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INTERVIEW: Commissioner Louis Molina On Helping New Yorkers Find Jobs, The Evolution Of The City + More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Woke Up, Wake you up, program your alarm the power
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: one oh five point one on iHeartRadio Morning.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Everybody, It's DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the Guy. We
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: are the Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: The building up.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Indeed, we have Commissioner Lewis Molina. How are you feeling
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: the great?
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  Speaker 3: Always great to be here.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Now you're you're launching a new weekly initiative to help
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: New Yorkers find jobs.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely down, he's going with us, but let them break
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  Speaker 3: it down. Yeah, Well, when you're in the number one
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  Speaker 3: city in the in the world and you have job opportunities,
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: you got to come to the number one shoulder to
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  Speaker 3: let people know what's going on. Right, So that's the
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  Speaker 3: fact delivering for you dot n YC. And we also
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  Speaker 3: have a number two on two, three, eight, six, five thousands.
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  Speaker 3: So we have a number thousands of job opportunities with
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  Speaker 3: the city. Some are entry level, some of for mid
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  Speaker 3: career professionals, but we have somebody for We have a
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  Speaker 3: job for anyone that wants to bring their talents to
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  Speaker 3: the city and be part of helping our city evolve
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  Speaker 3: and support the community.
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  Speaker 2: Now, I was going to ask that, so these are
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  Speaker 2: career it's not just seasonable seasonal, so not just for
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  Speaker 2: the holidays. This is somebody someone could get into and
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  Speaker 2: work for a couple of years, get benefits, and take
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  Speaker 2: care of their family.
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  Speaker 1: Long chatty.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, so some of the jobs at entry level and
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  Speaker 3: to the beginning your career track to do that, for example,
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  Speaker 3: like an assistant school safety agent with the NYPD or
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  Speaker 3: working as a taxi limousine commission inspector. And for college graduates,
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  Speaker 3: we have to hire a thousand school teachers to deal
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  Speaker 3: with class size. We also are looking for school nurses.
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  Speaker 3: So there's a number of jobs that are available if
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  Speaker 3: you're just starting out in your career, for career progression,
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  Speaker 3: if you're a mid career professional, we have those opportunities too.
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  Speaker 1: Can you explain while working for the government is such
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  Speaker 1: a strong option right now?
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  Speaker 3: Well, so, I think as we've seen as of late,
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  Speaker 3: when we look at local municipal government, they provide a
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  Speaker 3: level of career stability that you may not get in
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  Speaker 3: the private sector. We've wed a lot of challenges in
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  Speaker 3: the City of New York over the over the last decade,
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  Speaker 3: as many as you know and your listeners know, but
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  Speaker 3: we haven't had a layoff, right, and I think that
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  Speaker 3: that's important. At the same time, you have options you
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  Speaker 3: can grow in are within the same city agency. So
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  Speaker 3: we have thousands of city workers that start off in
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  Speaker 3: the agency in twenty five thirty years later, they retire
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  Speaker 3: from the same agencies. Myself, I had the honor of
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  Speaker 3: working at five different city agencies, right, So you can
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  Speaker 3: also port your career to other agencies while still maintaining
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: your city credit towards your retirement and your pension.
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  Speaker 2: How did the recent shutdown affect some of those individuals,
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  Speaker 2: because that's one thing when people talk about working for
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  Speaker 2: the government, that's always something that scares people.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think the recent shutdown really affected primarily
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  Speaker 3: federal workers and affected the federal workforce, which is different
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  Speaker 3: than working for a local government like the City of
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  Speaker 3: New York. You know, we do work with our federal
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  Speaker 3: partners in number of ways, particularly like grand Opportunities and
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  Speaker 3: things like that. So we've had shutdowns in the past.
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  Speaker 3: This was a long one, so there had some minor impact.
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  Speaker 3: But a city like ours, we have a huge sort
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  Speaker 3: of population base, and our funds are budgeted in time
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  Speaker 3: for a lot of the programs we support, So from
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  Speaker 3: that perspective, it had very minimal impact.
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  Speaker 1: We know a recent change in a federal education policy
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  Speaker 1: makes nursing no longer classified as a professional degree. What
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  Speaker 1: would you say to people who still want to, you know,
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  Speaker 1: pursue being a nurse but they know it's not considered
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  Speaker 1: a professional degree.
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  Speaker 3: Well, so I think what I would consider nursing in
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  Speaker 3: general as an advanced vocational job, right, which also has
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  Speaker 3: to have the complement of an academic Credentially, depending on
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  Speaker 3: what you want to do in nursing, from being an
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  Speaker 3: LPN to being a full RN, or to being someone
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  Speaker 3: that manages a cohort of nurses on a medical floor.
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  Speaker 3: So I think it really depends on what nuance of
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  Speaker 3: nurse career path you're taking. But it is you know,
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  Speaker 3: we're hiring school nurses now with a Department of Health
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  Speaker 3: and Mental Hygiene. They're deployed throughout our public school system.
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  Speaker 3: So a nurse is a critical job in the medical
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  Speaker 3: field that allows doctors to do what they do and
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  Speaker 3: be successful at it.
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  Speaker 2: I want to talk about some of the no degree
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  Speaker 2: jobs people that don't have a college sure, what are
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  Speaker 2: some of those jobs and are those careers where they
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  Speaker 2: can increase to make some huge salaries.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, So I think one thing that's good about working
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  Speaker 3: for the City of New York specifically is we invest
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  Speaker 3: in a lot in our staff and we have a
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  Speaker 3: number of jobs, for example, like city custodians that help
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  Speaker 3: keep our buildings running from cleanliness to a lot of
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  Speaker 3: other things within our building. And you don't need a
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  Speaker 3: high school equivalents of diploma. And we recently launched with
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  Speaker 3: the Department of Citywide Administrative Services a program called Epic
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  Speaker 3: Education Propelling into Careers. And what we do is for
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  Speaker 3: those that want to get their high school equivalency one
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  Speaker 3: day a week, we in partnership with Metropolitan College of
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  Speaker 3: New York, they able to not only get their high
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  Speaker 3: school equivalency, but twenty nine college credits. What does that
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  Speaker 3: look like from a career perspective? Once you get that,
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  Speaker 3: there's opportunities for promotion that may not have been available
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  Speaker 3: to you because of the qualifications for the promotion. But
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  Speaker 3: thousands of city jobs not open up for you because
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  Speaker 3: some city jobs do require a level of college credits
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  Speaker 3: a high school diploma. So just because you have a
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  Speaker 3: high school equivalency doesn't mean that you cannot have a
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  Speaker 3: career in the City of New York, and the City
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  Speaker 3: of New York is willing to invest with you so
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  Speaker 3: that you can have the career that you choose, because
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  Speaker 3: we still want people to have agency and be in
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  Speaker 3: control of their own future.
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  Speaker 1: You know, a lot of these jobs they offer strong
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  Speaker 1: benefits in union support. So can you explain what that
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  Speaker 1: means for somebody who may be bouncing from job to
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  Speaker 1: job with no stability.
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  Speaker 3: Sure. So, about eighty three percent of our jobs come
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  Speaker 3: from civil service examinations and they're represented by a number
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  Speaker 3: of different local unions throughout the city. So one thing
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  Speaker 3: good about union being a member of a union, and
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  Speaker 3: I've been a member of many of the unions where
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  Speaker 3: I work for the city, is that their price allows
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  Speaker 3: you to have someone that can advocate for you when
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  Speaker 3: you might have challenges at work a set of resources.
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  Speaker 3: Being a member of a union. They also help negotiate
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  Speaker 3: your salary and increases in compensation with the collective Barney
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  Speaker 3: agreements that the union have and York, the City of
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  Speaker 3: New York has a really special place in partnership with
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  Speaker 3: all of its labor unions and leaders, and it is
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  Speaker 3: a way to be able to deliver to make sure
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  Speaker 3: that individuals can live and work with dignity. So being
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  Speaker 3: a member of a union job really is a big
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  Speaker 3: benefit working for the City of New York.
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  Speaker 2: And what to do may of coming in January? Does
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  Speaker 2: this help the efforts that you're doing, Does it hurt
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  Speaker 2: the efforts or does nothing change?
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  Speaker 3: I think it helps. I think you know, the incoming
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  Speaker 3: mayor has talked a lot in this campaign and to
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  Speaker 3: this day about affordability and opportunity right. And the city
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  Speaker 3: is very, very expensive. Part of that is increasing our
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  Speaker 3: affordable housing stock within the city, but you also need
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  Speaker 3: income right and job opportunity right. And there's a generation
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  Speaker 3: of young people that want to see change in government,
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  Speaker 3: and you can only do so much of that change
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  Speaker 3: from the outside. So we're saying join our city workforce,
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  Speaker 3: be part of the change you want to see. And
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  Speaker 3: I think when he talks about class size and improving education,
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  Speaker 3: us doing this recruitment drive to fill a thousand teacher jobs.
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  Speaker 3: It's what's going to let people know what opportunities exist
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  Speaker 3: if you want to be a school teacher.
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  Speaker 2: As an example, Now, what you know we talk about
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  Speaker 2: school teachers in school teachers call all the time and
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  Speaker 2: saying they love being school teachers, they love their job,
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  Speaker 2: they love teaching, but they don't have enough money and
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  Speaker 2: funding to take care of their classroom. They don't have
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  Speaker 2: the supplies, they don't have the books, they don't have
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  Speaker 2: that is that being changed? Is their help for that?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I'm here specifically about the jobs of teachers, right.
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  Speaker 3: I would let the New York City public schools talk
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  Speaker 3: about their ideas about how they help support teachers. But
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  Speaker 3: I think anyway that we as a city can help
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  Speaker 3: support any worker, teachers included, to be able to do
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  Speaker 3: their job. Well, I think that's an important endeavor.
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  Speaker 1: What would you say to somebody who doesn't realize the
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  Speaker 1: long term value of having government benefits, of government training
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  Speaker 1: and just advancement opportunities.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say, give give it a chance. Right,
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  Speaker 3: you know you always, as I've gotten older, can appreciate
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  Speaker 3: things that then't appreciate maybe when I was twenty four
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  Speaker 3: years old. But I think you should give the city
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  Speaker 3: an opportunity and it chance. I think all of the
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  Speaker 3: skills that you would gain working for the City of
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  Speaker 3: New York, they're portable skills if you want to then
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  Speaker 3: go into the private sector or maybe work in another
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  Speaker 3: local government somewhere else. These life journey experiences are of
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  Speaker 3: significant value at any age, whether you're an entry level
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  Speaker 3: professional a mid career professional. We even have some seniors
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  Speaker 3: that join the city's workforce because they have time on
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  Speaker 3: their hands and they might want to work part time.
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  Speaker 3: We are an age inclusive city, so we have opportunities
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  Speaker 3: for everyone.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, Well, what does the application process look like?
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  Speaker 3: So a number of ways. One is we have the
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  Speaker 3: Delivering for You dot NYC website where you can fill
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  Speaker 3: out a form, give us information, and we'll be in
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  Speaker 3: touch with you to talk about what may be a
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  Speaker 3: professional interest to you. You can also call us at
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  Speaker 3: two one, two three eight six five thousand. There are
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  Speaker 3: two main ways of getting employment with the city. We
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  Speaker 3: give examinations for about eighty three percent of our jobs.
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  Speaker 3: Others don't require an examination, and you apply be an
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  Speaker 3: application or resume and we would walk you through that process.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, once again, if you're looking for a job, if
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  Speaker 2: you're looking for some work, Power one oh five to
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  Speaker 2: one and the commissioner linked up and you can get
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  Speaker 2: information on Power one on five point one or give
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  Speaker 2: them the website.
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  Speaker 3: One more time, Delivering for You dot NYC.
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  Speaker 1: All right, and the job market is hell right now,
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  Speaker 1: yes it is, so this is actually a blessing. What's
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  Speaker 1: your message to anybody who wants to make a career
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  Speaker 1: change but doesn't have any direction.
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  Speaker 3: So I would say go to the website delivering for
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  Speaker 3: you dot NYC is important because that's a start where
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  Speaker 3: somebody can reach out and engage with you, when you
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  Speaker 3: can have an exploratory conversation, or you can call us
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  Speaker 3: at two one, two three, eight six five thousand, where
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  Speaker 3: you'll have someone, a live person will help you walk
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  Speaker 3: you through what options may be available for you to
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  Speaker 3: compete for, to consider for the next job opportunity you
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  Speaker 3: might be looking for.
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  Speaker 2: Last question I noticed this, do you have to be
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: a citizen American citizen? Because I know there's a lot
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: of immigrants here that don't have their necessary citizenship. Can
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: they get a job?
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  Speaker 3: Is that? Yeah? So certain jobs may require you a citizenship,
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  Speaker 3: But we have persons that are in a documented capacity
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  Speaker 3: that work for the city, so not every city employee
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  Speaker 3: has US citizenship.
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  Speaker 1: I wouldn't be showing up anywhere with our US citizenship
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  Speaker 1: at a time like this.
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  Speaker 2: All right, okay, all right, well, we thank you for
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: joining us this morning. Commissioned to Lewis Molina.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: Thank you for joining us, Thank you for having me.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning, every day, Wake up
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: the Breakfast Club.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: You'll finish what y'all done.