Plumas Business & Career Network Welcomes a New Receptionist to the Team

We would also like to welcome April Lorenzo to AFWD’s Plumas team. April was hired as a frontline receptionist in May. She brings with her a variety of experience in customer service, having worked in the hospitality industry and in healthcare. Recently she worked locally as a Registered Dental Assistant before taking up her new position. April is enjoying this new experience and is keen to learn the various aspects of jobseeker and business services at the Business and Career Network in Quincy.

Submitted by Jan Prichard

 

 

One-Stop Business Services Team Assists Green Renewable Energy Business

Simple Fuels is a Northern California biodiesel producer, using locally sourced waste vegetable oil to create biodiesel fuel. The company is located in Sierra Valley near the town of Chilcoot, CA.

Simple Fuels is a member of the National Biodiesel Board and only sells biodiesel meeting the ASTM D6751 standard, and Biodiesel blends meeting both ASTM D6751 and ASTM D975 standards. They have Biodiesel available for delivery in Northern California and Northern Nevada.

Simple Fuels required assistance with growth management, marketing and sales and provision of staff training for new employees.
AFWD has provided the following assistance:

• Placement of a youth doing work experience in the summer of 2009
• Six months of On the Job Training for an employee hired as a wash technician in December 2010
• Six months of On the Job Training for an employee hired as a mechanic/plant technician in March 2011
• Five months of On the Job Training for an employee hired as an administrative assistant in May 2011
• Support with HR issues including California Labor Law questions
• In collaboration with Chabin Concepts, support from a marketing professional to expand the company’s client base
• Consultation on the RFP bidding process
• Registration with the Federal and State Government for bidding purposes

With the support of AFWD Simple Fuels has:
• Expanded its market throughout Northern California and Northern Nevada
• Increased its list of grease suppliers
• Through the OJT program Simple Fuels has been able to train three new employees to the specific needs of the company

This has also allowed the company to grow, resulting in the hire of a further four new employees.

James Lutch, President of Simple Fuels, has reported that through the OJT program he has been released from tasks that his employees can now perform. They have taken over much of the daily operation and maintenance of the plant thus releasing him to concentrate on developing and expanding the business. He has had the necessary time to increase the company’s client base and grease suppliers due to the success of this training program. He is quoted as saying that, “With the help of AFWD I now have a workforce of 8 employees compared to just myself at the beginning of the OJT program”.

AFWD looks forward to supporting Simple Fuels with its business needs in the future and continuing to work with the OJT employees on their current training plans.

Submitted by Jan Prichard

Northern California's Propane Conversion & Installation Training Program

Alliance for Workforce Development, Inc. attended an event at Transfer Flow, Inc. in Chico, CA on May 26th which launched Northern California’s Propane Conversion and Installation Training Program. The event was a huge success. Transfer Flow is a high-tech, modern manufacturing company which has operated in Butte County for the past twenty-seven years. With many experienced staff and new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, they specialize in fuel system conversions and auxiliary fuel tanks for RV’s, vans and fleet vehicles.

Transfer Flow has partnered with NoRTEC, Alliance for Workforce Development, Inc., California Employment Development Department and California Energy Commission’s Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technologies Program (ARFVTP) to provide this program. Presenters at the event included Roush, Ferrelgas, Calstart, Knapheide, Union Leasing, Butte County’s Chief Administrative Officer, Paul Hahn, and Ben Winter, Transfer Flow’s Project Manager.

Training programs will begin in June and July for businesses and individuals to gain hands on experience and training to complete propane conversions and fuel tank retrofits. The benefits of liquid propane as opposed to gasoline include reduced emissions to the environment and costs savings to the consumer or business. The training is certified by the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium.

HR Representatives at the Business and Career Network in Plumas County have begun contacting local businesses and individuals to promote this training opportunity. We are pleased to be part of this exciting program and will follow up with further information in later CC Reports.

First Photo features Brent Cunningham and Sue Vivilaqua from AFWD in front of the Transfer Flo Van

Submitted by: Brent Cunningham and Sue Vivilaqua

Sprouting Roots of Portola Sprouts a New Employee

 

From April 4th to June 24th 2011, Sprouting Roots Community Market in Portola took part in the On-The-Job Training Program offered by Alliance for Workforce Development, Inc. Owner and operator April Scheuchenzuber decided that her business would best benefit from this program by utilizing the OJT time to upgrade the skills and responsibilities of her employee, Joni Courtois. Over the timeframe for this program, April was able to put Joni to work for more hours each week and used that time to teach her the skills and knowledge necessary to effectively operate the store at all levels from tending the cash register to management of the premises during times when April was performing other duties offsite. April stated that, “Due to the increased hours that I was able to have Joni work, and due to the wider range of skills I was able to train her on during this extra time, I now have a more complete employee with a broad and versatile range of capabilities…none of this would have been possible without the OJT program.”

Pictured above from Left to Right: Joni Courtois and April Scheuchenzuber

Submitted by: Brendan Norris

Success at the 15th Annual Quincy Job Fair!

The 15th Annual Quincy Job Fair, held this year on April 12 at the Feather River College gymnasium was sponsored by the Workforce Development Team, consisting of the Alliance for Workforce Development, Plumas Unified School District and Feather River College.
This year’s Quincy Job Fair featured 11 businesses and public entities that were visited by over 70 jobseekers. The businesses interviewed potential candidates for job openings and were able to collect resumes and applications from several candidates who were suitable for the positions that were available. Representatives from Feather River College were pleased with the response to their Outreach Program and their recruitment for upcoming classes. Local jobs were also advertised on the job board at the table hosted by the Alliance for Workforce Development, Inc. (AFWD) which attracted many of the jobseekers.

 

Submitted by: Brendan Norris

Fifteenth Annual Chester Job Fair

The 2011 Job Fair in Chester was held on April 11th and was well attended by job seeker and employers. Chester was the first of the three job fairs this year. With 11 employers attending, job seekers showed up with resumes ready to interview for potential employment. Several employers held on the spot interviews and felt that they had found good matches for the positions they were hiring for. AFWD Team members received several compliments from job seekers and employers making the event worthwhile.

Submitted by: Tina Stetler

 

Plumas County One-Stop Presents Update to County Board of Supervisors

On April 19th, 2011, Traci Holt, Executive Director for the Alliance for Workforce Development, Inc. presented the bi-annual update of county services to the Plumas County Board of Supervisors. The position paper went over jobseeker services, business services and special projects that the staff at the one-stop center had completed.

 

 

 

Technical Assistance Workshops for Small Business

During the months of May and June 2011the Alliance for Workforce Development (AFWD) brought a series of three well attended workshops to Plumas County aimed at helping entrepreneurs and small business operators. The three informative workshops were designed to reinforce each other in covering topics central to starting or operating a small business. The topics for the three workshops were selected by polling the nearly one hundred “trainees” who had participated in AFWD’s highly successful and informative Business Boot Camps conducted by the Sierra Economic Development Corporation (SEDCorp) in 2009. AFWD brought back SEDCorp to conduct the new workshop series. A full seven-hour day was devoted to each workshop subject and lunch was provided to the participants so as to minimize distraction or the need to go off-site. Each day included instruction, practical exercises and direct feedback on the applicability of the course material to the students’ own businesses.

The first of the three workshops on May 10th addressed Marketing Plan Development. Brent Smith of SEDCorp, and Panda Morgan of the Small Business Development Center, revisited the elements of the analyses that determine the feasibility of any business idea – the business’ purpose, mission, core values and limitations, its financial feasibility and the analysis of the market – and used those elements to identify the features and benefits of the goods or services being offered. Those features and benefits were woven into a Unique Sales Proposition (USP) that became the core of the marketing plan, included in the owner’s “elevator pitch” and all of its marketing efforts. The workshop looked at the concept of branding and how a consistent message must be maintained throughout the company’s branding efforts.

The workshop examined the wide array of media available for marketing and helped the students evaluate the suitability of each means to getting out their message. All of this was be pulled together into a Marketing Plan that covered the deployment of resources over a scheduled period for the purpose of making the business’ goods or services known to its intended customer base. The twenty-one attendees left with a wealth of information and knowledge to assist their own businesses.

Brent and Panda returned to Plumas County on May 24th to deliver the second of the three workshops to address Business Planning and Financing. Knowing that the development of a comprehensive and usable business plan is one of the greatest obstacles to starting a business, this workshop worked its way through a business plan template in a logical and self-supportive fashion. It started with the documentation of the important assumptions needed to make projections about the expected success and growth of the new company, its sales, expenses and cash flow thus leading those financial analyses. The instructors proceeded to cover the non-quantitative elements of the business plan including the descriptions of the results of the students’ market analyses, the management of their companies, their operations, their marketing strategies, and the future products and services on their growth horizons. Each part of the instruction was supported with templates that the students could tailor to the specifics of their own business. As for the first workshop, instruction was coupled with practical exercises to reinforce the information being taught, and the students were able to discuss the instruction materials with the instructors in the context of their own business circumstances. Reinforcing the maxim that money follows good ideas, the instruction concluded with a discussion of at least twenty different sources of potential business funding and the appropriateness of each to the needs of each business owner or entrepreneur. This workshop was attended by twenty individuals who received information that could be related directly to their own specific businesses.

The final workshop, on June 28th, addressed one of the imperatives of modern business, Internet Marketing. Brent Smith introduced Coryon Redd as the trainer for this final workshop. The instruction developed the concept of Search Engine Marketing (SEM), integrating Search Engine Optimization (SEO) into the process of web site design using the search engines’ own tools. Coryon showed how to use those search engine tools to also research the competitors in the market and incorporate the results into an on-line marketing blueprint. Students were walked through the process of link-building to increase the strength of their sites. The instruction also clarified a whole new lexicon of terms in the Internet marketing language that are important to Internet marketing success. It covered a plethora of Internet sites and services that can be a boon or a disaster for a business’ web presence. Social media marketing was addressed as a compliment to, or the primary means, of having a web presence. As for the first two workshops, there were numerous practical exercises and continuous opportunities to apply the instruction to the context of the students’ own businesses. The twenty-three attendees were impressed with Coryon’s in-depth knowledge of this topic and the information that he imparted.

This series of Technical Assistance Workshops for entrepreneurs and small business operators was a great success. Comments from Plumas County businesses included the following remarks:

“A ton of information and a great overview. Lots of work ahead!”
“Excellent workshops –thank you so much!”
“Fantastic workshop – I learned a lot!”
“Thank you – very informative. Thanks for taking the time during the break to answer my questions.”
“This complete workshop has given me many tools to grow my business.”
“Excellent presentation. Very useful information. Presenters really know their subject.”

 

Plumas County Job Seeker Success Story

Jonathan came to us for assistance shortly after being laid off from Sierra Pacific Industries in Quincy, CA where he worked as a Millwright for 4 years. Jon had previously worked as a Lube Technician and a Glass Glazier since leaving his previous job as a Millwright in Vallejo many years before
Jonathan had been job searching the local area, but due to local economic conditions and a limited opportunity for the type of work he was seeking, had been unable to obtain gainful employment. Jon was considering moving to Washington to go to work and leaving his family here where their home is. After speaking with him about what he was looking for and what he really wanted, we discovered he really didn’t want to leave the area for work, but was willing to do whatever it took to take care of his family.

Over the course of a few months, we assisted Jon in updating his resume. We also discussed interview skills and techniques in great detail; we spent time working on application skills as well. Sometimes just being available for Jon when the job search got tough was the greatest asset we provided him. We referred him to several jobs both in and out of area. Eventually we received a listing for Maintenance Aides for the Plumas Eureka State Park near Graeagle. We assisted in putting together his application packet. It took a couple of months to hear back, but eventually Jon received a call for an interview with the California State Parks. Jon was particularly excited about this opportunity and again we brushed up on interviewing skills before his appointment.

Currently Jon is working as a Crew Supervisor for the Plumas Eureka State Park. He says that he is the oldest man on the crew, but he enjoys it. Although the job is physically demanding, Jon is very happy to be working outdoors, doing something he loves, and it allowed him to remain close to home.

Submitted by: Amy Jewell