Area career centers recognized for services

The Springfield and Branson offices work in Dallas, Polk, Greene, Christian, Webster, Stone and Taney counties.

Jaydean Miller, work force development supervisor for the Missouri Career Center in Springfield, said that the recognition was a result of the region’s annual review Feb. 22–27 by the statewide Continuous Improvement Team.

The review was conducted in late February, and the results were shared with the Springfield and Branson offices in March, she said.

Each region is reviewed to identify policies and procedures that are identified as “best practices.” Best practices are then shared with personnel in the state’s 14 regions.

The Springfield and Branson offices’ were recognized for 18 best practices, including the follow-up process after businesses list job openings, hosting career morning events introducing job seekers to businesses, development of a local partner services guide to use as a reference for staff, innovative staff training, follow-up newsletters and an on-the-job training.

“(The review) ensures to our staff that we’re on the right track to providing good service to our customers,” Miller said.

Those services include helping individual job seekers find employment, helping businesses find workers, and providing services to workers when businesses close, such as Sweetheart Cup and Fasco.

$25,000 award

The Ozark Region also was recognized by the Division of Workforce Development in July with a $25,000 award for developing the best business services plan in the state.

The money was used to design and dedicate a business center for employers’

interview, Internet access and business needs.

The business center, Miller said, has enabled the Ozark region to assist area employers with their business needs, at no charge. Bandana’s Bar-B-Q, she said, is one of the most recent businesses to utilize the service.

“They were able to come here and do all of their interviewing at our office,” Miller said.

“We put the job order out on the Internet, so they were able to continue working on the hiring processing while the store was being built.”

The Springfield Career Center, 1514 S. Glenstone Ave., has 76 full-time and eight part-time staff.

The Branson Career Center, 2720 Shepherd of the Hills Expressway, Ste. D-3, has six full-time staff.

[[In-content Ad]]