Resources abound for valley job seekers
by JOEL GALLOB - Ravalli Republic
Part II: Response by the Job Service
There are a variety of resources for the newly unemployed in Ravalli County, offered by the Bitterroot Job Service and Workforce Center in Hamilton.
They range from classes in taking an interview to funding support for up to two years worth of on-the-job-training, among other programs.
“The pulse is uncertain at this point; usually by now, in summer, we’ve come through a busy period. It picks up in March, and we get a lot of job orders. But we have about 100 less job orders for this time of year than is normal,” said Patty Furniss, director of the Job Service center.
Still, the huge bulletin board at the Job Service office has several dozen cards describing local job openings posted on it.
Even in down times, economic activity still happens. Hollywood was born and grew up in the Great Depression, as millions found that for two bits they could take their minds of their woes while watching a movie or two, shorts and a newsreel.
Between the national and local meltdowns in the housing and mortgage sectors and the ever-rising cost of gas - and with it everything else - many Ravalli County businesses have slowed down and are not hiring new workers. Others have let go employees, with the county having lost 118 jobs from Jan. 1 through May.
Nonetheless, the numerous jobs posted in the Job Service office range from unskilled to highly skilled, from ranch hands to office to health care jobs. The jobs are there, though there are fewer of them. And more people who may want them.
And many in Ravalli County may not know about them, or are not able to compete for some of those available jobs. This is where the Job Service office comes in, explains Furniss.
“We’ve been busy talking with employers,” said Furniss. “We are setting up soft skills workshops for job seekers.”
DeLynn Gardner and Vickie Steele, both with the Job Service, have created a program to help workers better meet the needs of local employers.
It includes, said Furniss, instruction on business communications, working in teams in a business context, offering good customer service and training in work ethics. Some may seem like basic skills, but local employers say more than a few job candidates need to learn these things.
The 12-hour class is oriented at job seekers of all different backgrounds and includes time with a panel of employers who talk about what they want in employees.
“When businesses are not busy hiring, we are spending our time working with the job seekers. We are refocusing our services” to meet the current downturn, said Furniss.
The office also provides interest/aptitude testing that can identify possible new careers as well as reinforce existing choices. There are classes on how to handle a job interview and how to conduct a job search.
And the newly unemployed can sign up for unemployment compensation at the office at 333 W. Main St.
Furniss urges both laid-off employees and employers who need workers or who are laying off employees, to contact her office. Employers can learn what services her office may offer their soon-to-be-former workers; and those workers can see what jobs they might apply for, what classes the Job Service might offer or help with, and what other services might be useful to them.
“We want to help businesses and laid-off workers; it’s scary to lose a job,” said Furniss.
And many employers are concerned about their workers, and if they have to lay people off, want to help, she added.
The office receives funds through the federal Workforce Investment Act, under which they offer various training programs for employees and employment incentives to businesses. These come under two different headings, even though the programs are the same. One is a broad adult worker program open to any adult. The other set of programs comes under the more targeted federal “dislocated worker” program, which seeks to help individuals laid off from their job.
Under both headings, the office provides classroom training (for up to two years) in coordination with the University of Montana-Missoula College of Technology; On-the-Job Training (which reimburses employers for half a new worker’s salary for a specified time); and work experience training (where the office places the worker with the business and pays the full wage while the worker gains experience). In this last program, the worker is not actually hired by the employer, which places less of a burden on the business.
The Job Service phone number is 363-1822.
Reporter Joel Gallob can be reached at jgallob@ravallirepublic.com or at 363-3300
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