October 15, 2012

Investing in job seekers, both today and tomorrow

• 1 Comment |
• E-mail |
• Print
• • Share:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  

As most of the candidates running for local and national office have stated during this long election season, something needs to be done to create jobs during this country's painfully slow economic recovery. While some insist that this is solely the responsibility of private industry, others argue that government can provide vital assistance for job seekers by enhancing their skills and improving their chances in the job market.

This month, the Washington state Employment Security Department (ESD) did its part to bolster the latter position by announcing its annual distribution of nearly $49 million to the state's 12 Workforce Development Councils (WDC), which provide counseling, skills assessments, job-search help and training to laid-off or low-income workers and disadvantaged young people.

"This funding is vital as our region climbs from the recession and retools a qualified workforce for new jobs in the new economy," says Marléna Sessions, CEO of the Seatte-King County WDC.

The funding, which runs through June 2013, comes from the federal Department of Labor. This year, the statewide allocation is about $600,000 more than the total from last year, but not all WDC districts received the same amount of funding.

"The state allocations are formula-based and predominantly driven by labor market variables like relative number of unemployed, areas of substantial unemployment and economically disadvantaged individuals," explains Bill Tarrow, ESD's deputy communications director. For instance, the grant for the Seattle-King County WDC dropped from $13 million in 2011 to $12.3 million this year, mostly as a result of the county's lower unemployment rate in relation to the rest of the state, he says.

Still, the grant money being spent on job assistance in Washington state is making waves nationally. For instance, WDC's WorkSource system — which includes worker programs for veterans, computer training through Microsoft, as well as assistance with health care and housing — is being hailed as a model job-assistant program around the country.

"Our one-stop-shopping system is quite unique," Sessions says. "There's nothing else like it anywhere the country. Our mission is to train and retrain workers to meet the growing employer demand through WorkSource in areas such as aerospace, healthcare, financial services and information technology."

Much of Seattle-King County's $12.3 million in grant money will be used to improve cooperation, add more workshops and make general upgrades to all job assistance programs at WorkSource, Sessions says. The council will also continue this year's emphasis on providing job-search strategies to groups of individuals with common experiences, rather than just on individual instruction. Through various "job clubs" for older workers, veterans, ex-offenders and other specific populations, which meet in groups of 25 to 30 job seekers, WDC plans to "provide a more laser-focused set of core services though social media tools like LinkedIn," she says.

Another key initiative that will be partly funded by these grants is the Schools to Careers Plus program, which will concentrate on developing career skills for people well before they begin looking for a job. Under the program, high-school students will be connected with representatives of high-demand industries through career-awareness classes, career navigators and industry mentors, with the goal of helping young people make informed decisions about further education and training.

This fiscal year, the local WDC will invest up to $200,000 in the Schools to Careers Plus program, beginning this fall in the Renton and Auburn districts. Eventually, the initiative will expand to all 19 local school districts by 2014.

"This is an overarching need," Sessions adds. "Kids today are not getting any awareness training for careers. We want them to know about the rich heritage we have here in the maritime, health care and technology areas. We're just learning how hungry young people, teachers and parents are for this information."

Randy Woods writes about job-search tools, networking techniques and other tips to help you land your dream job.

• 1 Comment |
• E-mail |
• Print
• • Share:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  

Read more
education and training, government, mentors, skills, social media, teenagers

1 Comment

| Leave a comment

Ryan Widerman | April 3, 2013 7:16 PM | Reply

What I don't understand is how it can be the governments responsibility to "invest" anything in job seekers. Isn't it the responsibility of individuals themselves to put in the work? I just don't get it!!

Leave a comment

Name

Email Address

URL

Remember personal info?

Comments