Building Confidence with ReHire

In May 2021, Robert came to the ReHire Colorado Program at Catholic Charities of Southern Colorado (CCSoCo). At the time, he was behind on his rent and was unsure how he was going to continue living in his apartment. He had mentioned that he had been applying everywhere and had not received any calls for an interview. He was at a loss because his sister had been loaning him money but was unable to continue doing so.

Rachel, a Job Coach on CCSoCo’s ReHire team, reached out to Robert for an initial phone conversation. Throughout the phone call he kept pausing and it seemed that he was not confident in himself. Rachel was able to help him secure a job at a host site close to his house since he lacked transportation and Trinidad does not have a reliable bus system or alternative. After Robert’s initial interview with the site, he called his sister and told her “I just interviewed for a gas station, can you believe it, yeah I’ll be working with a lot of people, and I just can’t believe I got a job.”

Rachel kept in close contact with the host site supervisor to better help build Robert’s confidence providing positive work input. Robert was having trouble concentrating when there was a “rush” of people, so his supervisor decided to move him into a maintenance position. The hope was that in the maintenance position, he would have more time to learn cashier skills when it was less busy and then move back into the cashier position when he was ready.

“I would not have been able to do that without ReHire’s help,”

Throughout his employment, Rachel continued to meet with Robert to provide support and to convey the importance of starting a savings/checking account and budgeting his money. The ReHire program helped him pay his rent and get him uniforms for work. Robert became more confident when he was able to dress like the other employees and better represent the company. After working hard to learn and become a well-rounded employee Robert is now a permanent employee at this business!

Recently, Rachel called Robert to check-in and thank him for referring another client to the ReHire program. Robert mentioned that he was still working, was able to pay up his rent, and even built up a decent savings. “I would not have been able to do that without ReHire’s help,” Robert recalled.

ReHire Colorado is a transitional job placement program that helps participants build job skills and gain training and certifications while in temporary employment. For more information, please visit our website www.ccsoco.org/rehire or call 719-562-3728.