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I have been working with DVR for help finding a job. What you don't know is that they don't actually *help* you find a job - they are only there to hound you along the way. Read on...
I started working with DVR in 2005 when I graduated from high school. I then enrolled in the IT program at a local technical college. DVR was supposed to provide funding but never did. I qualified for financial aid, so it wouldn't have mattered. I received my Associate Degree in May 2008.
Six months after I graduated from college, DVR hooked me up with TSA (a third-party employment agency - real name has been abbreviated), which set up a work experience for me at a local business. I have autism and cannot handle loud noises. They don't care - you must complete the entire work experience or DVR will close your file.
I made it through the 20-day work experience, but the fun is not over yet. I was expected to do everything on my own - create a resume, search for job openings, submit applications, etc. I searched every possible job search website and could not find any IT jobs in the area. I told my case worker from TSA about this and her response was, "I am working with someone else who also has an IT degree and he is finding them".
Since I qualify for the Ticket to Work program, I contacted someone else from TSA to find out what services they provide. DVR found out that I was now working directly with TSA, so DVR closed my file. I didn't care, since DVR is nothing but crap.
I waited one month to receive a response from TSA. I was delighted to find out that the Ticket to Work program is meant for those who are willing to work full-time. Due to my disability, I cannot handle working full-time. Therefore, TSA refused to work with me.
For those who are on disability and wishing to obtain employment, don't bother working with DVR - they will give you nothing but trouble. Although most employment agencies charge for their services, they have more experience working with people with disabilities.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I had expressed my concerns with my former DVR counselor(s) [edited] (DVR 79th & Burleigh location) before. I had been going in and out of different programs and schools for 25 years and I thought I would be getting steady job placement, an internship, or OJT. I had been in the DVR program before and I understand I must go through the process. I had gone through evaluations, work adjustment programs, job coaching, and a lot of these things I've already done. I had to request a DVR counselor change. The chemistry that was needed for a working counselor-client relationship and a client-counselor relationship with my previous counselor Margaret Gutter (DVR 68th & Villard Ave. Location) wasn't there. I wasn't satisfied with some of the recommendations and services that were offered to me by Maureen Dempsey. When I first started the DVR program, I thought that people would start working at a job immediately and be hired on the spot. DVR doesn't guarantee you a permanent job. I was referred to The Grand Avenue Club by DVR. I did volunteer work and I understand that I must go through the process before I can do Transitional Employment. I was removed from one of the TE jobs as a clerical worker in the Medical Records Department and wasn't given another chance. I was a little bit upset, and it wasn't right. I had been doing temporary work my whole entire life. The agencies I went to for job coaching were Cornerstone Youth & Family Services and RA Fikes and Associates. They were impatient, challenging me, and expected me to know and learn everything on the job in one day. I typed up resumes for clients that didn't have a list of work experience, skills, education, and personal references. I know my limitations; I know what my situation is. I seem to run into a dead-end situation, I turn around and I have to start over. I understand that my age might be a factor or my personal challenges. Now, I'm in my 40's and my time is running out. I didn't want to be in the DVR program for the rest of my life. I understand I have a disability. DVR is supposed to be my biggest supporter and reference.
My history goes way back. I was autistic and dropped out of college in 1965 and age 20 with ho work experience. I went to DVR and I was placed at a sheltered workshop where I had to work for a time assembling vacuum cleaner fans for less than 20 cents per unit. I then worked at a used goods store for about a year where I paid nothing for six weeks, then 35 cents an hour for six weeks, and finally 85 cents an hour from then on, was about 2/3 of the legal minimum wage. The atmosphere at the store was often cold and abusive. I was placed in a series of part-time jobs, none of which lasted more than a few days. On one of those jobs I was viciously bullied and then fired. The DVR people treated me like crap because I couldn't hold a job. They sent me back to a sheltered workshop where my wages were cut in half and I was verbally abused and told I was worthless before I was finally let go with no advance warning. Through the years I had to put up with condescension and and abuse from DVR counselors who did very little to place me in a job. I recently returned again and was tested for office work which showed severe deficits. I was told I had to go through months of training to be employable in an office position, though I didn't want that kind of work. He told me I had no choice if I wanted to work. They will train you but will not guarantee any job placement. I have trouble walking and he insinuated I was making it up. I was late a couple of times during testing and he made sure I knew it before leaving his office for the last time. I had earlier tried to find work through the Department of Workforce Development and none of their "guaranteed" job placement programs worked. I also came to understand how poorly the low-paid segment of the workforce is treated in this society. I finally realized that If you want to find a job, you'll have to do it yourself. They don't care. I never want to work with those [censored] again. Years ago I began to say that "DVR" really means "Dumb Vocational Rejects."
Yes it is still happening! This is 2017 and they think it is 1980 still! My last nerve with them today was when they told me that my college education didn't mean a damn thing and that I should go work in a factory for $12 hr part time and suffer! I went to college for IT and Graphic Design. The WISCONSIN DVR has been playing games with me for a very long time! and now reading this makes me a little more relieved! We should file a class action lawsuit and shut the branch of tax payer money wasters down! I've got a laundry list of complaints and ### that they pulled on me, including trying to get me arrested and thrown in jail because I refuse to comply with their ### and I stand my ground!
I went to DVR in New Mexico in Las Cruces. When they run out of job things for you they send you to Good Will for a job! If you don't want to work there, or if you change your mind they still close your case! This was in the 1980's. So it is still happening!
Margaret
They flat out lied to me. I have a job beforehand but needed to finish 4 classes to get my degree. I finished the class I finished the first semester, I had some issues with the class I was taking and had to drop it. Regardless my counselor berated me for dropping the class. She claimed I never contacted her which I in fact did but kept insisting I didn't like I don't know what I do. She then said she wasn't going to fund me for fall but then decided to do it. I made an appointment to finalize my schooling for fall 2015 and she acted like I never met with her before that which I did. She then claimed I didn't show up on time that it was at 2pm and the card she gave me clearly said 2:30pm. Well after that she told me she needed to go to my adviser at the university to show what classes I needed to graduate which I did and gave that information to her the very next day. Well a week later I receive a letter stating I haven't met with her since March 2015 and I emailed her telling her I had just met with you on June 11 and I receive a letter stating I haven't met with you since march 2015. So I decided to file a complaint and get a new counselor.
When meeting with her she said they won't be funding my class I had already signed up for and bought books for. I told her the other counselor had already agreed to pay it. She then told well she never put that in the records and said she hasn't spoke to me since March 2015 which was a total lie. And to top it off once again they gave me the wrong date and time for the meeting because once again I saved the card they gave me.
DVR is by far the worse place to go to for any kind of help. And I think they want it that way. They want people they can abuse and make them money and put them into crappy jobs and then tell people they help people which they don't. They lie, they purposely try and put their own inefficiency on you. I feel sorry for those who don't know any better and let them walk all over them. Because that is the business they are in walking over people. And if you in any way stand up for yourself they try and close your file.
My experience has been the same. If you are older and have earned a college degree you treated like a child and subjected to derision and abuse.
dvr is a condescending bunch of holes that treat you like a idiot 5 y/0 child.
But it gets worse.Not only are they making money off you hand over fist, they treat you like a 3 rd class 5 y/o ###ed child that's not worth their time.They sent me to cri (chippewa river industries) who treated me the same way.Dvr is supposed to offer employers a incentive.I.E. 50% wages paid during train in.for 3 months.Each person i asked from cri or dvr said way less and diff amounts.I looked it up and printed it out then they um um well up to three months yes.They're greedy, condesending and liers.My boss/company never got even a cent of that btw.Also I had gotten the job by finally ignoring their idiot ideas and searching myself.I was still on the program tho, so they shoulda got at least some of that incentive, which is huge help.But just a false offer.I made numerous complaints how I was treated and nothing was done at all.
Hey you know what he is right let me explain.
My DVR Services in my area where suppose to help me find a job i have a cert. in art of photography i am ADHD with back problems but did DVR care no they sent me to a machine shop thinking i can lift 50 pound boxes all day almost completely paralyzed thanks to these ###s they decided to help me write a resume which i was great full for until it was for a job as a laundry attendant basically doing other peoples laundry they think i am a total ### and a ### i am trained in photography not how to run bull crap laundry equipment but they don't care at all they just try to run you through the system so they don't have to pay the training company for training you the machine shop i was training with gets 35, 000 from dvr for training me to do machine shop work but yet there trying to get me into laundry services what the hell
oh and you think your going to get free medical assistance no sorry you don't try again you think your going to get free schooling try again.
DVR should stand for
Department
vocational
Ripoff