Employment Connection Takes
Away Headaches

Tulare - The Employment Connection, the one-stop jobs and training center at 115 East Tulare Ave. in downtown Tulare, is becoming known as a friend not only to job seekers but to employers as well.

“They are fantastic,” said Lionel Pires, owner of TF Tire and Service, which has locations in Tulare and other Valley communities. “They take all of the headaches away from you.”

The job center, supported by the Tulare County Workforce Investment Board (WIB), will accept and screen applications and in certain cases pay up to 50 percent of the wages for up to six months for a new employee receiving on-the-job training, Pires and Employment Connection officials said.

Eager to let job seekers and employers know about the host of services it offers, Employment Connection is hosting an open house and ribbon cutting from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday. Self-guided tours will be available, as well as refreshments.

An array of agencies are represented in the Tulare office, including the California Employment Development Department, WIB's Youth Development Department, Turning Point, the Tulare County Office of Education's Services for Education and Employment (SEE) and Community Services Employment and Training (C-SET), which oversees the one-stop center.

The agencies interact with each other in an effort to meet specific needs of job seekers and employers. The SEE office, for example, is there to help people with disabilities, Turning Point works with ex-offenders looking for work, Youth Development works with those between the ages of 16 and 21 and a welfare-to-work program helps people on public assistance, Employment Connection supervisor Kathleena Keovilay said.

The center will welcome a new partner soon when the U.S. Census begins recruiting census takers, Keovilay said.

Employment Connection also works with the Tulare Adult School, College of the Sequoias and other schools where clients can complete short term – three to six months – vocational training courses or, as is the case of licensed vocational nursing, longer programs.

In a recent success story, a young man who was sent to COS to take a short-term solar installation class was in a job in Fresno, Keovilay said.

The jobs center can help not only people who are unemployment and looking for work, but people who have jobs but need training to obtain a better one, she said.
Career coaches will work “side-by-side” with both types of clients at computers, helping them to research the types of jobs available and what might suit them best, she said.

Employment Testing

The Tulare Adult School offers Work Keys Assessment Testing on the site, which helps determine whether a job applicant can read and compute mathematical equations well enough to perform a specific job.

“A lot of employers actually require them to take this test before employing them,” said Gail Johnson, C-SET senior program coordinator for the welfare to work programs in Tulare and Porterville.

In addition to receiving resumes and pre-screening applicants, the Employment Center can also conduct interviews at its site for employers who request that service.
To qualify for reimbursement for on-the-job training, employers must pay at least $9 an hour and fall within certain job categories that are in high demand in Tulare County, Johnson said.

This would exclude construction work, fast food, cashiering and other entry-level types of jobs, she said.

Newly hired employees who meet certain income criteria also can receive help in purchasing clothing and tools required for their jobs, she said.

Income guidelines for this and other types of assistance can vary from program to program and in some cases – such as a layoff situation – might not apply at all, she said.

The Employment Connection office also is open to members of the general public who do not want job counseling, training or other assistance, but who just want to know what jobs are available, Johnson said.

They can walk into the office, go to a table, where job leads are displayed and then use a computer to fill out and file applications, she said.

In addition to job-related services, C-SET also offers other types of programs out of Employment Connection, including Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, which provides free income tax return preparation and electronic filing for families with an annual income below $42,000.

For information about this and any other service provided at the center: 684-1987.

The above story is the property of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.