XXI - Hit Parade:
Best Practices In America’s One-Stop Career Centers

One of the overriding goals of the Office of the 21st Century Workforce is to spread the word about the best way to get people back to work and prepare them for the jobs of the future. With that in mind, the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration has worked to recognize One-Stop Career Center innovations and encourage others in the One-Stop System to adapt these practices as appropriate for use in their own communities. Twenty-eight One-Stop Career Centers nationwide were identified for best practices in three areas: service to job seekers, service to employers, and design and management excellence. The following describes one Center recognized in each category.

BEST PRACTICE IN SERVICE TO JOB SEEKERS:

Northeast One-Stop Career Center

Portland, Oregon

The Northeast One-Stop Career Center was cited for its Job Link Retention Project offering newly working customers emergency services to help them stay on the job. The Project was established because staff consistently reported seeing the same people return to the Center again and again, having lost jobs due to poor work habits and absenteeism.

The centerpiece of the Project is a “Job Link Hotline” designed to overcome immediate barriers in getting to work, such as car trouble, lack of transportation or child care, illness, and other personal problems. Clients receive a wallet card with an identification number valid for six months, including an 800 number to access the crisis hotline from any location. Callers receive technical assistance, resource referrals, encouragement, and in some cases immediate action to remove the particular employment barrier. For instance, the Center will:

• call a towing company for emergency car service;
• dispatch a taxi or arrange bus passes to transport an employee to work;
• provide temporary child care services;
• refer clients to a one-stop counselor immediately (by pager) for help with illness, family or legal problems, and contact employers to make appropriate accommodations.

Did you know?
About one employed person in every 20 works more than one job.

BEST PRACTICE IN SERVICE TO EMPLOYERS:

Career Resources, Inc.

Louisville, Kentucky

Career Resources operates four One-Stop

“Solution Centers” in the Louisville area, all of which have launched a Business Service Division providing a full range of services, both free and fee-based, to employers, including:

• posting job openings from employers and refer-ring interested applicants via a Career Resources website and at the One-Stop Solution Centers. The Center reports a 77 percent increase in business clients and an 87 percent increase in job listings;
• prescreening resumes or applications against job requirements, as well as telephone screening, and coordinating other preemployment checks and testing;
• providing employers with resumes in up to 17 categories twice a month for agreed distribution periods up to one year; and
• conducting training workshops for employers on topics such as effective interview techniques, diversity awareness, sexual harassment, employment law, manager/supervisor skills, team leadership, and establishing performance management systems.

BEST PRACTICE IN ONE-STOP DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT:

Kenosha County Job Center

Kenosha, Wisconsin

The Kenosha County Job Center’s motto is Expect Success. It was cited for organizational excellence in service to clients in a customer-focused, convenient, and integrated way. The Center’s single location, occupying space within a former shopping mall, truly functions as a one-stop shop with the following outstanding components:

• Information Point provides a common reception area, information services, and waiting room.
• Employment Central, the “hub” for services to the job seeker and business community, offers a full range of self-service and staff-assisted resources and workshops.
• Specialized Services encompasses interagency teams assisting customers with unemployment benefits, food stamps and medical help.
• A Child’s Place provides drop-in child care services for parents using Center resources. Half-day Head Start programs are also offered here, as is full-day on-site child care for those recently returned to work.
• Training and Education Services provide an adult learning lab and computer skills learning lab on-site run by Gateway Technical College. In the labs, customers upgrade basic skills, receive GED/high school equivalency instruction, and learn basic computer applications.
• The Employer Relations Team provides employers with a single point of access to a wide range of services regarding recruitment, Internet resources, publications, and labor market information.

Certainly, these and the other One-Stop Career Centers are worthy of recognition for best practices in delivering services to put people to work and keep them there. Although each is unique and tailored to local circumstances, one underlying principle is common to all: Successful One-Stop Career Centers recognize the value of partnerships — with other service agencies, job seekers, employers and the community served.

The bottom line is, when you walk in the door of a One-Stop Career Center, it should be clear that those in need have entered a place where they may truly succeed in their search for the right employee, the right employer, and the right career.

Did you know?
Kids start working early. Half of 12-year-olds have some work experience, primarily yard work or baby sitting. Nearly four out of ten 15-year-olds hold a job with a regular employer sometime during the year, mostly in service, sales, or laborer jobs.

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