John Hare has job success with Goodwill
The theme for the month of February is ” Share the Goodwill Love” and we thought it would be a wonderful illustration of that sentiment through the sharing of a Success Story which features not only John Hare, an employed individual, as well as his Job Coach, Rachel Lednik.
John loves to talk about his job responsibilities and everything he does at Meijer’s. John has been employed at the company for one year and as his Follow-Along Job Coach, Rachel has been supporting John for the past 4 months. ” I help gather the carts and organize things. I also welcome the customers to the store” reported John proudly about his job duties. John’s Supervisor at work adores John and wishes he had other employees who were as enthusiastic as John is. Watch John’s story here.
When John is off the job, his favorite things to do are playing basketball with his friends, going bowling and in the summer, going to King’s Island. When asked about the impact of working on John’s life and future plans, he shared the following:
” I am planning on saving the money I make at work so that I can buy things that I want like new clothes. Also, I would like to travel back to Key West in the near future. I really like Key West because of the cool boats and restaurants that are all around the island. Last time I went to Key West we got to ride on a glass bottom boat and watch the fish in the ocean.
I would tell others that working in the community is great because you get to meet a lot of new people and make new friends. I have made friends with a few of my coworkers that work in the floral department and I really like going to work and seeing all of my friends and co-workers.”
As a Follow-Along Job Coach, Rachel’s role is to support John to make sure that he continues to experience success in fulfilling his job duties and working collaboratively with his Supervisor and co-workers. ” I really enjoy working with John because he is so upbeat and looks forward to coming to work every day. I have been a Job Coach for Goodwill for more than 2 years now and prior to that, worked with our Pre-Vocational Training program for many years. As a result, I’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of different people on their job sites. I help with making sure that John (and other employees) feel secure in performing their job duties and to help in the event of a new expectation or some other challenge. Every situation is different and every person is unique. One quality they all have in common, is their determination to do their job well and to be valued as an important employee. I really enjoy the opportunity to help people to be as successful as they can be in achieving their goals. There’s nothing better than seeing a big smile on someone’s face when they get their paycheck or get a good review from their boss,” explained Rachel.
Ohio Valley Goodwill has a team of Job Coaches and Employment Specialists who work with people like John to assist them in exploring career opportunities, developing a resume, preparing for the job interview and once placed, helping them to maintain employment and continue to achieve success.
To find out more about Goodwill’s award-winning Employment and Job Coaching Services, visit www.cincinnatigoodwill.org/services.
