Does anyone still use the apprentice model. Our son went to a community college program for CNC machining, after graduation he got stuck in the no experience loop, got discouraged and went to work for a hospital in SPD after 12 mos. of no calls. BUT he is still interested in machining. We are in the Saint Louis area.
Hello, my son is 24 years old has autism, we’ve know since he was 3. He stopped talking at 2 and began to talk again after ABA when he was five. He’s been in school based therapy from Pre-K to middle school. he had extra time for tests and social skills group in HS. He graduated with an associates degree in precision machining with a strong B average. The program director told us that he had the skills and knowledge to be a CNC machinist however, he was never able to get a job. He went to at least an 100 interviews, but never got a second or third call back.
A year and a half ago he interviewed for a job at a hospital for their sterile processing technician. The hir director and managers were very supportiv. The people that trained him said he was doing a great job. He absolutely loved this job. However, the people that hired him and the people that were there to support him and the people that he felt were his work friends gradually moved on. Over the last six months the work has become more and more difficult. He was being assigned work that other people don’t like doing for weeks and month. He tried to focus on the value of the work for patient health and safety and just work. Last Thursday he had an incident where he was assigned …again … to the most disliked job in the department. That job had actually bent over assigned so there were more people to do the job than there were spaces to do the job. As he was venting his frustration to a coworker another of his coworkers said something sort of rude. This set him off and he kicked out of him at his ankle level, but he did make contact. The coworker pushed him and then everything de-escalate. The hospital had has a zero tolerance of violence policy and he was fired.
We are heartbroken. He extremely remorseful. In all of the years that he has been in school in college and working at fast food restaurants nothing like this has happened. He has been bullied but never has lashed out. He has never had a meltdown. His response was withdrawal when he was stressed. This was a very, very un un characteristic response, but it is what it is.
The hospital has a do not rehire for workplace and is the largest employer in our city so any possibility of a new job or a new position is zero for life.
He is eligible to sit for his CRCST certification, which is the certification for sterile processing technicians. He has been studying and has applied to take the test. (His boss did sign the form stating that he had more than 400 hours of experience.) He had been getting 85% or more on practice tests. It is a past fail test with a passing grade being greater 70% so we expect that he will pass.
There are other hospitals in the area that are looking for central sterile processing people, but we do not know how to report he was fired. He spoke to the HR people at the hospital and they tell us that they only confirm employment dates nothing else so they would not necessarily say that he was fired or that he is a “do not rehire“.
Will being fired mean that no one will be interested in him? How does he address being fired if he gets an interview? If anyone knows of anybody looking for a person who is trained and qualified to work in CSPD in the St. Louis area, please let us know.