Janis R. Trueblood

AFWD Manager of One-Stop Operations & Employer Services

Community Coordinator - Plumas County

Quarterly Community Coordination Report

January - March 2001

 

Center Events and Accomplishments

Representatives from the Carpenter's and Laborer's Union spoke to interested job seekers about opportunities for employment in the North State.

 The Workforce Development Team of the Employment & Training Center worked collaboratively on the 5th Annual Seasonal Job Fair. On March 27 & 28, employers and job seekers convened at the Chester Memorial Hall and the Graeagle Community Center to meet their seasonal hiring needs.  "Every year the Job Fair gets bigger and better", stated Plumas County Board of Supervisor Don Clark.  "This is an impressive event that really shows the work that you do at the Employment & Training Center".  

Each day started at 10:30 am with business seminars in the three topic areas of "Labor Law Update", "Work Opportunity Tax Credits (WOTC)", and "Train to Retain Good Employees." 
At the conclusion of the Seminars at 2:00pm, the locations were re-arranged to accommodate the Job Fair which occurred from 3:00 - 5:30.  Seventy seven employers (33 in Lake Almanor, 44 in Graeagle) and approximately 230 job seekers (106 in Lake Almanor and 124 in Graeagle) participated in this years job fair.  Employer attendance was up with job seeker attendance on the decline.
Customer satisfaction statistics were gathered from employers with the following results:

1. How did you hear about the Job Fair?

  • EDD/ETC - 16
  • Radio/Newspaper - 10
  • Word of Mouth - 5
  • Returnees - 2

2. On a scale of 1-5 (5 being excellent), please rate the presentations:

  • Labor Law Update (5)-16,(4)-9,(3)-2,(2)-1,(1)-0
  • WOTC (5)-9,(4)-11,(3)-6,(2)-1,(1)-0
  • Train to Retain (5)-20,(4)-4,(3)-2,(2)-1,(1)-0

Linda Smith with the SBDC presents on "Train to Retain You Good Employees" .
3. Other Seminar Topics of Interest
  • More on Training Employers, Safety Tips & Demos, How to Interview, Marketing/Business Management (5), OJT (2), Hiring and Termination Policies, Tax Laws, Restaurant Management, More on Labor Laws, Theft Control (2).
4.  How do you feel the event was organized?
  • Very Well - 18
  • Great - 5
  • Good - 6
  • Well - 4

5. How many applicants did you interview?

  • Lake Almanor - 322
  • Graeagle - 280
  • Total - 602

6.  Will you hire any of the applicants? All Employers replied "Yes".

7.   If so, how many?

  • Lake Almanor - 33 hires, 17 maybe hires
  • Graeagle - 84 hires, 28 maybe hires

Rob Hart of Little Norway Resort interviews a potential candidate at the Lake Almanor Job Fair.  Rob stated "The two young men I hired last year worked out extremely well, the Job Fair is very helpful in meeting my seasonal hiring needs".
8.  Suggestions for Improvement:
  • Longer interview time, Limit to 2 hours, Streamline applicants, Separate companies offering similar benefits.

9.  Comments:

  • Great speakers, Gets  better every year, Great asset to community, Very helpful, Great food, Very well organized, Good quality applicants, Fun and very informative, Very well done, Get more contractors involved, Beneficial to both employer and employees, Keep up on the labor laws, Give earlier notice of job fair dates, Move back to Graeagle Fire Hall.
This year during the Lake Almanor Job Fair, we had the pleasure of the Plumas-Sierra Regional Occupational Program "Cooking on the Lake Culinary Arts Class" providing the catering of lunch.  It was superb and supported the collaborative efforts of the Employment & Training Center.

Job Seekers attending this year were given customer satisfaction surveys as well.  Ed Hershey, Veterans Student Representative with the Employment Development Department provided this PowerPoint presentation summarizing the statistics gathered.  Click here: Job Seeker Statistics

 
In late January, the Rural Conference 2001 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho was held.  Lassen Community Coordinator DeeAnn Hunter, Program Manager Nancy Gregg, and I presented at this year's event on two areas of interest:  "WIA Customer Flow That Works in Rural Areas" and "Marketing and Partnering to Meet the Business Customer's Needs".  Nancy highlighted the customer flow being used in the tri-county One-Stop Employment Centers from Self-Service to Follow-Up.  DeeAnn and I presented on the "cool" things we do with and for employers through our partnerships with local economic development, the Small Business Development Center, and partner agencies.  It was nice to see other presenters from throughout NoRTEC as well.

Nancy Gregg, AFWD Program Manager offers information to interested workshop participants on Job Seeker Customer Flow through the One-Stop

 
The Conference allowed agencies the opportunity to set up a display during the Resource Reception held the first evening.  AFWD took advantage of the opportunity to promote their Center's and activities.  

 

To the left are Community Coordinators Janis Trueblood (Plumas) and Kelley Poindexter (Modoc) at  the AFWD Rural Conference display table.
February 4, 2001 was the date of the Plumas County Office of Education's  3rd Annual Academic Decathlon.  Youth from all four Plumas County High Schools compete in this all day event going through rigorous testing, written essay, speech and interviewing competitions.  For the third year, I was asked to participate as an interview judge and every year I become more impressed with the young adults who participate.  They are poised, intelligent, and focused on the future.  Congratulations to Chester High School for winning this year's competition and good luck to them in  the Regional competition.

 

Rapid Response
As of February 21, 2001, the Sierra Pacific Industries Mill in Loyalton ceased it's mill operations leaving 127 individuals laid off in a town of 1,200.  There are  53 individuals still working in the Co-Generation Plant, Lumber Yard, and Trucking operations with an anticipated lay off in the future.  Of those 127 laid off, 33 reside in Plumas County, 77 in Sierra County and 16 in outlying areas.  

Through partnership with the Employment Development Department, Golden Sierra Job Training Agency, Union Local #3074 WCIC, and Sierra Pacific Industries, AFWD, Inc. provided Rapid Response to those affected by the lay off.  Six Rapid Response Orientations were offered through the month of March resulting in 35 individuals applying for WIA services through the Plumas office.  

To view the PowerPoint click Rapid Response Orientation.

(Above) EDD Representative Barbara Vineyard and (Below) AFWD Community Coordinator Janis Trueblood conduct Rapid Response Orientation in Portola.
To enhance the flow of services to those laid off, AFWD had staff available to complete the WIA application and conduct the informational interviews on-site after the Orientation.  Below is Employment Specialist Candy Radcliff assisting two laid off workers.

 
Quarterly Meetings

The Plumas Employment and Training Committee in January and March. The Agendas and Minutes to these meetings are available by clicking below:

Plumas Vision 2020 has been actively working on their plan in seven different topic areas.  Supervisor Bill Dennison and I have been working on the Communications/Technology topic group and held a strategic planning meeting on March 9.  Supervisor Dennison and Coordinator Louise Steenkamp co-facilitated the meeting which resulted in successful action planning for the future of technology in Plumas County.  If you are interested in knowing more about Plumas Vision 2020, go to www.countyofplumas.com.

Chico State University was the host of the North State Economic Summit held March 19.  Representatives from throughout Northern California attended the event where information was shared on common points of economic interest in Agriculture, Economic Development, and Workforce Development.  A summary report was provided to members in attendance.

On a  quarterly basis, the AFWD Community Coordination Team meets to share ideas and plan.  I would like to thank the members of the AFWD Team, DeeAnn Hunter of Lassen, Kelley Poindexter of Modoc, and Laurie Wann-Marketing Specialist for their efforts and enthusiasm to promote the One-Stop Employment Centers and the AFWD Mission.