Meeting calls for more participation, volunteers
Operations task force provides O-net code update
COLUMBIA BASIN — A group dedicated to recruiting new workers from within and out of the Columbia Basin area is still seeking brain power.
Training committee member Allan Peterson said Friday's operations task force meeting, which met from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. in Big Bend Community College's ATEC Building, included an update on efforts to gather O-net code information. O-net codes are part of a system to determine the number of jobs available within a certain category, and the number of people looking for the position.
"It matches people with jobs according to their skill sets," Peterson said. "They're either unemployed and looking, employed and looking or they're going through (WorkSource)."
WorkSource is doing the work to gather the O-net code information. The system would aid local people in getting employed, and help recruit someone from outside the area, Peterson said. WorkSource would be able to interact with other offices in the state.
"What we would do with this is then take it, as with the rest of the information," Peterson said. "We'd basically promote it, so everybody knows what it does and how it works."
A marketing committee member said recruiting efforts still need help. A Web site, centralwashington.com, is already set up. Peterson said it was recommended the site be similar to a Spokane jobs Web site.
For a traveling employee recruitment booth designed to participate in area job and career fairs, industry participation has become an issue, Peterson said, with not enough volunteers.
The meeting showed housing efforts for construction workers does not seem to be having a problem, Peterson said. The peak time periods, originally slated for the summer, have now been moved to happen in the fall.
"This fall, he's figuring about 1,200 workers will be out there putting that (the REC Silicon expansion site)," Peterson said. "They're looking for a Hurricane Katrina-type housing system to help out with that."
The next meeting is June 29.
"We just need to fine tune, if we can get more volunteers and come up with some action steps," Peterson said. "It's a real need, we need employees and we just need some more brain power to help us facilitate efforts."