licensed vocational nurse

data entry clerk

cleaner

Gary Job Corps Center

I've been at Gary for over two years. I'm graduating this month with three trades under my belt. I've taken Office Administration, Pharmacy Technician, and now I'm finishing up Advanced Residential Advisor. 

This program is a wonderful idea. Part of whether or not it will be a good program from you is whether or not you allow it to be good. Gary allows you to come in, stay on center, and get your High School Diploma/GED, your Driver's License, and certifications in any trade that is offered on this center. There are several options--in just about every field. In construction and manufacturing, you have Carpentry, Welding, Machinist, Plastering, Warehousing, HVAC, Electrical, and Cement Masonry. Hard hat trades not for you? That's fine too! Because they also offer Medical trades such as Pharmacy Technician, Certified Nursing Assistant, Certified Medical Assistant, and Medical Billing and Coding. Not interested in working in the medical field? We have a couple of other options. You could go into Office Administration and work behind a desk. They also have a Security and Corrections Academy that trains Security officers and Corrections officers to work in multiple places including companies or prisons. There are also a few advanced trades to choose from once you complete your first trade--such as, Residential Advisor, Cement, Plastering, TCU, Welding, and Overhead Linesmen. 

Gary has a lot to offer. The housing, food, and education is all free to those between 16 and 24. It is very strict, and almost every moment of your day will be scheduled out for you. On class days, you will have to wake up at 6am and be out of the dorm by 7am. You have an hour to eat breakfast and then you have to be in class by 8am. You have scheduled breaks throughout the day, and class ends at 3 or 4pm depending on the day. There are some work-based learning opportunities for those that wish to have a more hand-on approach.

There is a lot of drama between the students, and this takes away from the overall perception of the center. But if you can keep the drama from getting to you, and stay focused on why you came to job corps--which hopefully is for a free education and not a free ride--then you will be able to complete. 

Some of the staff is absolutely wonderful! My instructors have been extremely helpful. The librarian is amazing! Some of the RAs really care about the students and will bend over backwards to help them. The center director is, in my opinion, the best center director in the country. Unfortunately, I can't say that this is true of ALL the staff. But no matter where you go, it's not going to be perfect. If you can stay positive, then you can connect with the staff that care about your future and make a success of it. 

I haven't graduated yet, but I'm very close. If you choose to go to Job Corps, I wish you the best of luck.

I accepted a promotional opportunity through the company, from that working as a counselor at another campus/location to that of manager of Career & Technical Training of the healthcare occupations, security, corrections, and business office administration trade-training programs.  While I deeply enjoy working with the students (ages 16 to 25 years of age), encouraging them to complete the program and earn vocational training and credentials to help them get started in a career, at the Gary job corps campus the requirements associated with the massive numbers of reports about the students' progress in their training programs, and/or the barriers associated with this progression, as a manager is so excessive that the directors have an expectation of being on the job/computer/cell phone 24/7--even when I had to take off to meet moving company to pack up my home (out of state) for the relocation here, or to get my car and driver's license transferred to this state, etc.--in order to maintain knowledge of the 1300 students' progress and problems associated with their progress; the 37 instructors providing the training in the various trades; and the community outreach responsibilities to help provide the internships and jobs for the students when they do complete their training and credentials.  
Quality of life for the staff is not important to the directors, and this leads to a very negative culture among the staff, with resulting poor health and many staff calling in sick or with longer-term health problems as a result of poor quality of life (high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney failure, and poor stress- coping skills with emotional problems or conflicts).  If I were paid hourly with my current salary, I would be earning $0/nothing, as it compares to the value I place on my quality of life events that I am discouraged from experiencing--gardening, exercising, boating, visiting family/friends, etc.!

Gary Job Corps Is a trade school for 16 -24 years of age , we would wake up at 6 am to eat breakfast ,walk to trade spend all day in trade , we were handed blue prints for  manual lathes and mills . we had a total of 9 projects , and you also got to do work base learning , where we got to work for employers in our trade industry's. but they are temporary unless u can prove yourself to be useful to the employer . school let out at 4 pm. i learned to run manual lathes and manual mills. i learned how to make a meat tenderizer out of raw material using both a lathe and mills. i made a v-block. a center punch, which required gnurlling . a flute which consisted of 12 flutes ,2 key slots , and a hexagonal head .Our management consisted of 3 instructors , shop a , was book work where we studied the fundamentals of machining , shop b, was hands on machining work ,and shop c ,was cnc training .

Hardest part of the day was Shop b , hands on machining , because of the fact that we had just got started doing machining, and the projects got more intense 

the most enjoyable part of the day was going home and sleeping to get up and do it all over again .


my co-workers , they were students just like me , we all worked at our own paces , and if you needed help we would all ask each other and it helped out that way rather than asking the instrutor

The normal day on begins at 6:00am.  All students are accounted for and released to go about their day. The students will either be in trade instruction course or participating in academic enrichment as part of a "Training Period.  

The Training Period ends around 3:00pm.  There is a hour to a hour and a half briefing with the Residential Staff.  The "Work-base Period"  Begins at the conclusion of the briefing and will last till 8:45 o'clock pm.  While on Work-base the intern assist the Residential Advisor in creating a safe and healthy environment for the residents.  All intern clock hours must be accounted for and activity logs are kept to record student interactions.

Once the intern is released by the Residential Advisor they are allowed to return to their living areas.  The intern is held accountable for the cleanliness and welcoming manner of the dorm.  After all areas are clean and orderly the interns are released to study, relax, or prepare for the next day.

There are pressures and stressed of managing resident dormitory with 20-120 occupants, from ages 16-24.  But when you see a student learn how to wash their own linens for the first time, or earn their high school diploma, it is an upsurge of pride for your student.

This workplace felt very much like a clique-driven environment. Employees who have lived on center and worked there for years appeared comfortable doing the bare minimum and seemed resistant to new staff. It often felt as though certain individuals viewed the center as their territory, creating an atmosphere where new employees were not welcomed or supported.

I also observed what appeared to be favoritism and inconsistent enforcement of rules. From my perspective, opportunities for advancement seemed limited unless you were part of the established group. There were times when concerning behavior by both staff and students did not appear to receive appropriate attention or oversight, and I felt some security personnel were not effectively performing their duties.

What stood out most was that even HR personnel and other employees would advise me to "watch my back" and "cover myself." To me, that speaks volumes about the workplace culture and the level of trust within the organization.

Overall, I believe there are significant issues with workplace culture, accountability, and the treatment of both staff and students. Greater oversight and stronger leadership would go a long way toward improving the environment.

Throughout a typical day we work on many A/C units and diagnose different problems that may occur. I came here knowing absolutely nothing about A/C units other than they are use to make you comfortable in your home. The instructors were very well organized and were truly motivated to helping us learn what we needed to know about duct work, brazing, reading blueprints, understanding wiring schematics, and much more. My fellow classmates/co-workers never gave me any problems because we all came in with our mindset to learn as much as we can and maximize the benefits we could receive from the program. The hardest part of the job to me personally was not being too hard on myself when I messed up with a diagnostic on a system and dealing with the heat extremes, but that usually don't last long because I just refocus myself on the main problem and finish the job. The most enjoyable moments of the job are the great feeling of success after I successfully fixed an A/C unit and the whole system runs smoothly. Overall I really enjoyed my stay at Gary Job Corps because I can honestly say I learned something valuable that I most definitely can see myself continuing school and training in throughout my life.

While at first it seems like a prison only delinquents go to, the living on school campus experience was quite enjoyable. everyone there is trying to either get a GED, drivers license, and or a trade for their future. your placed among others who are also trying to get a trade like you and have plenty of free time after classes that you can do pretty much anything you want within school limits. Management, besides a few on staff teachers and dorm assistants, the campus is student ran, making it easier to approach about issues. hardest part of the life style was the inability to leave when you wanted to but had to sign up for rides to places like walmart and days out, and couldnt go anywhere if you were on disciplinary actions. the people interactions were the best part of life at job corps.

Poor management.  Although line staff got along and did the best they could to retain students, there was no support from upper management. They would rather have you retain students that by all means did not want to be here, these students would make it difficult for the students that wanted to learn and excel but would quit the program because they could not function with the disruptive student and negative atmosphere this was the number one compliant, Bottom line no accountability from management and no internal controls. Very sad because management would blame you the line worker for students quitting the program. I truly enjoyed working and mentoring students.  I can say that I have never worked for an organization where all departments either did not work together or didn't care. Every dept. was in their own little world.  No consistency on the mission of the organization. The Dept. of Labor needs to have stricter controls on the contracts,           

At work, we discuss about situations and how to handle the situation once it presents itself.
We have learned effective communication on how to calm certain situations and with active listening for when someone just needs to vent things out.
We as in myself and my co-workers, hold others along with each other accountably for all the positive and negatives we all do.
My co-workers are easy to get along with because we are able to talk to each other on any topic. If we someone in our group is unable to find an answer for themselves, we all come together to find an answer.
The hardest part of our job is to separate our work life with our personal life because since we live on center, we seen as "students" in staff and students eye's but during our training day, we try to be seen as "co-workers" in staff eye's and "staff" in students eye's.
The most enjoyable part of my job is the interaction with the students and staff. On how we can change a life for a student who is going through some hard times and show how professional we can be toward staff members.

A typical day at work entails managing my case load of students concerning their academics, trade, and residential progress and standing.  I meet with my clients to discuss anything from mental health concerns to academic expectations and vocational standards.  The management is too unorganized and chaotic and times making it an unnecessarily challenging work environment.  My coworkers inside the counseling team are highly diverse and capable which makes the work more enjoyable and less stressful.  The best part of my job is engaging with students be it in a group or one on one consultation.  The most challenging part of my job is navigating a highly unorganized and inefficient administrative structure.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Licensed vocational nurse 1 salary reported	$27.00 per hour
Data entry clerk 1 salary reported	$80.00 per hour
Cleaner 1 salary reported	$2,150 per week

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