12/18/2009
Arbor Sponsors the Mega Job Expo in Maryland

12/07/2009
ResCare – New Deal in the UK

12/01/2009
2nd Arbor E&T Bake Sale raises $500 for SHARE

11/25/2009
Notification of Breach of Private Information

11/23/2009
Mon Valley Bridge Open House

11/20/2009
SuperJobs Seasonal Hiring

11/18/2009
National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week 2009, Allen County

11/16/2009
Arbor Welcomes New Texas Regional Vice President

11/06/2009
A moment to honor our veterans

10/22/2009
Arbor Fights the Flu

10/16/2009
ResCare Comments on Indiana Governor’s Announcement

10/07/2009
In the News: Arbor and Green Guide Network

10/01/2009
Tremendous Project in Cincinnati

9/28/2009
Five Project Directors: Interview Five

9/22/2009
Five Project Directors: Interview Four

9/15/2009
Five Project Directors: Interview Three

9/15/2009
Arbor Sponsors Literacy Gala

9/08/2009
Five Project Directors: Interview Two

9/01/2009
Five Project Directors: Interview One

8/26/2009
Snohomish County Enlarges Dislocated Worker Program

8/20/2009
Pennsylvania Governor Visits Harrisburg Summer Youth Program

8/18/2009
Canoga Park Job and Resource Fair

8/13/2009
VIPs in SuperJobs Cincy

8/12/2009
U.S. Department of Labor’s 2009 United We Serve Initiative Begins

7/28/2009
An Innovative Summer Youth Project in Oregon

7/21/2009
Tulsa iJobs Program in Full Swing

7/20/2009
ARRA 2009

7/17/2009
Green Strategies Workgroup

7/15/2009
Green Jobs

7/6/2009
Arbor TANF Partnership in Nebraska Receiving Positive Feedback

7/1/2009
Arbor E&T is Thinking Green

Five Project Directors: Interview One

By Jamie M. Barnes

JB: How long have you been with your program, Mr. Vu?

MV: I started in 1997 toward the beginning of Welfare Reform.

JB: Have you always lived in Orange County?

MV: I’ve lived here most of my life with the exception of three years of high school in Rome, Italy.

JB: Oh, were you an “Army brat”?

MV: No, my parents sent me to a boarding school there.

JB: Well, that sounds exciting.

MV: (Laughs) No. Well, maybe now when I look back, but not at the time. Not at that age.

JB: Did you serve in other capacities in your program before you became a project director?

MV: Yes, I started as a Trainer doing workshops, then Assistant Program Manager, Program Manager, Project Manager, Finance Manager, and now Project Director.

JB: So you’ve really worked your way up. What would your employees say is your management style?

MV: Good question—I should ask an employee. I like to say I lead by example. I’m relaxed but I have high standards and I believe in the employee and his/her ability to get the job done; I think they appreciate that.

JB: So you believe in employees taking ownership and taking accountability for their actions?

MV: I do. I think it’s like that for every employee; you’re not going to get high performance without everyone feeling a sense of ownership of the work.

JB: Right now, what do you feel your greatest success is as a project director?

MV: Definitely the continuous growth of our business in Orange County. Our focus has always been to provide excellent service to the Customer and ensure the security of our employees’ jobs. We’ve had the opportunity to develop multiple programs here including Orientation; Job Services; Employment Support; Job Retention; Work Experience; and Resource Rooms and we are working on a new Subsidized Employment Program.

JB: That is quite a list of helpful programs. What other kind of successes are you seeing?

MV: Well, you know I think one of my greatest successes is part of my management philosophy to hire from within, and I’m proud to say that we have enough people and good development plans where we’ve never had to go outside for supervisor and manager positions.

JB: That’s a great way to instill employee and customer confidence in your chain of command.

MV: (Laughs) Yes, we’ve homegrown our people.

JB: And with your customers? What kind of successes are you having there?

MV: The Workforce Board Customer or the participants?

JB: Either one you want to talk about.

MV: Since we’ve been here I think we’ve played an important role in the design of CalWORKs in California. And also in how our customer approaches the different requirements of CalWORKs. We’ve had a lot of meetings with them [County of Orange Social Services Agency] and been a part of designing the process and the flow to help them meet their objectives. We’re more than just a contractor for them.

JB: What other ways do you help out?

MV: We’ve been the solution to many of their challenges. They ask us “Can you do this?” or “Can you guys do that?” and we’ve been able to respond quickly and implement positive changes. It’s really a credit to the team that they’re not locked into their job descriptions — they never say “I wasn’t hired to do that.” They’re open and willing to try new things, and in return they get a lot out of learning something new.

JB: That’s great - a vital thing to have going for a team.

MV: Yes, it makes work more fun and they are excited about what we do. They’re not scared about change. To them, it’s an opportunity to do something new. It takes a lot of work to foster that environment, but fortunately we have it here, and it makes a big difference.

JB: It sounds like you’ve got the whole process down. I see that you’re trying to get your employees to take ownership and accountability of their jobs, and they really seem eager to take on new responsibilities; they’re taking initiatives.

MV: I believe our positive work environment is the result of implementing philosophical practices, like the ResCare Quality Way and Ten Commandments of Operations. [Found in the Arbor Project Director’s Guide] We utilize these tools daily, showing employees how the principles apply to what they do everyday, and how the choices they make affect their results. An employee here can make his/her own career ladder based on how hard he/she works. We’ve had employees create, develop, and implement new ideas that have been adopted as official programs by our Customer. We reference those examples to illustrate that an employee can set his/her own path if there is something he/she is really passionate about and does well.

JB: So if you had to describe your program to someone who’s never heard of it, what would you say?

MV: We have six components here and they are designed to help people obtain employment, or retain employment, or address barriers to employment. The short answer is that we help people get into the workforce whether they’ve never worked before, whether they have a long work history, or they’re just recently out of work.

JB: Good short answer. Thinking about your customers, who typically walks into your center?

MV: Well we’re not open to the public, we’re referral based. Our participants, whose demographics have changed over the years, are all CalWORKs customers. Years ago our participants were primarily single mothers and that has changed progressively over time. We are seeing almost 50/50 between mothers and fathers now, and with the downturn in the economy, were seeing a lot more participants with varying levels of education. The gap between the WIA participants and the TANF participants is not as large as it used to be. WIA participants used to possess more education or longer, more stable work histories, and the CalWORKs participants would have less education or no work history. Over the years the gap has really narrowed - especially in California with the housing crisis. Many of the folks we serve have nowhere else to turn but to public assistance. Now we’re seeing more educated people with a lot more work history; a different population with a lot more barriers.

JB: I think that might be a universal thing right now. More and more often the Centers seem to be getting well-educated people into the programs, and some of these participants who have previously been in mid- and upper-level management are trying to get entry level positions because of the economy.

MV: Do you find that they go into the job searches with a mental barrier against accepting a lower level job?

JB: I think so and at this point the employers have a mental barrier because they make such an investment in their employees and they’re thinking, “Well, we’re going to spend all this time and effort training them and they’re not going to be happy, and they’re just going to leave as soon as they find a better position.” So these educated, experienced out of work people are facing two barriers.

MV: That’s true.

JB: Rough economy right now. So Mr. Vu, what is a typical day as project director like for you?

MV: My day is centered on four primary topics - staff development, program development, quality assurance and customer focus. I check in with my managers, discuss direction, and get their feedback. My goal is to get the staff involved in projects from the beginning. I try to come up with at least one “crazy” idea per day - I’ll float it out there and see what the responses are; see if there is interest in it, and see what kind of resources are needed. I’ll spend a good part of my day just talking ideas through with the managers, and then I go into program development and check the numbers to see where we’re at. I’ll also check in with the Customer at least every other day. Things have been kind of crazy here because of all the ARRA [Stimulus funding] dollars coming in. It’s not really a routine right now.

JB: Okay, now you mentioned you throw some “crazy” ideas out there. What kind of ideas do you get?

MV: Well, I’ll tell you, I was looking into weatherization about three months ago and was trying to develop ideas because we knew there were tons of dollars going into it, and we knew that the infrastructure was not really capable of handling it. The organizations that do the weatherization programs are used to getting a couple hundred thousand in funding a year and now they’re getting millions. What are they going to do with this and how can we help them with our current program? So we thought about the people who qualify for weatherization in Orange County, and determined that they probably don’t own homes because of the high cost of ownership here. The gap between the standard of living and home ownership here is large, so it’s not even logical that one could have a program benefitting these people and expect them to own a home. People who qualify for the program in Orange County can’t afford to own a home here.

JB: Whoa. That just doesn’t seem right.

MV: Yes, and that led us to think about how the weatherization programs recruit people. The programs are struggling because people can’t qualify, and the ones who do qualify don’t own the homes. We have several apartment complexes involved in our programs, and we want to connect the weatherization group with these low income apartments to do the energy saving upgrades. In exchange, we’ll be asking landlords to pass these cost savings to the renters, who are our participants. We are still looking at rules and regulations…

JB: That’s actually a great idea.

MV: We were just talking about it yesterday and that’s why I remember it so well. In addition to program ideas, we’re always thinking of creative ways to recognize staff on a limited budget. We set up a system that allows staff to earn points when they do something outside their job description that benefits the company or program in some way. They can accumulate points and when they get enough they get to have lunch with a manager or some other creative way that we recognize them.

JB: That sounds like a lot of fun.

MV: (Laughs) Sometimes they let us know they prefer something else, and then we have to regroup and say “Okay…” We do try to have fun and involve staff. We’re doing a walkathon in October with the ResCare CSG [Community Services Group], and we’re having a picnic for employees. We want to bring the ResCare culture into our daily lives and by doing these events we help the employees connect with it.

JB: That’s great – sounds like a good time. What would you say is your most unusual or memorable day as a PD?

MV: Well, the most memorable was a really long time ago. In one of my first workshops I had a participant who was a domestic abuse case, and she had finally found the courage to leave her husband. I was helping her prepare for employment with job skills training, and she wanted a job. She wanted to be a nurse and the job we got her was in the financial industry. There wasn’t anything else for her at the time. She came back three years later to let me know that she was a nurse at Kaiser. [Local hospital] It was just one of those things — wow! For three years she plugged along and she was able to do it. It was quite a remarkable thing and I was very happy for her.

JB: That just gave me goose bumps.

MV: Yes, when I saw her and she told me, our whole office was cheering for her and it was one of those moments where you say “Wow, we do make a difference.”

JB: Is there a funny story about your Center that you’d like to tell?

MV: Funny story? Let me think about… (Laughing) I’m not really a funny guy. I’m trying to think of something funny… What I find funny is daily interactions with staff. I think we get along well and it’s more that we try to make work fun, so the funny things that happen at work are really about work. It might not seem funny except at the time it happens; you’re working hard and you find it funny. It’s one of those “you had to be there” things.

JB: I can understand that; it sounds like you have a work family with inside jokes and things.

MV: Yes we’re close.

JB: What would you say is the best thing about being a PD?

MV: Well, I’d say it’s the ability to be an entrepreneur. Being a PD is very similar to owning your own business - you get to make an impact. Your finances, your quality, your training, your hiring, your program, your Customer; all of that. You control your own destiny and you are the one responsible for the whole thing. It’s good for some people, but other people like to work in their “cubie” and do one thing. As PD you have an opportunity to do many things and direct which way the program goes and, even though it’s hard work, it’s also fun.

JB: When did you decide on your career path?

MV: (Laughs) Ooh, I haven’t yet. I think I’ve been fortunate to work with a lot of great leaders, and I think that my career path has always been focused on who I work for, not just on what I do. Yes, I believe in the work I do, but I really believe in the people I work for. Most people say “Love what you do,” but I think what keeps me here is the people.

JB: Do you have any words of wisdom that you’d like to share with your customers or staff?

MV: Well what I always say to my staff is that you work for a company that supports you, encourages you and expects you to succeed. Go out there and set expectations for yourself that are greater than that of your supervisor’s expectations of you, because it’s there that you have true ownership of your career. The key to success at work is to have standards that are higher than that of your supervisor, otherwise your supervisor keeps on having to tell you how to do things better and that doesn’t really make anyone happy.

JB: What do you do when you’re not wearing your PD hat?

MV: I have a son and I play golf. Those are really the only two things I do.