Fit to be employed?

Innovative program gets people in shape for job search

Art Krueger wanted to give back to the community, especially to people who were out of work.

Krueger, the director of The Wave Aquatic & Fitness Center in Whitefish, approached Roberta Diegel, a work-force specialist at the Flathead Job Service - and the Fitness to Work Challenge was created.

The six-week program, which began Tuesday, will give its seven participants resume-writing training, interviewing skills and time management skills, but also includes a three-month membership to The Wave.

The entire program, including the full gym membership, costs $50.

"We wanted to help these folks that don't have a job," Krueger said. "There's all these pressures of being unemployed. Exercise is so helpful for alleviating pressures."

Krueger hopes the program will help get participants back on their feet and ready to start a new job.

"It's well-researched when people exercise and take care of themselves physically, there are huge benefits emotionally and mentally," he said. "We want a better, more well-rounded individual to go out into the market."

The Wave will give program participants full access to the facility, including nutritional guidance and assistance with exercise training and planning. At the end of the three months, depending on each participant's financial situation, The Wave will help him or her build an affordable membership plan.

Diegel said she feels the approach will help people find jobs more readily.

"People that exercise and schedule their time, they're more organized. When you're fit, you're more balanced, centered, stronger, more alert," she said.

"For people that haven't worked in a while, that first eight hours is tough. Being unemployed is mentally devastating. People question the value of their worth, they get depressed and feel useless."

Leona Armstrong, a program participant, said she signed up to help her prepare mentally for the job search.

"When you're unemployed and don't work, you have trouble getting yourself psyched up to go to work," she said. "I needed the whole group session to get myself back into society."

The Job Service will provide time management counseling, help with resume writing, searching for jobs on the Internet and advice on networking. Participants will also receive one-on-one assistance.

"Our goal is to get them back to work," Diegel said. "We're being their cheerleader."

In addition to learning interview skills and making contacts, Fitness to Work Challenge participant Theron Hendrix, unemployed for 15 months, said he hopes the challenge will help him find the job he wants in the information technology sector or even switch career paths and perhaps even go back to school.

"A benefit is what the Wave is doing for the community," Hendrix said. "It's connecting me with people in the same boat as myself."

Armstrong said she feels the program is filling a hole in the community.

"I absolutely love it," she said. "I feel like it's something the area needed."

If the program is successful, Diegel and Krueger hope to continue it. The pilot program has a small class, but the challenge classes could include up to 50 people.

Participants are required to attend at least five of the six one- to two-hour weekly workshops at The Wave and must exercise at least twice a week. If a person finds a job during the six-week Fitness to Work Challenge, he or she can still finish the program.

"If they follow the program, the person will have the right kind of skills going into a job," Diegel said.

Reporter K.J. Hascall may be reached at 758-4439 or by e-mail at kjhascall@dailyinterlake.com