Workforce center addition caters to employers’ needs

Business leaders, jobseekers tout Lawrence agency's services

The paint on the walls was still wet, but that didn’t stop the first job interviews in the new employer’s wing of the Lawrence Workforce Center.

“They were painting, and we were interviewing,” said Brian Wise, owner-manager of the recently opened Quizno’s Sub restaurant at 25th and Iowa streets.

The Lawrence Workforce Center, 2540 Iowa, has been open since 2001, providing job-seekers with free employment information and job-training services.

Now it caters to employers as well. The center earlier this month rearranged its operation to allow for a 500-square-foot employer’s center that will serve as a place for Lawrence businesses to conduct job fairs and other employee training away from their facilities.

Lyndsey Mumme, a stay-at-home mother for the past two years, said she was surprised how quickly she had landed a job interview at the center.

“I’d been looking for jobs and some friends told me to go to the center for job listings,” she said. “I just stopped in, and I had an interview that day.”

Mumme said the employer’s center saved her time because she didn’t have to travel to individual places for job applications.

The Lawrence Workforce Center is one of five institutions that provide employment services in northeast Kansas. The centers are contracted through Heartland Works, a nonprofit agency that helps administer job programs in the 15 northeastern Kansas counties. The Lawrence center, which serves about 500 people each week, is the second to add an employer’s area.

Kris Kitchen, executive director of Heartland Works, said the goal of the centers was to provide anything a job-seeker needed in one stop — something the employer’s center helps accomplish.

“Job-seekers use our centers daily,” she said. “The employer’s center makes it easier for employers to recruit on-site, hook up their computers, and do a whole variety of things while they’re recruiting.”

Kris Kincaid, a call center manager at Pearson Government Solutions, interviews Candice Woods at the Lawrence Workforce Center's new employer center. The additional 500 square feet of space allows employers to have job fairs and interviews away from the workplace.

Cheryl White, a manager at the Lawrence Workforce Center, agrees.

“It streamlines the process,” she said. “Someone can do testing, fill out an application and talk to the employer all at one time.”

White said the advantage of using the center was that her staff members would provide advertising before a job fair and personnel to help manage interviews.

Quizno’s conducted 130 interviews in two days. With the resources and staff at the center, Wise said he was able to open his store a few weeks earlier than he normally would have been able to do.

Pearson Government Solutions has conducted two job fairs since the employer’s center opened. Becky Black, human resource generalist for Pearson, said her company benefited from having job fairs at the center.

“It’s like having additional staff for half a day,” she said.

Other than job fairs, White said she envisioned the center being used by companies for training sessions or as a place for any human resource professional to talk to applicants. Pearson Government Solutions does all of its typing tests through the career center, and the results are faxed to the company.

“Ideally this is a place where employers can visit with workers at any time,” she said.