[Jewelry making - Article 00903] - Re: [Orchid] Voc Rehab and employment

[Lisa Orlando]

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Hi, Katheryne,

    I was, until recently, a Rehab client in California. Maybe you
    aren't  looking for this kind of advice, but your email sent up red
    flags for  me. Doing the research and convincing a counselor that
    you can get a  job in the industry is the easy part. There are a
    couple of  government sites (I no longer have the links) which may
    still claim  that there will be growth in the industry, and which
    will detail  various job categories and qualifications. I printed
    those out, then  called some local jewelers and interviewed
    them--they tended to be  amazingly generous with their time. 

    However. If you are a Rehab client, you, like me, have some kind of 
    disability. Bench work is grueling, and you need to be fast, as well
     as good. Trade school is also grueling for a beginner, and it can 
    move faster than you might be able to imagine. Many, many people go 
    through Rehab-sponsored trainings of all kinds and never get jobs,
    if  for no other reason than that they come out of the training
    dazed and  confused, rather than ready for work. 

    If you are young, ambitious, have lots of stamina and dexterity,
    have  taken some jewelry classes (so that you already have basic
    skills--I  don't mean beading!--and know something about what you
    will be  doing), and your disability is such that you *know* it
    won't  interfere with your work, go for it. If, however, you do not
    have all  of the above, please consider seriously what you expect to
    get from  going to trade school. If what you want is to set up your
    own studio  at home, and make jewelry on the side, and you'd like
    Rehab to fund  the learning you want, that's one thing. If you're
    trying to convince  yourself, as well as your counselor, that you
    will be be able,  straight out of trade school, to get hired as a
    full time bench  jeweler, you may be setting yourself up for
    frustration, if not  heartbreak. 

    I was very lucky in that the jewelers I interviewed all said that I 
    should continue my studies at the local art center, or via tutoring,
     for at least a year before I jumped into trade school. (Rehab went 
    for this--although they wouldn't pay class fees--and I was actually 
    able to drag out the time considerably.) But I spoke to most of
    those  jewelers on the phone, and didn't mention my age. I didn't
    think so  at the time, but the luckiest thing that happened to me
    was going to  SNAG in San Francisco and meeting Alan Revere, after
    he did his  presentation on "making it in metal." Honestly and
    generously  (because he lost quite a bit of money by doing so), he
    told me that,  at my age, I would not be able to find an entry-level
    job as a bench  jeweler, no matter how good my training was--or how
    many people had  been hired in the last 6 months by the jewelry
    industry. 

    This forced me to reevaluate my plans. I had a brief period of
    hoping  that, if I got Rehab to send me to GIA (which they also
    would have  approved) and became a GG instead, I could get a job.
    But Daniel  Spirer convinced me that doing so wouldn't make me any
    more  employable than bench training would: I would still be a
    beginner,  and gemologist jobs go to people with experience. If you,
    however,  have been an amateur gemologist for years, this *could* be
    a more  viable, and less physically taxing, route to employment in
    the  industry. (Please, please, don't fall for the GIA ads that
    imply you  can get a job as a "jewelry designer." Those jobs are as
    rare as  hen's teeth.) 

    I did, however, manage to get Rehab to pay for tools, materials, and
     related expenses for a few years and this eventually enabled me to 
    make some self-employment income (even when I demonstrated that I 
    could sell my own jewelry, they wouldn't shift me to a self-
    employment plan, because I couldn't prove that I could make *all* of
     my living that way--I couldn't!). I hope that, in the future, I
    will  be able to bring in somewhat larger percentage of my income
    via this  route. But I have no fantasy that there is an "industry
    job" in my  future--unless I parlay my small-business management
    experience, and  my Orchid-honed ability to talk like an insider,
    into a job managing  a jewelry store. 

Good luck!

Lisa Orlando
Aphrodite's Ornaments

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