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Dianna Barron, an area business person bent on
establishing and improving workforce development, spoke to the
Belleville Rotary club Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2002, pushing for area
business leaders to challenge the new system and thereby enhance its
performance in these early stages. Barron spoke of workforce preparation
efforts aimed at concentrating the vast array of state and federal
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programs for the jobless into a clearing house for
businesses who can employ workers, by offering incentives such as less
hassle and one-stop shopping (so to speak) for qualified candidates.
One-stop being the buzz for the new agencies three locations, one each
in Alton, Belleville and East St. Louis. (Affiliate offices are located
in Granite City, Waterloo, Carlyle, Chester, Greenville, Glen Carbon and
Nashville, IL.) Where formerly reference was made to unemployment
offices, we now have one-stop opportunities for employers to come
together with employees for the purpose of marrying job needs to job
skills. Barron stresses that local businesses need not be shy about
trying this system whether the job need is once-in-five years or a
substantial hiring initiative.
Barron speaks calmly and expertly of the
Mississippi River Bridge which is supposed to be built some 12 years
from now. Will potential workers coming out of this area's high schools
have skills to work on the project? Or will they simply stand by and
watch workers trucked in from other parts of the U.S.? Barron raises a
crucial point: now is the time to prepare our youth for gainful
employment.
Locally organized, business-led boards are
encouraged by elected officials to make sure the workforce services
groups tailor area training in the right direction. Two boards of which
Barron's literature speaks are Mid America Workforce Investment Board,
serving St. Clair, Monroe, Washington, Randolph, and Clinton counties,
and Madison-Bond Workforce Investment Board, serving Madison and Bond
counties. The boards are said to relieve employee recruitment and
training woes by offering, free of charge, the following services:
- Identification of job candidates who match
specific skill sets
- Online talent bank and job postings
- Pre-screened applicant pool
- Job fairs
- Onsite interview rooms
- Customized testing of new and existing workers
- Customized training of new and existing workers
- Unemployment insurance tax advice
- Information on tax credits
In addition, Southwestern Illinois Workforce
Investment Boards offer corporate restructuring assistance to prevent
layoffs, assistance during downsizing or help in transitioning laid off
employees to new careers. More information can be accessed with a phone
call to Barron, chairperson, or the following support staff: Mid America
Workforce Investment Board, John Baricevic, chief elected official, Edie
Kock, staff 277-6790, ext. 3257. Or for Madison-Bond Workforce
Investment Board, chief elected official, Rudolph Papa, Chairperson,
John A. Fruit, staff is Bill Hanke at 692-8943.
by Mona
Taylor
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