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OKC Hiring Events and Fast Tracks to $25 an Hour · The 405 Payroll

• 0:13
  So I, I was actually looking through the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission
• 0:18
  event calendar this morning, and, um, it is genuinely surprising how many actual,
• 0:25
  physical hiring events are happening right now across Oklahoma City.
• 0:31
  Wait, like, actual face to face events?
• 0:34
  Not just uploading a resume to some black hole website at two in the morning?
• 0:39
  Yes!
• 0:40
  Face to face with real hiring managers.
• 0:44
  The OESC calendar has a steady stream of direct employer recruitments.
• 0:49
  Like, Walmart has ongoing hiring events in OKC, plus direct recruitment days right
• 0:55
  at the local OESC centers.
• 0:58
  Huh.
• 0:59
  What kind of roles are we talking about?
• 1:01
  Is it mostly entry level stuff, or...
• 1:04
  Mostly logistics, retail fulfillment, and warehouse associate positions across OKC.
• 1:10
  And, and the starting wages are running between sixteen dollars and eighteen dollars
• 1:14
  and fifty cents per hour.
• 1:16
  No prior specialized experience required, and they have morning,
• 1:20
  evening, and weekend shifts available.
• 1:22
  Sixteen to eighteen fifty an hour is, I mean, that is a real entry point for
• 1:27
  immediate cash flow if you need a paycheck right now.
• 1:31
  But, um, okay, here is my thing with these hiring events.
• 1:35
  What do you mean?
• 1:37
  A lot of these job fairs and recruitment days, they get scheduled for,
• 1:41
  like, Tuesday at ten in the morning!
• 1:44
  If you are already working an hourly job, or driving gig routes just to keep the
• 1:49
  lights on, how are you supposed to just pull up to an OESC center at ten AM?
• 1:55
  That is a totally fair point.
• 1:57
  The timing conflict is so real for people trying to make a switch.
• 2:01
  Back when I did morning radio, my shift ended at nine AM, so my whole afternoon was
• 2:07
  open, but I was basically a zombie.
• 2:11
  But honestly, walking into an OESC office or a dedicated hiring event,
• 2:16
  even if you have to shift your schedule around for two hours,
• 2:19
  beats submitting fifty online applications that never get read by a human.
• 2:25
  Right, because you get to skip the algorithm filter entirely.
• 2:29
  You speak to a person, you get immediate feedback, and in some cases,
• 2:34
  job offers happen on the spot.
• 2:36
  Okay, so starting at sixteen to eighteen fifty is fine for stabilizing things,
• 2:41
  but, um, how do you actually jump from that eighteen dollar floor up to,
• 2:46
  say, twenty five dollars an hour without spending four years in college?
• 2:51
  That is where short term career training comes in.
• 2:54
  Take Francis Tuttle Technology Center at their Rockwell Campus here in OKC.
• 2:59
  They offer these flexible, self paced health programs specifically built for working
• 3:04
  adults.
• 3:05
  Like, how short are we talking?
• 3:08
  Give me actual hours.
• 3:10
  Okay, so their Certified Nurse Aide program, the CNA course,
• 3:14
  is exactly one hundred and two hours of instruction spread over twelve weeks in a
• 3:19
  hybrid format.
• 3:20
  Or, if you want something even shorter, they have a Phlebotomy Technician course
• 3:25
  that is forty eight hours total over ten weeks.
• 3:28
  Forty eight hours over ten weeks?
• 3:31
  That is, what, less than five hours a week?
• 3:34
  Exactly.
• 3:36
  And getting certified in clinical roles like that opens up pathways that pay twenty
• 3:40
  two to twenty eight dollars an hour in local clinical settings.
• 3:44
  Wow.
• 3:45
  That is a massive jump in earning power for forty eight to one hundred hours of
• 3:50
  effort.
• 3:52
  But, um, what about the tuition?
• 3:55
  People working eighteen dollar an hour jobs usually do not have a ton of spare cash
• 4:00
  lying around for tuition fees.
• 4:02
  That is the key part.
• 4:04
  Eligible OKC residents can tap into funding like the Workforce Innovation and
• 4:09
  Opportunity Act, or WIOA grants, which you can apply for through OESC.
• 4:15
  Plus, community groups like the Urban League of Greater Oklahoma City offer career
• 4:20
  advancement programs to help cover training costs.
• 4:23
  Ah, okay, so the financial barrier is not as steep as people assume.
• 4:29
  But, you know, raising your income from eighteen to twenty five dollars an hour is
• 4:34
  only half the battle, right?
• 4:36
  How do you mean?
• 4:37
  Well, if your bills are already piled up from living on lower wages,
• 4:42
  that extra money can get swallowed instantly if you do not have a strategy.
• 4:47
  You need to pair the wage increase with real financial guidance.
• 4:52
  Absolutely.
• 4:54
  Pairing higher pay with local resources, like the Urban League's financial coaching
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  or local utility assistance programs, helps people actually build long term
• 5:05
  stability instead of just catching up on late rent.
• 5:09
  It is all about building that buffer.
• 5:12
  Alright, go check out the OESC calendar or Francis Tuttle if you are ready for a
• 5:17
  shift.
• 5:18
  Good chatting today, Claire.
• 5:21
  Yeah, talk soon, Miles.