Following the training , he said , for many that have had a series of bad choices or have failed , “ You can see it in their mannerisms – after a month in the program , you can see a change in body language , appearance , grooming , and attitude ; they look like they are going to make something of themselves in the world .”
Like McKenna , Brosius enjoys the mentoring with people who may have felt they had nowhere to go . When they leave the company , after working with skills-development mentors like McKenna , they do further work with vocational counselors and then job developers to help them find their future career . As they start with Orion , they are trained in all departments on the manufacturing floor .
Brosius said , “ We all have abilities that we are good at ,” which Orion tries to find with its employees . Once they find an area of success for an employee , the employees work with the vocational counselor until they are nearing their training completion – which can be as little as four to six months but may also be up to a year . At that time , they work with a job developer who helps them seek employment in their area . They work on interviewing and résumé skills as they start looking for jobs .
Brosius said that they track former employees for about a year to ensure their success , even bringing them back to the company to share their success with new trainees . He said he sees people who move out on their own , “ Get a car , get a girlfriend or boyfriend , get married , start a family – many get on a path to the American Dream .”
In fact , he added that some become supervisors or leaders with competitors . With the success at Orion it ’ s easy to ask why a trainee wouldn ’ t want to stay with the company ? Brosius said they don ’ t because by nature of the program , people are meant to leave . “ Minimum wage is what the trainees are paid while in the program . The more we pay the trainees , the fewer we can have in the program . We want to make sure we aren ’ t too comfortable and too cushy for them to make a career out of being here – we need to make sure they want to leave for more money and increased opportunity . They realized what they have accomplished at Orion is not the end game ; the goal is to make it on their own ,” Brosius added .
38 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS