Career Opportunities Knock On The Green

Dozens of New Haveners on the hunt for new work turned out to the Green to learn about employers, participate in job interviews, and explore training and career-building programs.

That took place Thursday afternoon at an outdoor Community and Career Festival hosted by Workforce Alliance / American Job Center.

Workforce Alliance provides job training and placement services for individuals in the Greater New Haven and Middlesex areas, according to the organization’s president and CEO, William Villano. It provides help for those newly entering the workforce and those looking to change careers, as well as for individuals who have been laid off and trying to get a new job.

“Since the pandemic, we found that it’s much more effective if we bring our operation to where people are,” Villano said. ​“And we thought that we will see how this works out on the Green to see if we can attract more people.” 

At one table on Thursday were brothers Adonis and Terrance Myers, spreading information about medical coding. Terrance, 33, is the CEO and head instructor at Myers Medical Coding and has been in medical coding for eight years, getting his license back in 2015. 

Terrance described medical coding as ​“the process of translating a doctor service into alpha-numerical code.” Their company offers online training courses for the Certified Risk Adjustment Coder (CRC) and Certified Professional Coder (CPC) exams to become a medical coder. The CPC and CRC exams consist of 100 multiple choice questions and last for four hours. To earn CPC or CRC certification, test takers must pass with a grade of 70 percent or higher.

“In order for the hospitals to get reimbursed, they need to submit an insurance claim,” Terrance said, ​“so I am training people how to look up the medical codes to be able to help the physicians in need.” 

His younger brother Adonis, 26, is an intern at Myers Medical Coding and said his brother’s affinity in the field led him into doing a deep dive to explore the subject for himself. 

“Medical coding itself is a very interesting field. Not a lot of people know about it,” Adonis said, ​“and once you research on it, and actually learn what you’re doing, it’s pretty interesting.”

Typing away on the mobile career training bus was Jacqueline Sewell-Freelove registering for Metrix Learning, an online learning program that helps users gain certifications to lead to employment. 

“I want to be more skilled on the computer, because a lot of jobs require you knowing those type of jobs on the computer,” she said.

A Bishop Woods resident, Sewell-Freelove said she used to be more tech savvy when she was younger and hopes to get back into the swing of things through her career training. 

“When I heard about it on the radio I said, ​‘I’m going to that’ because I needed the skills in a lot of different things because it’s been so long.”

By the end of these courses Sewell-Freelove wants to be proficient in Microsoft Powerpoint, Word, and Excel. She hopes her efforts lead to her getting a work-from-home job, so that she can be more financially independent without expending too much energy.

Guiding Sewell-Love was 58-year-old Duncan McIntyre, an education and training supervisor for Career Resources.

For McIntyre, his passion for teaching digital literacy is seeing his students apply their newfound knowledge.

“I love helping people. I love seeing people learn new things,” McIntyre said. ​“I’ve had people go through some of my classes, and then they will call me and say they created their own website for a business.”

McIntyre said a notable population of students that are technologically averse are usually seniors and the elderly. He advised people who were hesitant to learn to ​“take one step at a time” and to be patient with the process. 

“They all think that these younger people were born with the skills and you’re not born with it,” he said. ​“You learn one thing at a time, then you learn the next thing and before you know what, you’re a master.”

Waiting in line to write his name and email for the American Job Center / Workforce Alliance tent was Eddie Freeman.

Freeman, 63, said that he ​“went through a bad time” in his past but is now back on his feet and excited to start his new job at the New Haven Parking Authority next week.

“God is good so I’ll be there on time,” Freeman said. ​“I’m very happy because I can fill my pocket up.”

Freeman urged those looking for a job to not give up hope and continue their pursuits.

“Everybody’s hiring, and if you want it, you can get it,” he said. ​“Nothing beats a failure but a try!”