Pilot project helps WorkForce Centerhelp clients

Anne Polta West Central Tribune
Published Tuesday, January 17, 2006

WILLMAR — A pilot project is helping the Willmar WorkForce Center gain a better idea of who its customers are and what types of job-assistance services they need.

The information will help the agency deploy its resources and target its services more effectively, said Diane Schulte, Job Service site manager for WorkForce Centers in Willmar , Litchfield, Montevideo and Hutchinson .

“I’ve already found it useful,” she said. “It was very surprising to us just how many people were walking in the door.”

The customer registration system was launched in October at seven pilot sites, including Willmar . By the middle of April, it will be expanded to all 49 WorkForce Centers in Minnesota , said Libby Starling, director of policy, planning and measures for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

The system is believed to be one of the first of its kind in the United States .

The WorkForce Centers function as one-stop shopping centers for job-related services ranging from job searches to career exploration.

Officials with the Department of Employment and Economic Development haven’t always had a good handle, however, on how often these centers are actually used or the types of services that customers are seeking.

“One of the challenges we have faced is never having a secure number of how many customers are coming in and taking advantage of the services,” Starling said.

The customer registration system uses an electronic set of forms that customers are asked to fill out each time they visit the WorkForce Center . The information that’s being collected concentrates mainly on the use of each center’s resource area — what services customers are seeking, which day and time and how long the customer spent in the resource area.

The registration system also issues WorkForce Center “membership” cards that help identify individual customers and can be used at each visit.

The Willmar WorkForce Center had the system installed at the end of November.

“It has gone so smoothly,” Schulte said.

For starters, she and her staff now have a more accurate idea of how many people use WorkForce Center services. Before, customers were counted by hand; now it’s done electronically.

The information that’s been collected so far also has helped identify the busiest times in the resource center. Knowing when peak times occur will allow the WorkForce Center to assign its staff to meet the need, Schulte said.

She and the staff have been gaining feedback as well on some of the WorkForce Center-sponsored seminars, such as a class that teaches creative job-seeking skills. “Clients have made comments that they enjoy it,” Schulte said. “It was nice feedback to hear.”

Employers can benefit too by getting a more accurate grasp of many job-seekers are visiting their local WorkForce Center , Starling said.

She said the registration system’s database will soon be enlarged.

“We plan to expand it to additional demographic information in a few months,” she said. “Once we start collecting more and more demographic information, we’ll have better information — and in greater detail — on who our customers are. That will allow more customizing of services.”

Ultimately, it’ll enable the Department of Employment and Economic Development to make better decisions about how to deploy its resources, from staff to computers, where they’re needed and used the most, Starling said. “We’ll have a more solid foundation for allocating funding.”