Carmine Marino started with Next Steps Employment Services in August. His first on-the-job training assignment was at Woody’s Bar-B-Q, where he’s already shown great enthusiasm to learn and grow professionally. Mr. Sam (the owner) beams with pride when he says that Carmine is “really a great asset to the [Woody’s Bar-B-Q] team,” going above and beyond by taking initiative and staying focused on his training.  He sets out to accomplish just that every time he comes to work. Carmine’s real pride is in his ability to accomplish tasks in order to demonstrate his strong, responsible work ethic.

Carmine is inspired by his optimism, powerful drive to succeed, and a great sense of confidence in his abilities. One thing Carmine shared with his Employment Specialist was how he was trained for 3 hours on how to bread zucchini and now he can do it with his eyes closed. Carmine was also trained on how to maintain a clean restaurant and how to prepare side orders like coleslaw and Mr. Sam’s famous banana pudding. We are immensely thankful for Mr. Sam’s availability and dedication to help Carmine! Great job Carmine!

Jalan Simmons has been volunteering at the Humane Society of Manatee County, where he was given the opportunity to do an OJT in their pet adoption office.  Jalan works on the computer making name tags for the animals and creating files for each of the animals that have been adopted.  He writes bios for the animals waiting for adoption so that prospective owners can go on the website and read about the animals currently available for adoption.

Jalan likes to stay busy.  His hands are busy as he talks to the office staff.  He quickly became a friend of the staff members.  His quiet, peaceful nature and quick smile set other people at ease.  They really enjoy having Jalan in the office.  Thank you to the staff of Humane Society of Manatee County for their dedication and for believing in Jalan! Way to go, Jalan!

Derrick Dimas was grateful for the OJT that ES Miguel found for him. Derrick has been with NSES since June 2019. Carolina Espinosa is the owner and manager of Michoacana Ice Cream (featured above alongside Derrick) and the person who gave Derrick the OJT opportunity. Carolina was thrilled to work with our client. Carolina communicated to ES that Derrick did an excellent job on all three weeks of the OJT and that the client was very responsible, a quick learner, and did his work with pride. The owner expressed to ES that she would take Derrick back in a heartbeat.

At the ice cream shop, Derrick learned how to make homemade ice cream and – most importantly – learned how to provide customer service to the variety of customers they served. The owner expressed to ES that the ice cream shop workers enjoyed and appreciated the help. KUDOS to Carolina for making this training such a success for Derrick! Derrick told ES that he enjoyed the job and felt appreciated and welcomed. Great job Derrick!