Jewish Vocational Service in high demand during pandemic

GABE STUTMAN | J. STAFF

Directly downstream of the public health crisis created by for high school students, and Career Pathways, which trains “We can train thousands and thousands of people every the Covid-19 pandemic is an employment crisis — in the Bay people for entry-level positions in an array of fields, from year,” Countryman-Quiroz said. “But we wouldn’t be serving Area, and around the country — that has resulted in layoffs automotive technology to health care. them if we weren’t making that connection to the employer.” and hiring freezes. JVS does not aim to place clients in service-sector or mini- Even before the pandemic, some of the job-seeking

JVS, the San Francisco-based job training and placement mum-wage jobs. Rather, it prioritizes “middle-skill, middle- programs were as highly selective as top colleges, in terms of nonprofit also known as Jewish Vocational Service, is feeling wage” jobs that will reliably pay between $40,000 and $80,000 admittance rates. the effects. In a recent Zoom call with J., CEO Lisa Country- per year. Increasingly those jobs are found in the technology For a program to train medical administrators — a partman-Quiroz described huge demand for the agency’s services, sector — jobs like data analyst or Salesforce administrator. nership with UCSF called Excel — JVS typically received coupled with a contracted job market that has curtailed the number of entry-level jobs and paid training opportunities available to clients.

Her promotion to head the organization, which receives support from the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation, came earlier this year after the departure of Abby Snay, who led JVS for close to four decades. When Countryman- Quiroz took over in January, she did so amid historically low unemployment in the region. For more than two years, jobless rates had been hovering at or below 3 percent in the San Francisco-Oakland metropolitan area, according to the Bureau Lisa Countryman-Quiroz of Labor Statistics. At the time, 10 months ago, about 70,000 people were out of work in the Bay Area. By April, that figure would explode to more than 323,000.

JVS helps Bay Area job seekers of all religions and ethnic backgrounds. In a normal year, it assists about 2,300 people. This year, JVS has taken on 700 more clients than it anticipated. Many are laid-off workers.

“When we first launched remote trainings on how to interview on Zoom, our website crashed,” Countryman-Quiroz said. “Our data analytics training saw over 400 people apply” for only 20 available spots.

Like other social-service organizations, from after-school About 70 percent of JVS clients are people of color, accord- applications from around 200 people, for just 20 slots. A high programs to food banks, the pandemic has fundamentally ing to the agency, and many have been experiencing tremen- percentage of graduates of the program go on to secure positransformed the way JVS does business. For one thing, its San dous precarity and poverty exacerbated by the pandemic. tions at UCSF. Francisco office in the Financial District, where dozens of job According to three client surveys conducted between March In the face of challenges presented by the pandemic, there seekers used to gather every day for classroom trainings, is and August, 70 percent of JVS clients reported food or hous- have been success stories, too. closed. So everything must be done online. ing insecurity, and around half who applied for unemploy- Monica Rivera lost her job at a Bay Area auto repair shop

Early in the pandemic, JVS launched its first-ever emer- ment insurance had not been able to secure it. when the company went out of business. She enrolled in a gency fund, designed in part to make emergency cash grants “I spend more money eating once a day and paying for 14-week JVS training program to become a dental assistant, and purchase technology for clients. It has raised more than housing than I make at my job,” one survey respondent said. but just before she was about to begin a paid internship, the $1.1 million and granted around $329,000 in small amounts Another wrote: “Landlord made it clear, no rent control in pandemic hit. to pay for things such as utilities, food and shelter. The rest Daly City, she raised it 20 percent due to pandemic.” With help from a JVS emergency cash grant, she was able of the money is being used to buy electronic equipment like In recent months, some job sectors have begun rebound- to hold out for a couple more weeks without work. Ultimately laptops and Wi-Fi routers, and to implement new, online ing from April lows, when Bay Area unemployment reached she was able to secure an interview, and a job, at SmileSF, a training programs. 13 percent. dental office in Cow Hollow. She plans to take the licensing

Last year, JVS received a well-timed donation of 50 laptops Still, most lag significantly behind 2019 levels and many exam to become a registered dental assistant. from Twitter, all quickly deployed to clients who needed companies remain stuck in a hiring freeze, according to Coun- “This was a turning point for me,” she said. them for job training and virtual interviews. JVS is appealing tryman-Quiroz. That affects everything JVS does : the skills it As fully remote, online job-training sessions continue to tech companies and other corporate partners, and to the teaches, the programs it offers and, perhaps most importantly, — upcoming workshops include “LinkedIn Basics,” “Rapid community more broadly, asking for donations of high-qual- the number of people it can help, especially in its Career Resume Reboot” and “Interviewing in the Zoom Age” — JVS ity used laptops. Pathways program. knows that, in today’s economy, it’s going to take longer to

“We have to be responsive to the digital divide,” said In normal circumstances, trainees meet in person for place clients in entry-level roles in their chosen careers. Countryman-Quiroz. classes over six weeks to four months. In nearly all cases, the The key, Countryman-Quiroz said, is to “continue to

The agency’s three main programs are a job-search accel- program culminates in paid work experience via an intern- support people” while they wait. In other words, to help them erator (a two-week job-hunting seminar), vocational programs ship, fellowship or apprenticeship. “stay focused on their job search, and not get demoralized.” n

A JVS Job Search Accelerator training session held on Zoom in April. (Photo/Courtesy JVS)