After her husband lost his job, Adah—a busy mother of three—seized an opportunity to find work in the healthcare field, a long-term goal of hers. She reached out to HIRED, a Minneapolis-based SNAP E&T partner, after seeing a brochure at her daughter’s school. She enrolled in the training program at Hennepin Technical College, thanks to support and guidance from the staff at HIRED.
Adah quickly moved through the two-month Certified Nursing Assistant program and in December 2016, started working in the memory care unit of a senior living facility in Minneapolis. Happy in her new role, she shares: “I like helping seniors; it’s challenging and tiring but I like the residents and their families.” She has even added a second job working part-time as a Home Health Aide. Looking forward, Adah’s goals are to become a Trained Medication Aide (TMA) and become CPR certified.
HIRED is a Minneapolis-based workforce agency that provides job skills training and employment assistance to dislocated workers, low-income adults, people making the transition from welfare to work, recent immigrants, and youth. The HIRED program offers career pathway training in coordination with local technical and community colleges, including Hennepin Technical College. Adah’s participation in HIRED’s program was supported by the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS)’s SNAP E&T program.
The experienced program staff at HIRED were critical to Adah’s success. They assisted with course enrollment, preparing for and completing the required written and skills tests, providing job skills training, and helping her understand the program process. Adah’s husband continues to look for work, and they are now looking at whether a HIRED program could be a match for him as well.
