THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 26, 1995 TAG: 9507260386
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
Karen O. Pennington has known for two years that she was losing her job. As soon as word came that the Norfolk Naval Aviation Depot would close in September 1996, she started getting ready.
``I've worked two jobs. A lot of us have been trying to pay down our bills,'' said Pennington, a budget analyst at the 77-year-old facility where airplanes and Navy equipment are upgraded and repaired. Given the opportunity, she plans to apply for another federal job.
``But I figure I need more than one option, especially at my age,'' she said. Pennington is 46 and single.
So Pennington enrolled in federally funded, college-level classes that promise to help defense workers switch over into private industry. The classes begin conveniently right after work, right on base.
The best news is, they're free.
About 150 of the remaining 2,400 NADEP employees are taking advantage of the courses, taught four nights a week. The non-degree credit program is taught by Old Dominion University instructors under a $7 million grant. The money was awarded to ODU last November by the U.S. Department of Labor to begin the Accelerated Career Transition Education Program for Virginia workers dislocated by defense downsizing.
Instruction at NADEP begins with general business classes and leads to 16 specific job tracks such as manufacturing engineer, production supervisor, contract administrator, sales engineer and environmental technician. The 16-month program began in May and is timed to coincide with NADEP's closing, scheduled for September 1996.
Instructors in the program understand the urgency NADEP students feel, said Terry Riley, executive director of the ACTE program at ODU. Last week, speculation about NADEP's closure date increased when word came that the facility might close several months sooner than originally planned by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission.
``We're here, we want to help. The meter is running,'' Riley said. ``We have signed up right now about 6 percent of the NADEP work force. That means there are 94 percent of them out there that this program is waiting for free of charge.''
The idea, said Riley, is to train workers to transfer to high-tech jobs in private industry. There is no degree credit for the classes because they are not conventional, accredited academic courses. Riley said courses were assembled with guidance from an industry advisory group from around the state.
``They've told us what jobs we should be training for and even what training should be offered,'' he said. Recent industry surveys revealed that certified network engineers, company computer gurus, are in big demand in the area job market right now.
Another plus in the program is its heavy emphasis on placement, said Riley. ``The point of all this is not to get training, it's to get a job,'' he said. ``We don't want somebody who's a highly skilled machine worker to end up flipping burgers.''
To let private employers know what qualified federal workers are in the pipeline, NADEP students soon will be able to create electronic resumes and plug into career search software from ODU's main campus.
Students will be able to browse through private companies' job postings and potential employers can log on to the Internet, look for job candidates and request more information on a person that would include his or her work experience, academic preparation, the job track they're training in, the projected completion date, salary target and willingness to relocate.
The education program's contacts in private industry appealed to Henry Whelchel, 43. That's why the industrial engineering technician, after 15 years with NADEP, signed up for the ODU classes.
``My immediate number one goal is to enter the private sector as a network engineer,'' he said, adding that he'll miss working for the government but is concentrating on the advantages of losing his job. ``It has the element of duty and public service, and trading that off for competing for profit may be a problem for some, but not for me.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MARK MITCHELL/Staff
Willie Roundtree and Karen O. Pennington attend a class that
promises to help defense workers move into private industry. Both
work at Norfolk Naval Aviation Depot, which is to close in September
1996. The free classes begin conveniently right after work, right on
base.
by CNB