Task force seeks to continue job momentum

COLUMBIA BASIN - Fresh off the success of a high school job fair, industry leaders are looking for continued momentum in efforts to recruit employees for local industry.

The Operations Task Force meets Friday beginning at 8 a.m. at Big Bend Community College's ATEC Building.

"We still need some folks to get involved and I think we're understanding more of what we're doing," said Allan Peterson, executive director of the Big Bend Community College Center for Business and Industry Services. "We're learning more, much more than we did a year ago. I think we're getting noticed outside of our area, and so we just need to keep it going and keep moving forward. Participation is still key."

Peterson said Friday's meeting includes a recap of the recent "The Future Is Here" Job and Career Fair, held Jan. 31 at the Moses Lake High School Commons.

"Things we did to make it a success, and to prepare for another one in Ephrata this fall," Peterson explained.

Jeni Billups, president of SVZ in Othello, will give a presentation on the Northwest Food Processors Association's Workforce Pipeline 2008 project.

"Essentially, they have been working on what we've been talking about for well over two years," Peterson said. "So there is some structure there we could probably use to help us and perhaps catch us up and get this going forward faster."

Open item discussions include marketing and recruiting efforts to businesses closing on the western side of the state due to lack of trained employees.

"We are going to suggest there's people as close as the West Side that may want to relocate here, so we probably need to get the marketing and recruiting to specifically address those," Peterson said.

Food processors in the area are hoping to set up training, so the task force may use them as a model for some other industry in the area, Peterson noted.

The meeting will also cover what companies are doing to retain employees.

"Can they share this information with others, what are best practices and how best the community can work together in this area of retention so we don't lose people going to other places," Peterson said.

Following the success of the high school-targeted job fair, the task force is looking at the people in the local community who are underemployed or have a skill set very close to a much better, in-demand, high-wage job but are unaware of the opportunity.

Peterson said the task force is hoping to use business services partnership participation in anticipation of the community college job fair April 24.

The task force is also looking to form a leadership focus group, after failing to get a skills panel grant, which would have paid for a position to coordinate efforts and travel. The focus group would try to create a mission and vision for the task force, Peterson said.