Reamy and other employers say WorkFirst clients really seem to want work, roused not only by the fact the new system has a five-year lifetime cap, but by the motivational methods used by the trainers. Students graduating from a recent five-day WorkFirst session in Everett had the enthusiasm of a winning football team after a pregame pep talk. An employer dangling a job in that room at that moment would have risked being torn apart like a piece of raw meat dipped into a piranha tank. Instructor Barb Morris, a job service specialist with Washington State Employment Security Department, held up a graduation certificate for one student and when no one stepped forward, another student announced the missing woman wasn't there because she had a job. The class erupted in cheers.
Few people like to be told they have to do something.
Even though that's the bottom line with WorkFirst, the instructors focus on boosting self-esteem and the desirable aspects of work, such as a decent income. They want us to seek out someone who's worthy of us. That's a concept I'm not used to. The clients gave much of the credit to Morris, who is one of 16 people who train the WorkFirst trainers in Washington. She said her goal isn't to tell people they have to get a job, it's to make people want to find a job.