By Tony Dondero
South County Journal
BELLEVUE — A year ago, Gregory Brown was working in what he considered a dead-end janitorial job, while he and his family were living in a Seattle homeless shelter.
Today, after graduating from a retail skills program offered by Seattle Central Community College, Brown, 29, has what he considers a job with a future, working as a deli clerk at the QFC grocery store in Bellevue’s Factoria area.
The full-time job pays $9.51 an hour and offers full benefits.
More importantly, the new job, along with continued public assistance support, has allowed Brown and his wife and three children to move into a two-bedroom apartment in Burien.
Brown also has been able to buy a car, which allows him to commute to Bellevue, a place he had never been until applying for the QFC job.
Brown said he tried to get retail jobs in the past but was turned down because he didn’t have any experience to put on a resume.
His prospects changed after attending a job fair where he spoke with a coordinator with the Retail Skills Center. The Seattle Central Community College program, which was launched a year ago, trains workers for jobs in the retail, financial services and hospital fields.
Brown signed up for the program, which typically lasts eight to 12 weeks, and graduated in January.
Within three months, Brown got hired by QFC. "I found something I wanted," he said.
Brown considers his new job a big step toward escaping the life of poverty that he and his family fell into a few years ago, shortly after moving here from Minnesota.
Brown said his ability to land a job improved after taking courses at the Retail Skills Center, where he learned how to tap into his people skills in order to provide better customer service, how to resolve conflicts, manage his time, get organized and set goals.
Judi Gorman, a recruiter for Bellevue-based Quality Food Centers Inc., offers high praise for Seattle Central Community College’s Retail Skills Center program.
"It takes people who may not have customer service skills we’re looking for and brings them up to speed," Gorman said.
The Retail Skills Center, which is housed at the Westlake Center mall in downtown Seattle, is funded by a $206,000 pre-employment training grant from the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. The program is believed to be the only one of its kind in the Seattle area, according to Kristina Hayek, the center’s director.
Many of the people in the program, such as Brown, "have been labeled hard to serve because they have so many barriers," Hayek said.
After graduation, students interview with local companies such as QFC, Seattle-based Bon Marche and Seattle-based Starbucks, all of which have hired Retail Skills Center graduates.
Michael Reece, who has managed the shoe department at the Kmart store in the Kelsey Creek neighborhood of Bellevue since Aug. 1, graduated from the Retail Skills Center program in June.
"It gave me a better understanding of who I am as a person, my skills and gifts," Reece said.
Reece previously worked at Seattle hotels and as a helper clerk at Safeway.
At age 41, Reece has overcome an alcohol problem and is working 44 hours a week at a job that gives him more responsibility.
"It’s a challenge," he added. "That’s what’s great about it."
Brown, who works the cash register, weighs and cuts meats and prepares packaged foods, wants to learn as much as possible about the grocery business and hopes to run his own grocery someday.
"There’s not a day I haven’t got up still and not wanted to come to work," Brown said. "It’s not like working."
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