 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
         |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| navigate: home: magazine: fall 2000: article | |
|
Penn State Fayette helps job seekers and employers with CareerLink center By Ellen P. James | ||||||
|
Team Pennsylvania CareerLink, an innovative system to deliver employment and training services in the Commonwealth, has set up shop in Uniontown, Pa., in partnership with Penn State Fayette. CareerLink represents an ambitious restructuring of the delivery system for state workforce development services. The system links education, training, economic and workforce development efforts to provide a quality workforce in Pennsylvania. Partners in the new CareerLink system are public and private agencies, organizations, colleges and universities that specifically provide education, training and employment or support services to job seekers and employers. Such services include resume building, occupational skills training at the Fayette campus, job listing and referral services and career and occupational information. The newly created Fayette County location is not only a job center, but also another step toward providing a seamless delivery system by integrating systems and coordinating services for job seekers and employees. “CareerLink has been a huge help to job seekers and employers,” Sean Sypolt, site manager and one of the founders of CareerLink at Fayette, said. “At the center, we have 14 different agencies, allowing for access to any job-related needs people may have.” Housed in a former unemployment office, the center is tackling employment challenges in new and innovative ways. “There was always the problem of finding employment for people located in rural settings due to limited access to job placement programs,” said Melissa Battaglini, business education partnership coordinator for Continuing Education at Fayette campus and co-founder of CareerLink at Fayette. “We have now implemented an initiative in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Rural On-line Program that has our representatives taking six laptops out to 14 different rural locations throughout Fayette County. They can just plug them in, and the people are able to access all the programs and software available at our Uniontown location. You could say we have people on-line and not in line.” In addition to providing on-site job counseling services for underemployed, unemployed and paraprofessionals, the center is expanding ways to help transportation difficulties for job searchers. Extending career services beyond the job hunt, the center offers help in finding daycare for working families. CareerLink also offers services for employers, providing access to resumes, labor market information and recruitment assistance. The center will even arrange additional interviewing space and applicant screening and testing for available company jobs. “With Penn State as a partner with CareerLink, it allows us to have a larger foothold in offering a variety of services to those looking for jobs and those who have jobs to fill,” Sypolt said. “The goals of the Continuing Education and Outreach office at Penn State Fayette include taking the resources of the Fayette campus and joining with businesses and industries to develop workforce initiatives,” Joseph Segilia, director of Continuing Education, said. Residents who take advantage of the training programs at Fayette campus also have additional opportunities to begin higher education programs at the campus. “We’re just pleased to be part of an initiative that furthers the growth of Fayette County,” Segilia said. | |||||
| ||||||
© 2002 Outreach Communications, Outreach & Cooperative Extension, The Pennsylvania State University phone: (814) 865-8108, fax: (814) 863-2765, e-mail: outreachnews@outreach.psu.edu |
||||||
