Meeting the Needs of Our New Customers

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Meeting the Needs of Our New Customers

• Overcoming Barriers to Employment

Partner for Success Fall 2011
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• The economic downturn beginning in 2008 placed
  additional pressures on our Employers, Job
  Seekers and Career Centers alike. Many of our
  customers have multiple barriers to overcome that
  still exist today. This presentation details some
  of the common issues we are seeing and how we
  are working together to help the job seeker
  achieve their goal of employment and ultimately,
  success.

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• Challenges to our job seeking customers today
  fall into these categories
• Age
• Lack of Experience
• Educational Barriers
• Criminal History
• Economic Disadvantaged and Homeless
• Specific challenges Veterans face
• Limited English skills
• Disabilities
• Long-term unemployment

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The Older Worker

• Often lack some of the employability skills for
  todays workforce, such as familiarity with
  computers technology
• May expect or require a higher salary,
  commensurate with their experience

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Serving the Older Worker

• Title V, Older Americans Act (Senior Community
  Service Employment Program)
• Adult Education and other education centers
  provide resources to help improve basic
  educational skills and computer training
• Workforce Investment and other workforce partners
  assist with training options and referrals to
  older worker programs
• Resume writing and Job search workshops

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The Recent Graduate

• May have a more difficult time finding employment
  in today's economy due to lack of work history
• Competing upon entry into the workforce with
  their more experienced counterparts for the same
  positions

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Serving the Recent Graduate

• Apprenticeship program
• Work with local colleges and Universities to
  refer the recent graduates to internships,
  co-ops, work-studies, and other opportunities
• Encourage volunteerism in their field and
  community to build networks and gain experience
  (Industry Partnerships)

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Individuals lacking credentials/ education

• Lack of a High School Diploma or GED hinders
  opportunities
• Statistics support those with a bachelor's
  degree earned more than twice as much as those
  without a high school diploma or its equivalent
• Unemployment is lowest among individuals with a
  Bachelors Degree or higher

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Serving those lacking credentials

• Referrals to KY Adult Education for GED.
• Referrals to training partners for skill upgrade
• Outreach to High School students addressing the
  importance of staying in school, furthering
  education and soft skills development
• Promote career pathways and encourage education
  and skills development.
• Accelerating Opportunity

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Individuals with a Criminal History

• Customers who have a criminal history face
  barrier to employment/ This includes
  misdemeanors and minor violations. Those with
  felony convictions have an even greater obstacle
  to overcome.

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Serving those with a Criminal History

• Promote the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC)
  program as an incentive
• Refer to Workforce Investment Re-entry Specialist
  and Job Counselors
• Outreach to partners such as Goodwill Industries
  and Re-entry Councils that promote opportunities
  to ex-offenders

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Economically Disadvantaged and Homeless

• Common Barriers
• -Transportation
• -Stable contact information (housing, phone,
  email)
• -Identification
• -Interview attire
• -Lack of child care

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Serving the Homeless Population

• Work with local homeless shelters to provide job
  skills workshops to the residents
• Knowing the resources in your area and working
  with consortiums and partners on grant
  opportunities to provide additional services
• Referrals to other partner agencies to provide
  assistance such as Workforce Investment, Low
  Income Heating assistance Program, Department for
  Community Based Services, KY Housing, Community
  Action, KY prescription assistance program,
  Churches, Food Banks, etc

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Recently Separated Veterans

• Barriers to employment
• - Transition to private sector jobs
• - Lack of jobs available
• - Mental or physical disabilities attributed to
  service

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Serving the Recently Separated Veteran

• Maintaining Priority of Service
• Train front line staff to know how to identify as
  recently separated veteran
• Understanding the program and availability of
  services for the recently separated services and
  how to access the services
• Referrals to appropriate agency
• Provide self service access and training  for
  service (FOCUS CAREER) and job leads
• Outreach to National Guard Units, Prison and
  Homeless shelters
• Transition Assistance Program

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The Long Term Unemployed

• Those with an employment gap of greater than 8
  weeks face additional challenges
• Employers view long term unemployment as a
  negative factor when consideration for hiring
• Depreciation of skills over time
• Decreasing motivation/Increasing frustration

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Serving the Long Term Unemployed

• Training during the gap
• Workshops to enhance Job seeking skills
  (resume/interview/etc)
• Be cheerleaders for our customers always
  encouraging them and offering motivational
  support
• Volunteers opportunities and networking to keep
  up contacts and skills
• Job placement services and resources help them
  find the work they need

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Limited English Proficiency

• Individuals who do not speak English as their
  primary language and who have a limited ability
  to read, speak, write, or understand English can
  be limited English proficient, or "LEP.
• These individuals face significant barriers to
  employment

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Serving the LEP Customer

• Utilize a LEP contact list that identifies all
  translators and bilingual staff in our agency
• Translation/Interpretation services available
• Claim filing and UI pamphlets available in
  Spanish

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Individuals with Disabilities or Visual Impairment

• These are some of the barriers that we commonly
  face serving this customer
• Lack of reliable transportation
• No work experience or poor and sporadic work
  history
• Onset of a disability while employed
• Perceived inability to obtain a formal education
  i.e. GED or high school diploma
• Employers Perception of the disability

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• Communication barriers  Hearing impairment,
  speech impediment or other barrier such as
  Tourettes Disorder
• Hidden Disabilities  Consumers coming into the
  Career Center may have hidden disabilities such
  as intellectual disabilities, mental illness,
  diabetes, MS in early stages
• Barriers that come when employers are not trained
  educated about the Americans With Disabilities
  Act and also when consumers do not know their
  rights

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Serving Individuals who have Disabilities

• Work with customer to encourage partnering with
  other employees so that they may carpool if
  possible
• Provide services such as biotic driving to
  individuals who qualify to help regain their
  independence in traveling to and from work
• Orientation and Mobility training
• Work assessments to see what barriers cause the
  employee to lose jobs. Work toward preventing
  future occurrence
• When disability occurs while on the job Skills
  assessment to look at current abilities
• Provide assistive devices
• Intensive job search activities
• Educate employers on the services we provide and
  to try to alleviate fears or apprehensions
  employers may have in hiring employees that are
  disabled or visually impaired

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Discussion

• Is the way we are serving our job seekers
  effective?
• Are there things we can do to enhance and
  integrate service delivery?
• Lets Talk!

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Challenges Employers Face

• Inexperienced Workforce
• Under educated Workforce
• Generational Differences Generation X, Y, and Z
  the usage of technology and social media
• Drug usage
• Criminal History

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Addressing the Issues Employers are Facing

• On- the-Job Training programs/ Apprentice-ships
• Educational programs (Adult Ed/KCTC)
• Generational differences training
• Show customers the perils of drug usage during
  orientation classes and other media
• Provide resources on expungement options and
  legal aid assistance
• Provide up-to-date information about our programs
  to the employer (WOTC, etc)

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Discussion

• Is the way we are serving our employers
  effective?
• Are there things we can do to enhance and
  integrate business service delivery?
• Lets Talk!