Working In Two Worlds

Job fairs are nothing unusual in Hawaii, just routine opportunities for potential employers to meet potential employees. But, according to Leusogafofomaaitulaga Bill Emmsley, executive director of the Samoan Service Providers Association in Honolulu, Pacific Islanders have not been comfortable at such events. So SSPA organized its own unique job fair in December at its new offices in the multi-purpose community center at Kuhio Park Terrace, a public housing project in Honolulu which has many Pacific Islander families as residents.

SSPA’s Bill Emmsley (left) confers with trainee graphic artist Wayne Manuma. Photo: Scott Whitney

"The impetus for this job fair was to have Pacific Islanders get access to entry-level job opportunities," Emmsley says. For example, Zippy's, a fast-food chain in Hawaii that has many entry-level opportunities, participated in the SSPA fair. "They are well-known and very active in the community," Emmsley says of Zippy's. The U.S. military, a frequent career choice for many young Pacific Islanders, also participated in the event.

"There are obvious cultural reasons why the usual job fairs are not well attended by Islanders," Emmsley adds. Language, of course, is often the first issue. And filling out the forms needed to apply for work is a challenge, even for ordinary English speakers, let alone for those whose first language is Samoan or some other Island language.

"In our job fair," Emmsley says, "we had staff stationed all around to help people fill out the forms." Or even to help encourage participants to get over their shyness enough to talk to the job recruiters. "Sometimes Islanders are ashamed to talk to business people, even if they know you have a job waiting for them," Emmsley explains.

While the December job fair was a unique experiment that worked well-about 200 attendees were expected, but nearly 300 actually showed up-SSPA's daily operations focus on two populations: Samoans and American Samoans who are newly arrived and those who may have lived all their lives in the U.S. Emmsley says the new arrivals are the ones who seem to do the best. They are eager to learn and hoping for a better economic future.

Thinking about the challenges of working with Samoan youth who have been long-term residents in the U.S., Emmsley shakes his head from side to side. "It's a real challenge, because if they're here too long, they easily sink into a gang mentality," he says. And work is not high on their to-do list.

But for new arrivals and long-term residents both, SSPA offers a variety of programs including workshops on job searches, resume writing and interview skills. There are also cross-cultural workshops to prepare clients for some of the values conflicts they might face in a contemporary workplace.

A Farrington High School student checks out the military at job fair. Photo: Scott Whitney

"We bring in local Samoan leaders, like Mufi Hanneman, to help the young people get a reality check and to develop a worldview that I might call 'peaceful coexistence.' That means integration, but it also means sharing cultural responsibilities in two worlds. SSPA really acts as an intermediary between the two cultural worlds."

SSPA can do practical things for its clients too, like paying for job tools or paying union dues for the first job, or helping people train to get commercial truck driving licenses.

In the office the day we visited SSPA, was 19-year-old Wayne Manuma, a recent arrival from American Samoa. Although he graduated from Samoana High School in Pago Pago, which is an English-language institution, his home and social life was all conducted in Samoan-so his English was weak on arriving in Hawaii. SSPA is sending him to English as a Second Language classes at Leeward Community College.

Manuma has shown an aptitude for graphic design and is now helping SSPA produce their newsletter, Tautua. Manuma seems upbeat about his future and grateful for SSPA's help. And he's been able to give back to SSPA by contributing his growing graphic skills to the agency.

SSPA will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in April this year. For more information, see www.samoanserviceprovi-ders.com.