I've been trying to get my little brother up to where he can use the internet and do online job applications. It seems the vast majority of employment opportunities and school registration require you complete everything online...and have an e-mail address as well as phone number for them to contact you. Hell, St. Philip's College even requires an e-mail address for an emergency contact or they won't let you go forward with the application. It's insane.
I'm finally getting an idea of what they mean when part of the working population will be left behind by the technology age -- they just don't have or have easy access to the tools they now are forced to use. Kelly can access the web at Workforce Texas or the public library, but he doesn't have much of a clue as to how to do it. Even after a coupe of days of hands-on practice, he's still inconsistent and brutally unsure...but at least now he's willing to do it on his own. Yesterday we spent nearly 2 hours at Workforce on their computer, and I let him do everything, only stepping in when he'd made a mistake that needed someone to back things up. We got one application done. Maybe now he'll take one of the free courses at the library on using computers.
Another drawback is, almost everyone asking for maintenance people requires they have a driver's license and/or car with insurance. Kelly has none of that. And far too many want HVAC certification (AC repair) for a $10 an hour job. That's a position that requires training and skill, and the wage for it is little more than $20K a year, borderline poverty level for a single person. But that's San Antonio -- minimum-wage-ville.
Of course, this is coming at the same time that so-called Republican leaders are calling for elimination of even the minimum-wage. Talk about despicable people being out of the reality-loop.
Anyway, looks like I'll be supporting Kelly for a while, but that's better than letting him go homeless and wind up in a shelter, like was suggested. I couldn't sleep at night if I let that happen.
I'm finally getting an idea of what they mean when part of the working population will be left behind by the technology age -- they just don't have or have easy access to the tools they now are forced to use. Kelly can access the web at Workforce Texas or the public library, but he doesn't have much of a clue as to how to do it. Even after a coupe of days of hands-on practice, he's still inconsistent and brutally unsure...but at least now he's willing to do it on his own. Yesterday we spent nearly 2 hours at Workforce on their computer, and I let him do everything, only stepping in when he'd made a mistake that needed someone to back things up. We got one application done. Maybe now he'll take one of the free courses at the library on using computers.
Another drawback is, almost everyone asking for maintenance people requires they have a driver's license and/or car with insurance. Kelly has none of that. And far too many want HVAC certification (AC repair) for a $10 an hour job. That's a position that requires training and skill, and the wage for it is little more than $20K a year, borderline poverty level for a single person. But that's San Antonio -- minimum-wage-ville.
Of course, this is coming at the same time that so-called Republican leaders are calling for elimination of even the minimum-wage. Talk about despicable people being out of the reality-loop.
Anyway, looks like I'll be supporting Kelly for a while, but that's better than letting him go homeless and wind up in a shelter, like was suggested. I couldn't sleep at night if I let that happen.
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