Job seekers use one-stop shop services
by Kristen Go, Outpost Staff
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In this package: Reno man recounts his unemployment story On the web: |
West's office serves everyone from the homeless to the white-collar executive. Her corner office on Neil Road and Peckham Lane is equipped with a resource center that contains computers linked to a job bank, Microsoft Word and a typewriter and fax machine for people to use in their job searches.
West's office is a pilot program designed to make looking for employment a one-stop shop. People who are looking for jobs must file with unemployment security first. But entering West's office is like going to the hub of a wheel. The services on Neil Road help people branch out to be assessed, find job training and, ultimately, jobs.
"We all work to hopefully get people gainfully employed," she says. November is a slow time for West's office because few people are looking for jobs. She explains that Reno's August 1997 unemployment rate was 3.7 percent, which is just below the national unemployment rate of 4.9 percent for the same month.
On the average, West's office spends $750 on each person who needs assistance finding a job. She says some people may just need financial assistance to take a job-training class while others may need several job training classes and help with transportation. "You don't pressure people, you just enlighten them," she says.
She says her office sets annual performance records that identify how many people they will successfully employ. The office always meets if not exceeds their annual goals.
The people who will be successful in finding a job are those willing to make changes, she says. "Ninety percent of what employers are looking for is behavior of wanting to learn. If they find that in someone they're (usually) willing to train them."
copyright 11/15/97