WorkOne staff on front lines of employment fight

HAMMOND | One day at a time, one customer at a time.

That's the principle Robyn Minton, vice president of operations at the Center of Workforce Innovations, says staff at WorkOne take while on the front lines of the battle against rising unemployment.

"You have to manage your staff to be invested in customer after customer," Minton said.

And the workers have been tested in the recent economic downturn. Minton said the full-service WorkOne sites in Hammond, Gary, Portage and La Porte have had steady traffic since July.

Unemployment rates in Hammond, Gary and Portage were up in October at least 3 percentage points compared to the same month last year, meaning economic conditions likely drove more people to the centers. The labor force in all three cities shrank between 2 and 3 percent in the same period.

WorkOne may be most associated with processing unemployment benefits, but it offers career counseling, job skills training, employment search services and group networking opportunities. And Minton said since July 1, more people are using more of the center's services including GED preparation classes.

Tomasa Caraballo, information systems manager and site career counselor, said so many people are devastated through job loss that often she find herself encouraging and counseling people that their options are larger than they may think.

"Sometimes you have to let them know they're still alive and there's hope," Caraballo said. "There's always people in a worse situation than they are."

The stress people face is considerable, especially if they've been out of work for an extended period of time, said Hammond WorkOne Manager Betty Possehn. But Possehn said she helps to keep an upbeat atmosphere around the center by encouraging staff members and comforting customers.

Caraballo said presenting people with success stories can help them understand that there are opportunities available.

People should be encouraged to visit WorkOne because of the partnerships it has with employers such as ArcelorMittal, NIPSCO and BP. Companies use WorkOne to seek candidates for jobs and also to do specialized training for their employees.

Employers are demanding more skilled employees, and Minton said people entering or re-entering the job force need to be aware of what they are looking for.

"Assessing yourself for employability at any age is tough," Minton said. "That's the truth of the world of work we're in."

WorkOne is also accepting applications for people to get up to $3,000 in Workforce Acceleration Grants through the U.S. Department of Labor. The grants are geared to low- to middle-income students to complete the final stages of college or university coursework in fields such as health care, manufacturing, life sciences, information technology, professional services and transportation and warehousing.

Pursuing higher education is another way to attain advanced knowledge, and Caraballo said if students are worried about costs, she recommends they pursue scholarships from the institutions and from free Web sites such as fastweb.com.

The Valparaiso-based Center of Workforce Innovations is the regional operator of 12 WorkOne centers in a seven-county area of Northwest Indiana. Counties are Lake, Porter, La Porte, Jasper, Newton, Pulaski and Starke.

New WorkOne site

Robyn Minton, vice president of operations at the Center of Workforce Innovations, said WorkOne's center in Hammond will move to a new site this spring.

Minton, who declined to reveal the new location, said the site would be in a "central spot for all customers" and located along transportation lines.

The current site is in downtown Hammond on Hohman Avenue near Fayette Street. Hammond has one of four full-service WorkOne locations in the region.