I want to work, but I don’t have the skills I need to go back to work in this economy,” she said this week.
When the province announced in late November that applications were being evaluated under new guidelines, Hamilton and other laid off TeleTech workers who had done the legwork and submitted their applications weeks before were told they did not qualify.
“People were crying,” Hamilton recalled. “It was horrid.”
Several former TeleTech workers who spoke with Orillia Today said they were told that part of the reason they did not qualify is that the province does not consider call centres an industry in decline.
That they had been out of work for less than a year was also cited as a reason.
Among those greeted by the disappointing news was Karen Norman, who has applied for 75 jobs without success since her layoff.
“Even for Tim Hortons, if there was a job opening, there were a hundred applications,” she said.
Reached by Orillia Today, a provincial spokesperson said the Second Career program received a flood of applications since its launch in June 2008.
“We were looking at having 20,000 people over about a three year period,” said Patrick O’Gorman. “By September (of this year) we had already surpassed that. We really had to review the criteria for the program to make sure it was available to the people who need it.”
O’Gorman was unable to speak to specific cases, but said individuals with “transferable” skills may not qualify.
“This one here is targeted toward people who are laid off in areas where they are not likely to be re-employed,” he added.
Priority is given to applicants who are gaining new skills for high-demand jobs; have been unemployed for extended periods, have a high school education or less; are working toward a college certificate, diploma or license.
“We are really looking at seeing, is Second Career the right one for everyone?” O’Gorman said.
The strength of a specific industry – call centers, for example – is “one factor” considered when applications are reviewed, he said.
“It has more to do with the skills they had in that industry and could they be transferred into another industry,” O’Gorman added.
Stacey Allin, a single parent who hopes to become a Registered Practical Nurse or Personal Support Worker, had yet to learn whether she would qualify for the Second Career program.
Based on the experience of her former co-workers, she isn’t holding out hope.
“I want to be able to support myself,” she said. “I want to be able to have a career.”
O’Gorman said other training programs are available.