{"id":148258,"date":"2021-09-19T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2021-09-19T18:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=148258"},"modified":"2021-09-17T17:07:29","modified_gmt":"2021-09-18T03:07:29","slug":"free-job-training-unemployed-oahu-residents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/09\/19\/free-job-training-unemployed-oahu-residents\/","title":{"rendered":"Free job training for unemployed O\u02bbahu residents filling fast"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_12959\"  width=\"676\" height=\"676\"  data-origwidth=\"676\" data-origheight=\"676\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1EBrsy1vUyU?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"Free job training for unemployed O\u2018ahu residents filling fast\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n<p>Formerly unemployed Mililani resident <strong>Brandon Askew<\/strong> started his new job at <abbr>HMSA<\/abbr> in December 2020. The corporate data analytics and reporting analyst credits his employment to the free training he received from the <a href=\"https:\/\/uhcc.hawaii.edu\/\">University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Community Colleges<\/a> through <a href=\"https:\/\/oahubacktowork.com\/\"><span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> Back to Work<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A few weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, Askew was laid off from his job as a business systems analyst for the <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Convention Center. The avid listener of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Public Radio heard about free training offered through <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> Back to Work, went online to investigate and signed up that day for a class in Python programming.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_148273\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-148273\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/uh-ccs-oahu-back-to-work-askew-b-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Brandon Askew and family\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-148273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/uh-ccs-oahu-back-to-work-askew-b-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/uh-ccs-oahu-back-to-work-askew-b-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/uh-ccs-oahu-back-to-work-askew-b.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-148273\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brandon Askew and family<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;I believe it was a difference maker in getting the job at <abbr>HMSA<\/abbr> because in the job description they specifically called out Python programming language skills,&rdquo; Askew said. &ldquo;I felt that I had grabbed the bull by the horns at the right time to start taking a class for Python and then later finding this opportunity, that it would help me get that job.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In August, the <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> Community Colleges and the City and County of Honolulu announced the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/08\/16\/free-training-oahu-back-to-work\/\">latest round of free job preparation classes<\/a> for <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> residents who are struggling to find employment.<\/p>\n<p><span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> Back to Work is a rapid response employment training program with classes that run until December 17, 2021. Instructors at seven <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Community Colleges and the <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Outreach College are offering more than 50 classes in business and technology, healthcare, human services and trades. To learn more, view available courses, or to apply, visit the <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> Back to Work website: <a href=\"http:\/\/OahuBacktoWork.com\">OahuBacktoWork.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Providing hope<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_148272\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-148272\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/uh-ccs-oahu-back-to-work-askew-676-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Brandon Askew\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-148272\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/uh-ccs-oahu-back-to-work-askew-676-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/uh-ccs-oahu-back-to-work-askew-676-130x130.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/uh-ccs-oahu-back-to-work-askew-676.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-148272\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brandon Askew<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;<span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> Back to Work provides hope. Knowing that there are people, organizations, the government that are really out there doing what they can do to help through these tough times,&rdquo; Askew said.<\/p>\n<p>The 50-year-old also encouraged those who may be daunted by the thought of going &ldquo;back to school&rdquo; after decades.<\/p>\n<p>He said, &ldquo;I could see there being some apprehension to taking this opportunity, but I just want to share with people that it is definitely worth the effort, and while these resources are available, we should all look to see how we could benefit from them.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>Classes still available<\/h2>\n<p>By September 14, <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> Back to Work already had almost 400 registrants, and 400 seats are still available in a variety of workforce training that leads to immediate or near-term employment. Classes include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Honolulu Police Exam Prep starting on September 27 and November 8<\/li>\n<li><abbr>HVAC<\/abbr>, Refrigerants and Basic Controls: <abbr>EPA<\/abbr> Exam Prep starting on October 4<\/li>\n<li>Certified Bookkeeping starting on October 4<\/li>\n<li><abbr>AWS<\/abbr> Cloud Foundation starting on October 4<\/li>\n<li>Data Analytics Basics starting on October 18<\/li>\n<li>Security+ Training starting on October 11 and November 3<\/li>\n<li>Commercial Driver\u2019s License Permit Test Prep starting on November 8<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nearly 400 residents have already registered for <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> Back to Work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,12],"tags":[62,63,65,49,71,947,56,66],"class_list":["post-148258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","category-video","tag-honolulu-community-college","tag-kapiolani-community-college","tag-leeward-community-college","tag-outreach-college","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-uh-system","tag-video-2","tag-windward-community-college","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148258"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148277,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148258\/revisions\/148277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}