Over the past year, MND’s training team has grown by two new members and launched a new Professional Skills Training program.
At Maryland New Directions, our training team plays a vital role in our mission to train and coach people facing career and life transitions to overcome barriers, restore self-belief, and acquire the skills and tools needed to secure employment on a path to a living wage. Since Mary Carole (“MC”) Zaworski joined the MND training team in early 2022, her goal has been to grow both the training team and its offerings for clients. Now, after spending time in the classroom and learning more about the needs of MND’s clients, MC has added two new members to her team and introduced new training and certification options.
When MC first came to MND as a training facilitator, she had to quickly learn as much as she could, as her predecessor was leaving within a few months. At the time, MC spent much of her time focused on the Maritime Transportation Distribution and Logistics (MDTL) program and needed someone who could help operate the Commercial Transportation Careers (CTC) program.
After searching for the right person to fill the role, MND found Mercury Morris, who started as a junior training facilitator in January 2023 and quickly showed his commitment to learning about the CTC program and his willingness to jump in and help raise the bar for the program. By the time Mercury hit his 90 days with MND, he was promoted from junior trainer to trainer.
Dwayne Murphy, training facilitator and Maryland Works for Wind manager joined the MND training team in May 2023. Among other assets, Dwayne brought a unique background to the job, including experience in mechanics, 4-H, and operating a farm.
“Everyone has some great skill sets; we all have different perspectives and ideas and want to make things better. It’s been a pleasure to work with both Mercury and Dwayne,” said MC. “I just see our team going on and doing more great things together.”
Trainers at MND wear many hats throughout the day. While they mainly focus on developing content for the training sessions and facilitating workshops with clients, MC finds they also often serve as additional mentors and coaches for the clients. “A key component of being a trainer is the way that you deliver; you have to be able to really engage the clients, help bring them out of their shells, and participate,” says MC. “That’s not a natural skill a lot of people have and it’s something our team has to work on all the time.”
With the many responsibilities they hold, the training team needs to be mission-driven, demonstrate a real passion for the work they do, have compassion for the clients and staff, have a wonderful attitude, and work well as a team. MC sees this in Mercury and Dwayne, sharing that “it shows every day when we’re in the classroom.”
Mary Carole (“MC”) Zaworski
Mercury Morris
Dwayne Murphy
Mary Carole (“MC”) Zaworski
Mercury Morris
Dwayne Murphy
Thanks to the hard work and additional support Mercury and Dwayne have brought to the team, MND has been able to add a new Professional Skills Training (PST) program to its arsenal. The PST program provides comprehensive services emphasizing career planning, rapid placement, adequate wages, and long-term job retention. Clients receive individual job coaching and support services to improve their professional job readiness and soft skills including resume development, interviewing, dressing for success, and job search & placement assistance, with a minimum of one year of follow-up services as needed.
“When I came on board in February 2022, it became clear to me when working with the clients, that there was a very strong need for some soft skills training,” said MC when asked why it was important to add a soft skills program to MND. “We already had some career readiness training in place, which focused on things like resume writing and how to dress for success. But, with my background in leadership development, I understood the importance and value of not just helping our clients get the job but helping them be successful and retain those jobs. We want to make each program well-rounded and set each client up to be as successful as possible.”
Each of the programs offered at MND has an end goal which is to help clients find a career they love and can be proud of on their path to earning a living wage. For the CTC program, clients are working toward their commercial driver’s license, or CDL-B permit to operate passenger vehicles. For the MTDL program, clients are working toward finding a career in the material handling and logistics industries. In this program, clients also have an opportunity to earn their forklift and OSHA certification. With the PST program, clients are working toward a career in customer service and can earn their Certified Guest Service Professional (CGSP) certification, completed through the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute, expanding the array of job opportunities for clients.
Clients of MND also have the option of enrolling in the PST program and then continuing to the CTC or MDTL program, without the two-year waiting period that is typically required between MND’s two core programs (CTC and MDTL).
“You can have the technical training,” said MC. “But if you don’t have the soft skills, it can be very hard to be successful.” Thanks to the hard work of the training staff, clients will now have more resources to help build the necessary soft skills and achieve their long-term goals.
