Tuning up careers

With his head bent over his work, 39-year-old Donald Lascano labored over a complicated-looking board with dozens of dots, moving around wires to measure the voltage of a switch as he diagnosed an electrical problem.

The work was an exercise in an automotive class, but Lascano’s face was furrowed in concentration as he practiced what he had learned the day before. For the Westminster resident, the exercise wasn’t just another assignment — this was his chance to start a new career.

Lascano is on unemployment after being laid off when the economy tanked, but has foregone looking for jobs in the same dying field to go back to school four days a week for a career with opportunities.

“It’s going to be tough for a while,” he said. “In the long run, it will be for the best.”

Lascano is one of 12 displaced workers given the chance — an opportunity, Lascano said — to learn new skills in a high-demand field. Golden West College’s new Automotive Service Technician Training Program is taking displaced workers and retraining them in automotive technology.

The students will spend two semesters in class four days a week and do a paid internship. By the end of the second semester, they will be able to get a job, said instructor Doug Boswell.

Meeting the need

The field is in need of auto technicians, and the demand is expected to increase over the next 10 years, Boswell said.

Last year, more technicians came into the field than left it, and that number is expected to grow over the next decade, said Angie Wilson, the Automotive Service Assn.’s vice president of marketing and communications

The demand for technicians is projected to grow “faster than average” in the next decade, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Employment of automotive service technicians and mechanics is expected to increase 14% between 2006 and 2016, compared to 10% for all occupations,” according to the bureau.

The increased demand will be due to the creation of new jobs and a large number of auto technicians retiring, making the job opportunities “very good,” according to the bureau.

Americans are also keeping their cars longer, said Bill Haas, the Automotive Service Assn.’s vice president of education and training. People are now driving the same car for an average of 9.4 years, preferring to invest in fixing their cars in the present economy, Haas said. Keeping cars for longer means more work for technicians — work that can’t be done out of the country.

“They will have secure jobs,” Haas said. “These are not jobs that will go overseas.”

Dead end

For Lascano, like the other students, the program will provide the skills to get a steady job in a stable field. Lascano has been out of work for about six weeks. Previously, he was out of work for about a year after being laid off from a job he held for almost four years when the economy started spiraling downward.

In the steel business, Lascano said, the jobs stopped along with the building.

“There’s no career in it,” he said. “You could be let go at any time.”

Several people would be vying for the same entry-level jobs, Lascano said. Out of work and stuck in a dead-end field, he decided he wanted to become a mechanic.

“I’ve always wanted to go to school and be taught the right way,” he said.

Wanting to go to school is a change of heart for Lascano. Not wanting to waste his time taking classes that didn’t lead directly to a job, he got into the steel business, which doesn’t require schooling — he said he could learn everything he needed on the job.

“I never thought of myself as going to school,” he said.

Now that he is in the classroom, Lascano said, the first four weeks have been “awesome.”

Learning skills he never thought he would learn, Lascano said he is also realizing he didn’t know as much as he thought. He credits Boswell’s teaching methods for his enthusiasm.

“I think we’re really lucky to have a teacher like Doug Boswell,” he said.

Getting started

Boswell not only teaches the class, but is the reason the program exists. An automotive technician instructor, Boswell said he applied for a $300,000 grant to get the program started. The grant allows the college to provide free tuition and books for the students.

“I’ve always wanted to do something like this,” he said.

The program was originally planned to be manufacturer-sponsored, but when the opportunity for the grant came up, Boswell said, he modified his plan.

“He’s the man. He really started everything,” said Bryan Kramer, the automotive technician department’s chairman.

The students will learn how to maintain, diagnose and repair modern vehicles and light trucks. The program is certified by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence.

Besides the automotive side, the program will go over practical job skills like writing a resume and job interviews.

Teaching a program strictly for displaced workers is a little different than his normal classes, Boswell said. For one thing, every student wants to be there.

“There is some sense of urgency because they can’t be unemployed forever,” he said. “For them, this is an ‘I got to know this for my career.’”

Hands on

To get experience, the students work on cars donated to the college and their own vehicles, and can fix members of the public’s cars for free.

One woman brought her car to the class after getting an estimate from a mechanic for more than $800 and a laundry list of problems.

The students found only her brakes to be an issue and fixed them for her. It cost her a box of doughnuts for the guys and about $50 for the parts.

Boswell said he wants to start bringing in more people from the public. The students can do brakes and suspension and inspect the cars to tell the owners what they need. If the owner buys the parts, the students can do the labor. Working on a variety of cars will only give them more experience, Boswell said.

The students practice what they learn after Boswell lectures during the first part of class.

Gathered around one of the students’ black Cadillac Escalade raised on the lift, Boswell answered Jesse Mercado’s question about his brakes during a recent session.

“Smart,” they all laughed as Boswell told them the Escalade had been driven with its parking brake on often. Mercado quickly said he bought the car used — it wasn’t him.

Boswell smiled and showed them how to properly fix the situation. Meeting nearly every day, Boswell said, he has had the chance to actually get to know his students.

“It’s a pretty good group,” he said.

Open spaces

The program is open to 24 students a semester, but only a dozen signed up for its first go.

Boswell said he already has some people interested for next semester, but wants to get more students involved.

“I know that they are out there. It’s just a matter of me getting the word out,” he said.

The semester starts Feb. 4.

For many of the students in the class now, the opportunity to do this kind of schooling wouldn’t have been possible without the program.

“It’s a blessing, I think,” said Luis Garibay, 24. “It’s an opportunity I longed for for a long time.”

Top Three No-Nos

Three mistakes are not allowed to happen in automotive classes:

1)The wheels can’t fall off a car.

2)The car can’t fall off the lift.

3)A double gasket can’t be put on an oil filter — the engine would blow up.

Interesting In Joining?

 The program is open to displaced workers on unemployment and veterans who have served in the last four years.

 The class meets four to eight hours a day Monday to Thursday.

 Tuition and books are free.

 Students have the opportunity to do a paid internship.

 E-mail Doug Boswell for more information at dboswell@gwc.cccd.edu.