By Geena Monahan—For the North Star Reporter
The town launched a new vocational counseling program on March 1, and Stephen Berdos, human service coordinator for the Health Department, had some good news to share about its results.
According to Berdos, who spoke to the Town Council at its April 28 meeting, 12 residents have met with him so far in the past two months to receive assistance with resume and cover letter development and job searching. Two of those residents have since become employed, and a third has landed an upcoming interview.
“My intention is to continue working on this program as long as it’s supported by the town, and continue to hopefully help some people find employment,” said Berdos.
Prior to working in North Attleborough last fall, Berdos was a vocational counselor for the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, where he helped people with disabilities find employment. In an interview with the North Star Reporter, Berdos remarked that he hopes to not only continue this vocational counseling program, but expand it in the future.
“I met with a group of high school seniors to talk about the service, because a lot of high school seniors graduate and are so used to parents or teachers doing things for them and holding their hand through the process that they lose that momentum with their career,” said Berdos. “In theory, I would be that person to fill in the gap between graduation and wherever they end up with their career.”
For Berdos, the main issue he sees with residents who are unable to find employment is not a lack of skills or experience, but a lack of confidence. Berdos noted how discouraging it is to fill out 25 applications, and only hear back from one or two.
“I’ve encouraged people to keep a log of the jobs they apply for, so that at the end of the week, even if they don’t have a job, they’ll be able to give themselves credit for all the work that they’ve done and build that momentum into the following week,” said Berdos. “The more you practice something, the better you’ll be at it.”
Berdos said that one thing he’s been surprised by so far is the age demographics of the people who show up looking for help. The majority of residents Berdos has seen are more experienced, in the age range of 30-60, and he’s trying to figure out how to bring in younger residents. Berdos said he recently met with the president of the Regional Chamber of Commerce as well to discuss the program and how to expand it.
One North Attleborough resident who recently utilized the counseling service is Connor Donovan, age 22, who graduated in 2020 from Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School with a focus on computer information systems. Donovan was looking for a job while he finishes his online degree in data analysis, and after hearing about the counseling program through his father, decided to give it a go.
“I looked at what it was offering, how to build a resume, how to write a cover letter, things like that that I, off the top of my head, would not know how to do,” said Donovan.
After meeting virtually on Zoom for about an hour with Berdos, Donovan said he left with a new set of tools for his job hunt. Donovan quickly landed a job at a laundromat in Mansfield, and said he feels much more confident applying for jobs in the future, now that he learned some tips from Berdos on how to craft a resume and cover letter.
For Donovan, the best part of the program was how easy Berdos was to work with, who told Donovan at one point that he would “help him every step of the way”.
“The program can be as long as you want it to be,” said Donovan. He (Berdos) said he was willing to meet with me until I got a job. That was a very nice thing to do.”