Workforce Investment Act - my Pilot's 'How To' Guide

ClearedForOption

Psychiatric Help 5¢
So, I've been approved for a grant for retraining through the Workforce Investment Act. I’ve completed my training so I thought I would post my experiences and hopefully this thread might help a fellow unemployed pilot down the road. (And I've had more than a few requests to do so... so here you go.)

Hopefully in this thread there will be a decent picture of what you have to do to get a ‘training grant’ so that you are in a better position to re-enter the workforce.

Just FYI, you can also use the WIA to leave your current career and qualify for training in another field. You just have to convince them to give you the funds for that by following the same process. Overall, it’s easier to get funds in a field that you have been working in or have experience in. But, it up to you to make the argument to them.

Ok, let’s go back to the beginning…

I knew that I was to be furloughed about 2 months before the actual furlough occurred. Really, the best time to start the whole process is as soon as you know that the hammer is going to fall. (Had I known this from the beginning, I would probably ad I already have an ATP/Type/etc. in hand a couple of months ago, but I didn’t so oh, well… you will do it faster than me)

Oh, also, what I am taking about applies specifically to Ventura County in California, but hopefully your state will be the same. (as the program is Federally funded and I am sure that there are federal guidelines on how they are to administer the program)

The whole process from ‘interest’ to ‘starting training’ is three tiered. It goes from – general information session (do I qualify?) – individual interview (convince them that I qualify…) – to case management. (dot the I’s and cross the T’s and begin training)

The first thing that you are going to have to do is look up who administers the WIA program in your state. Here it is managed by WIA Board through the Ventura County Job and Career Center. Your state will have something like this – use your favorite search engine to find it, please don’t ask me, I really don’t know where you have to go. (Unless you live in Ventura County… then please ask, I can give you all the info) There might be information on your State’s Unemployment website.

Once you find out who administers the program for your State, you have to contact them and sign up for services. Then, once you are in the system you can then sign up to attend an orientation meeting. Remember, it’s a government program, there are many hoops and they keep getting smaller and more annoying each time, think of it as the ‘work’ that you have to do to ‘earn’ the retraining money and the time commitment doesn’t hurt as much.

The orientation meeting will tell you a lot. (or not, you take out exactly what you bring in) It will be an overview to see if you will qualify for the money. (WIA is not an entitlement program… in other words it’s one of the rare circumstances that the Gov’t can tell you legally to pound sand, no money [or soup] for you) They will also let you know the timeline for receiving the funds and give you the basic paperwork that you are going to need to fill out for the next stage in the next process. Finally, they will tell you if the state has any money to give… it runs out. Hopefully you will be furloughed near the beginning of the regular (or fiscal) year so that the program is re-funded. When I attended the information session there was good news… there is money. There was just a backlog of people that wanted and qualified for the money. Trust me, there will be a backlog, it’s the government, expect that. But, if you start early enough you will cut weeks off the whole process. That’s what I am trying to help with today.

These orientation sessions are few and far between… the seating is also limited… sign up early and get it out of the way. I had to wait 3-4 weeks for my appointment, just for the orientation. Before you can do anything else in the process, you have to go to an orientation meeting. So, get yourself in the queue as soon as you know that you are going to, or potentially, lose your job.

The orientation will be annoying. One of the people I knew that went to one of these sat through the whole thing to find out at the end that there was no money. (So I would ask that first, but don’t leave, sit it out – you’ve got nothing else to do you if you are furloughed.) It’s important to remember that once the program is refunded to qualify you will still have to have gone through the orientation so it’s worth it to stay. In fact, it probably is worth it to go through the whole process just in case the program is refunded in your State so that you can be at the head of the line when they dole out the dollars. (Just a thought, who knows if it works that way, but there is always a line when you go to the government, plan accordingly.)

Anyhoo, make the contacts in the office that administers the program as soon as you know that you are going to get furloughed and attend an orientation as soon as you can. With that, step one is complete.

Next, is convincing them that you need the money.

In my case there was an application that you have to fill out. (They gave me a nice checklist, which I followed to the letter, do the same.)

Here’s what it said to bring to the ‘convince me to convince the committee’ that you need the money meeting your first case worker will need:

· Your SoSoc card.
· The Application that they gave you to fill out.
· Proof of right to work documents. (Passport, Drivers License, etc)
· Selective Service Registration proof. (Which you can check and print out at sss dot gov)
· Letter of Termination/Layoff (Your furlough notice)
· Unemployment Award (The UI people will send you a sheet saying how much you get)

And… most importantly:
· LABOR MARKET RESEARCH

So, everyone here is a pilot, so they can follow a checklist. They can also fill out paperwork. So I won’t cover that. (In my case I also brought my resume with flight time breakdown and my 10 year background that I made for all of my job hunting/applications with all of the contact information – it was helpful to show my aviation background)

You are going to have to prove that there is a ‘job market’ for pilots. You are also going to have to educate your initial case worker about the aviation business. They don’t know anything about pilots or flight crew. Really… they know nothing. Don’t throw out aviation terms, explain it like you would explain it to a 6th grader – or a flight student. Talk about the typical career progression, the ‘apprenticeship’ model, licensing, and etc. Show them where you are in the model and how there is a ‘glass ceiling’ without the next license. Basically, you have to be specific about your aviation background and how determined you are to continue to be employed as a pilot. You need to sell yourself and your situation. It’s a lot like an interview in that fashion. I can’t tell you how to do that, it’s up to you. I don’t know your situation and what works for you.

But, here’s what worked for me: I found that, in my opinion, the more work I was able to save my caseworker, the more willing they were to go to bat for me at the committee where they determine who the funds are given to. This means: be prepared. Make copies of everything, to give to your caseworker. Organize everything, make it easy to read, use good handwriting on your application. It’s all common sense stuff, people. The easier it is for your caseworker, the easier it will be for you. Most people are unprepared and just want the free money. Be humble, but forthcoming. (and Professional) Show them how the rating will help you get back into the labor pool – and they will help you.

Ok, so let’s talk about labor market research. You need to show that there is a market for you to be employed once they cough up your dough. In my case, it was at least 5 jobs per type rating. More is better. This is one of those cases where you have to educate your caseworker on aviation… how you can commute to work for instance when you are explaining how a job in Syracuse is good for someone who lives in Spokane. I made copies of each of the jobs I found and attached it to the packet. So, go out there and look for some jobs, make sure that you are qualified (minus the type, or ATP) and print them out and save them. Start now, it takes time to build up a listing of jobs. Trust me, there are a lot of job out there, some of them have goofy requirements that will not work for proving that there is a labor market for your skill.

Know now, that if you don’t do the research, the caseworker will not be able (most likely) to do the research and find jobs for you. (you are the pilot, you know where to look, you are the expert – they aren’t) Plus, again, remember that if you do the work for them, they will most likely go to bat for you. My ‘meeting’ was allocated at 90 minutes, it took me 15 because I did all of the work.

I was in and out. I left with the knowledge that since I was prepared and articulated my needs clearly and concisely my case worker would be going to bat for me. So, follow the checklist, do the work, and you will be fine.

So, if you know that you are going to be furloughed, start researching jobs now rather than scrambling around the day before trying to find them. It will help you in the long run, and you might find something that you are qualified for and then you won’t need Unemployment or the WIA program. How great would that be?

Let’s briefly talk about your actual training. Each state has a list of people that are authorized to provide training on the state’s dime. You need to do the research on where you can get your training done. My advice is dig around the WIA site searching for ‘pilot’ programs… a lot of them will be located outside of the state itself. For instance there are two schools in San Diego that do King Air and Citation Jet type ratings that are approved on most states WIA program list… and if your state doesn’t have them, and you want to go, give tham a call and they will get approved for your state. There’s also a ‘famous’ 737 type rating in Dallas that is listed on most states WIA provider list. (again... the same thing applies about approval, if they aren’t listed, call them and they will get listed)You need to know where you would like to go for your training beforehand so that you can research the jobs that require that particular rating.

It’s good to have a couple of backups. (and the jobs to go with those backups to present to the caseworker) In my case, I prepared a packet showing jobs for a pilot rated in the 737, jobs that would require an ATP, King Air jobs, and finally – jobs for a pilot rated in a Cessna Citation Jet. You could use the money for the same, or you could use it to do a Multi and Instrument add on to your CFI… or become a real estate broker… or go to Law School. Not up to me – it’s up to you to convince them that you can and will be able to do the job and for them to give you the money to do it. (Again, I can’t help you do this… and actually don’t want to. Really, I don’t, I have my own job searched to be doing. Do the ‘labor market’ research per their guidelines and show them how the job market needs newly trained people and they will give you the cash.)

Finally, if the cost of the training is more than the state will allow, then you have to provide the difference. You also have to prove ‘how’ you’ll survive while in training. (In my case… ATP/Type is 5 days-ish, so my limited ‘savings’ will cover my living expenses) What does this mean? It means that in some cases you can save a lot of money on a rating that you probably need anyway. It also means that you might have to fork out some cash. So, look at it as a rating at a huge discount.

The money is out there, it just takes some persistence and work to get qualified for the funds. We wouldn’t be where we are today if we weren’t persistent people, so I know that with the hard work and patience you too can convince Uncle Sam that they need to pay for your retraining.

The next step once you’ve been initially approved for funds is the ‘Work Keys’ assessment – after I was approved by the committee that allocates the funds I was put into another holding pattern and assigned to a case manager that handles the next step of the process. And, as I mentioned before, it takes a couple of weeks between each step. Just make the appointments with the office as soon as you can and as much ahead of time as you can.

Work Keys is basically the ACT for adults. You sit down in a big room with other people who have been approved for funds also and take an exam. Try and do the best that you can on the exam – basically you are proving to the State that you are ‘smart’ enough to make the most out of the money that they give you. In my case I got two 7’s and a 6. (7 is the most you can get) This shocked my final caseworker at our initial meeting – until she saw in my file that I am an airline pilot. (But that’s a rant for later…)

Anyway… the test was easy. It took a few hours one morning and was just another hoop. Just do your best and you’ll be fine – they also told me that once you get to this stage there is really nothing that you can do to screw up not getting your training funded.

After the Work Keys assessment came a couple of weeks waiting (and continuing to search for jobs) for my final meeting with my final caseworker. This is where you sit down, sign papers, and choose your training. In the end, they can’t help you pick where to go. I can’t even help you pick where to go. But, I’ll tell you about my process and how it worked out for me.

A couple of quick technical things first… there were a couple of guidelines when it came to picking schools. You had to physically visit the school you ultimately picked – you also had to fill out paperwork on the school. Since a majority of the pilot training is out of state, you might not be able to visit the school. Just be sure that the place is reputable – and make sure that you fill out the paperwork correctly. You also had to present a couple of options for training – fill out the paperwork – and then present your choice, or ‘final answer’ to them. In the case of aviation, most of the time there is only one choice for you and the office understands that. There is a provision for there being only one school. (Again, this is all specific to Ventura, CA – your State and County might be different)

In my case the whole school selection thing was a bit open ended – as long as I earned my ATP. So, here was my logic: One, I could go to a part 61 traditional flight school, earn my ATP, and renew my CFI and add on a Double-I and MEI. Two, I could get a CE-500 rating, and my ATP. Three, I could get a King Air ‘Initial Training’ – and the ATP is included in that. Finally, I could go to Dallas and get my 737 Type, and the ATP with that.

I ended up choosing the CE-500 and ATP locally. My only regret is that I met a rep (who was very nice) from the ‘Dallas’ school – and they knocked off a big chunk of the cost of the program for the 737 type making both programs cost the same in the end. Oh, well…

So, I took a day and visited flight schools: I went to the local school in CMA which is approved for WIA training. It was very disappointing. Let’s just say, you don’t try and sell an ex-flight instructor a pig in the poke. Needless to say, I wasn’t going to get my ATP and re-up my CFI. (For those that want more details, I will tell you this… they weren’t sure about aircraft availability, talked about weeks of ground and flight instruction, didn’t know the examiner or the checkride, and said that maybe the funds would be enough, maybe not… all of this after me coming in and saying I wanted a quick course – train to proficiency, fly 3-4 hours a day, be done in a week, etc. etc. Frusturating.)

Next, I called down to San Diego, and talked to all of the providers about their programs. King Air and Citation. Not the same deal, but not what I was looking for. And in the case of the King Air, it’s not a 350 Type – it’s just ‘training’ that is pretty useless because it isn’t Flight Safety, SimCom, CAE, etc…

Finally, I called and visited Van Nuys Airport – the busiest GA airport in the country. There I found a school that had everything. I had chosen my school. It’s all down hill from here.

The next day I called my caseworker and told her my choice, I dropped off all of the paperwork to her and she started working on contracts. (and two days later I met the people from Dallas… but I digress again…)

Continuing on, from the choice of school to the beginning of the training was pretty quick – it started the next week. But, I did everything that I could to expedite things. First, I picked a school on the county’s ‘short list’ – people that have recently done training with the county or were recently approved for training. That cut about a week off the approval process. If the school wasn’t on the short list, they would have to do some more back end paperwork – adding a little bit of time to my start date.

So, to save a couple of more days, I picked up the training contract from the office and drove it over to the school and had it signed and returned. That saved a few days in the mail. Every office will be different, but the theme of my post is the same – do the work for yourself and you’ll get things done faster.

In the end, the training was non-eventful, I did my course in a week, and now I am a ATP with a Citation Jet Rating – CE-500. I’m in the same place as before, I still need work.

But, I am better qualified.

Ok, lets’ review:

· Be Persistant.

· Attend an Orientation – ASAP
· Fill out the application and do the job market research
· Be patient – but check in as much as you can without being bothersome
· Keep looking for work
· Once approved, schedule your Work Keys ASAP
· Also, schedule a meeting with your caseworker for paperwork
· Pick a few schools, have options, and be ready to go
· Visit the schools and have contact information ready for your final selection
· Get trained – and get a new job

In the end you are on the hook to the program for a year. Hey, they gave you a chunk of cash, the least you can do is answer the phone for them, keep them apprised of your job search progress (success or failure), and help their numbers so other pilots (and regular folk, I guess) can benefit from the program.

Really, the only advice I can give you that worked for me is make it easier for them to give you the money. Be nice and friendly. Treat people like you want to be treated and educate them about the strange career requirements of the aviation business. Don’t be a jerk or demand anything.

Hopefully, if you are furloughed like me, you’ll use this guide to benefit from your job loss and come out the other end of all of these stressful times with a positive outlook and another rating that will help you down the road.

Any questions?

Now, does anyone have any job leads, or anyone that you can pass my resume along to: (here it is along with my shameless plug... it would look great on your Chief Pilot's desk, or over at HR...)
 

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Excellent writeup, and thanks. If I wind up on the street (again), I'll have this bookmarked. And if I hear of anyone looking for a citation guy, you'll get a PM.

PS. I would suggest that CE-500 (CitationJet) might be confusing to some. When I think CitationJet, I think CE-525. Just a minor quibble, and thanks again.
 
Richard, thanks for providing that.

Some questions/comments:

It sounds like there are schools which are irreputable yet on the WIA approval list.

How would WIA work with respect to UI payments currently being received?

I applied to WIA in 1994 (in SLO county). I made it through all the hoops until they determined (fraudulently but that is another story) that I started my training on my own dime while waiting for WIA approval. Therefore I was declared inelgible for WIA. Apparently that kind of initiative was frowned upon. Just a heads up to to others.

I second the comments about educating the case workers about the aviation industry. That involves dispelling erroneous perceptions they already have.
 
Excellent writeup, and thanks. If I wind up on the street (again), I'll have this bookmarked. And if I hear of anyone looking for a citation guy, you'll get a PM.

PS. I would suggest that CE-500 (CitationJet) might be confusing to some. When I think CitationJet, I think CE-525. Just a minor quibble, and thanks again.

Thanks for the praise... yeah, you are probably right about the CitationJet thing... it's just hard to say: Citation, Citation SP, Citation V, Citation Ultra, Citation Encore, and Citation Bravo in one breath.

Actually, if you hear about anything decent, and I mean anything... I'm up for it. (With my wife's approval, of course... I may have just earned my stripes, but she's the Admiral of the Fleet) Even if it isn't in a Citation... please pass it along.

I am dying to get back to work and am positively itching to get back into the air. Being furloughed and not working stinks.

Richard, thanks for providing that.

Some questions/comments:

1.) It sounds like there are schools which are irreputable yet on the WIA approval list.

2.) How would WIA work with respect to UI payments currently being received?


I applied to WIA in 1994 (in SLO county). I made it through all the hoops until they determined (fraudulently but that is another story) that I started my training on my own dime while waiting for WIA approval. Therefore I was declared inelgible for WIA. Apparently that kind of initiative was frowned upon. Just a heads up to to others.

I second the comments about educating the case workers about the aviation industry. That involves dispelling erroneous perceptions they already have.

1.) In my case it wasn't the school being irreputable, but I'm sure that there are irreputable schools out there. The school I ranted about is a flight school with, I'm sure, many satisfied customers. I was just very, very annoyed because I was being given the whole flight school/traveling medicine show/carnie 'This Way to the Great Egress' treatment. I was very conscious during my four years as an instructor not to 'sell' anyone on flight lessons and to not milk any of my students. I know all of the tricks, it was just frustrating - in my case - to be sitting the the other seat. And... I'm ranting again.

Back on topic - as far as I know, the administrators of the program don't monitor every training provider as closely as one would monitor a college or public school. And, there is always someone out there trying to work the system. I believe that is why they send you out as the applicant to evaluate the training provider that you choose. It is up to the applicant to police the system. (and not get ripped off)

2.) In California you are supposed to get approval from the UI people before getting training and your benefits should continue without a hitch. It's very difficult because the WIA people and the UI people don't talk to one another. (It would be too easy for one gov't agency to send a quick note to another saying that John Q. Public will be attending classes from X to X and his benefits should continue) There is ways around it also - it depends on the regulations of the state of course. One example I remember is about night school. Since night school is outside of the 9-5 window that you have to be available to work, you don't have to report it to the UI folks.

Sorry to hear about your problem. That was one of the points brought up in my 'orientation seminar' - they were very specific about not beginning any training (i.e. paying for anything or signing up for anything) prior to the funding of your individual program or even signing up for a class on your own. They basically told us that if we did anything on our own we would be disqualified.

You are right, it's about educating the caseworkers about aviation - just like the general public, the perception is that we are all overpaid, under-worked prima donnas. It's a hard stereotype to break. Also, the ball is completely in the corner of the applicant - this is the last of the non-entitlement programs out there. You sometimes have to do some fast talking to get the dough.
 
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