Workforce Alliance Strives to Build a Necessary Job Resource for Teens

Get a job. It could be seen as a common phrase in America, with a negative connotation.

However, to the staff and members of Workforce Alliance it meant a moment of opportunity.Whether they were looking for a long term career or just getting back into the swing of the job market, residents of Wichita arrived at the Workforce Alliance job fair July 9 to be interviewed. The job fair was filled with diverse career booths and staff to answer questions or discuss opportunities. John Grant, workforce professional, was standing at the Workforce Alliance booth, already chatting with a prospective career opportunist.

“I work in the youth program,” Grant began. “For me [Workforce Alliance] it’s a needed resource for a lot of people in regards to employment and education. The big thing in my program is the education piece.”

Workforce Alliance can be seen as a search engine for job seeking. They do all the heavy lifting for job searchers struggling to find employment.

“It’s a resource for job seekers and businesses. It’s a free resource for both,” business team manager George Marko said.

“Since we have a dual customer approach our career services team actually works with job seekers to prepare them for jobs with resources,” he said. “We have a multitude of workshops that they can take advantage of.”

Workforce provides people with the necessary tools to search for a job and build a resume, like computers and printers. They also narrow down the job search through a site called Kansasworks.

“We post jobs to that in order for them to be able to search for jobs. It also extracts jobs from other sites and helps them consolidate that information and put it in one place,” Marko said.

Aside from helping individuals search for jobs, Workforce teaches them interview skills and resume building techniques through workshops or one on one sessions. In addition to helping adults, Workforce also targets teens and young adults.

“There’s a lot of kids who don’t have the resources or know how to get into school, so it’s very important for us to be there to fill that need,” Grant said.

Workforce Alliance reaches out to low-income teens aged 14-21, to help them overcome obstacles that keep them from obtaining an education or career.

“There’s an integration with our business team to help with the experience piece of that,” Marko said.

From gaining job experience to assisting with education completion, Workforce customizes their program for each student.

“It’s never the same for one person. It’s completely tailored to where that person is in that particular moment, and we can map them out as we go,” Grant said.

The Workforce Youth program offers teens with internships and work experience to help get where they want to be.

“A big part of what we do is offer training dollars. We have a demand occupation list that’s geared towards the need of our local community, and there are programs that we can pay for,” Grant said. Some of the programs included manufacturing, IT, and healthcare.

Workforce can pay for two years of educational training along with other educational opportunities. If a teen is looking to pursue a bachelor’s degree they have ways to help achieve that goal.

“If somebody is wanting a bachelor’s degree, we can look at scholarships and Pell grants that cover the first two years and then maybe we can come in and pay for that bigger part,” Grant said.

Education was the core for the youth program.

“The education piece is the foundation for the employment piece that we liked to do secondary,” Grant said. “After we’ve done some career exploration and figured out what this person is specifically interested in, I then try to find them an employer to give that student a working experience.”

Workforce covers 320 intern hours at minimum wage (7.25/hour).

“They can use that experience to kind of beef up their resume,” Grant said.

He said that teens’ work experience was the biggest issue on their resumes.

“That’s the biggest Achilles heel with their resume. There’s no actual work experience,” Grant said.

Although community service and volunteering were also impressive resume qualities, Grant believed having concrete work experience provided a stronger impression.

“We are mentoring, we are helping them, we are giving them a sense of direction– maybe even a sense of hope in some cases. We’ve had some students that want to be an artist but have no idea what it would take to do that. We are able to offer that direction and that support.”

Workforce makes sure they can also help teens in other ways relating to education and careers.

“There’s some things that we can’t pay for in regards to training dollars, but we can still offer supportive services,” Grant said. “If they’re needing help with transportation, mile reimbursements, or a bus pass, we ensure that they have transportation to get places.”

Marko understood the difficulties of job searching and reminded teens and adults to be optimistic.

“When you’re searching for a job, you might be without one, and you could view it as a full-time job in itself,” Marko said. “You gotta keep plugging away at it.”

Grant said similarly to stick with it.

“It’s so easy to be deterred,” Grant said. “Be persistent and be positive. Surround yourself with people who support you. Sometimes we find that in family, sometimes in friends, and sometimes in the community.”

If you’re a teen looking for an education or career opportunity contact Stacy Cotten, youth program supervisor, or John Grant. For more information visit workforce-ks.com. To find a list of upcoming job fairs Workforce Alliance is hosting check out this post!