School of not-so-hard knocks

Kevin has been laid off now for about a month. Yesterday he had to go to job and family services for a group meeting. He was not thrilled about it...actually, he was furious that he had to go. Judging by the "worksheets" they were having him fill out, it looked like it was going to be a boring day. He calls me at 4pm yesterday and said the first 5 hours were horrible. Trapped in a room with a bunch of deadbeats who you can tell are living off the system, going over how to fill out an application for hours and what a resume should look like and how to dress appropriately for an interview. He went to a tech school...they had a whole class on this. I had a college professor that taught me everything about how to make a perfect resume...believe me, our resumes are kickass. So this portion was torture for him. It didn't help that he got stuck sitting next to someone that was making comments the entire time about how he doesn't ever plan on getting a job cause his "ancestors worked enough fo' him." No shit. I would have lost my temper...I don't know how Kevin didn't.
The only bright side out of this meeting was when he finally got to sit down with his case worker. She reviewed his resume and of course was impressed. Kevin is a damn hard worker. He is skilled and self-driven. It is driving him nuts that no where is hiring in this area right now. He cuts wood daily to sell and is doing lots of outdoor and indoor projects at our house. One thing I can say is he is not lazy and when it comes to hands on stuff, he can master just about anything. Well his case manager noticed this to and is applying him for a grant to go to a local community college to get his welding certificate and any other trade skills that he wants. Bonus! She is also putting his name into some type of government program that matches well qualified candidates with jobs with companies that do a lot of government contracts. One of them just happens to be at a quarry that he has wanted to work at since he was a kid. She is also going to look into ways for him to apply for a job with catapillar as a traveling service mechanic for the company...his true dream job.
So it turned out that the meeting wasn't a complete waste of his time and I have never heard him more excited. He is meeting with her again today to fill out all the grant paperwork. I hope that he is able to gain a lot of education from this little set back. I hope that he also finds a company to work for that truly appreciates his great work ethic, can-do attitude, and talents. I hope he finally finds his niche and feels like he is doing something worthwhile. He needs that. It is also nice that the government does have programs like this for individuals who really want to work, who really want to succeed, and really want to make this country a better place.
Kevin looks up to the WWII generation, always stating that there will never be another generation of hard working, dedicated, united Americans like that again. I truly believe he belonged in that time period...