Unhappy in telemarketing, she moved into a different field
Sheila Givens was dropping off her 3-year-old daughter, Quincia, at a day care when she found the career of her dreams.
One of the day care workers showed her a flyer for a training program for hospital cleaners through the Energy Innovation Center. Hospitals are heavy places for Ms. Givens, whose early teen years were rocked by the deaths of both parents — her mother of multiple sclerosis, her father of complications with bed sores.
“Working in a hospital is very serious for me,” said Ms. Givens, 33, of Homestead. Her parents ran a cleaning service — Givens Building Maintenance — until their health deteriorated.
“I like to clean a room as if a family member of mine was in the room,” she said. “They deserve that treatment.”
Ms. Givens was one of 28 people who graduated from the five-week environmental service technician training in December. Nearly 200 people have completed the program since it was launched in 2017 at the redeveloped Connelley Trade School in the Lower Hill.
She went straight into a job at UPMC Montefiore in Oakland. There she is assigned to different areas of the hospital depending on the need — from the operating rooms to patient rooms.
After studying communications at La Roche College, she had worked jobs in social work and telemarketing but never quite felt fulfilled.
“I needed a change of scenery,” she recalled. “I was tired of sitting and talking on the phone and dealing with people. I have a 3-yearold, and I was looking for something with longevity.”
As it turned out, she could put those skills to better use as a hospital cleaner.
“I love talking and meeting new people and culture,” she said. “You meet a slew of people from different backgrounds, different issues, different
Sheila Givens
ways of thinking. I’m one of those people who talk to the patients and try to get to know them.”
The five-week class trained the students in a simulated hospital wing with equipment donated by UPMC. Students practiced loading cleaning carts, learned how to use powerful cleaning chemicals and the proper method of sanitizing rooms.
“I was amazed — You actually need training to clean?” she laughed.
Beyond cleaning, the students learned how to introduce themselves to patients, manage finances and balance family life with demands of the job.
Her story illustrates the challenge of outreach for businesses that lean more on social media and online forms of job advertising to recruit. Ms. Givens is not on social media, and she wondered how she would have found out about the program if the fortunate day care encounter did not happen.
“I’ve tried for UPMC on my own in the past and just didn’t get hired,” she said. “I could never understand why.”
Two months into the job, she’s already aiming higher.
“I’m putting the bug in their ear that I want to be a team leader,” she said. “I hope to continue on the straight path of doing great so I can feed my daughter and build a career out of it.”
“I hope to continue on the straight path of doing great so I can feed my daughter and build a career out of it.”