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By JENNIFER GOLDBLATT
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 30, 2001
Alyson Harlib of Hudson was a convenience store clerk before a car accident left her unable to lift heavy objects or stand for long periods of time. Now that her health has improved, the 23-year-old is going through vocational rehabilitation -- federally funded training to become a paralegal.
Felica Williams recently moved to New Port Richey from Colorado to make a new start with her boyfriend. The 18-year-old is looking for a desk job -- really anything except retail work will do.
"I'm looking for something better," she said. "I want to step it up a bit, something at a desk. I'm just so tired of cashiering."
A year ago, Alyson and Felica would have had to wade through a maze of social service agencies and classified ads for help. Last week, they were among a crowd of job-seekers at Career Central, enjoying free Internet access to job boards, learning about training programs, and taking advantage of the state's year-old effort to transform unemployment offices into one-stop career development centers.
At offices in New Port Richey, Brooksville and Dade City, Career Central offers services (like child care and transportation) to job seekers. More importantly, it makes it easier for them to access job openings and training opportunities.
More than 3,300 Pasco and Hernando job-seekers have been placed in jobs since Career Central opened last July. That's just 15 percent of those who used the center during that time -- but it's a 43 percent increase over the number of people placed through the old Jobs and Benefits offices in the year before.
Previously, the unemployed came to Jobs and Benefits to fill out unemployment claims. They could get leads on assistance and job openings, but would have to find their own ways to those agencies to pursue the leads. Now, officials from 26 government and social service agencies, ranging from Veteran Services to Goodwill and the Area Agency on the Aging, are right there at the Career Central offices.
Through those agencies, job seekers can find out about financial assistance programs and attend free seminars on topics relating to job hunting. Soon, computer training will be available.
The one-stop effort also attempts to answer the constant cry from area businesses, which are always seeking dependable, skilled workers. Employers can use Career Central to find job applicants, prescreen them and conduct skills testing.
Employers listed 207 job listings with Career Central in July, up 20 percent from a year ago. Pasco and Hernando county governments, Wal-Mart, PHCC and Pall Corp. are among the employers to list the most jobs over the last year. The jobs range from telemarketers to medical assistants, bookkeepers and even financial officers.
It is hoped that the new job services will ultimately benefit more than just individual job seekers, like Alyson Harlib and Felica Williams.
A consultant recently estimated that more than half of Pasco's earnings come from low-wage service and retail industries. The small number of companies that recently announced plans to move to Pasco said their primary reason for doing so was cheaper taxes and available space. If Pasco's economy is going to significantly improve, the county must offer more than "cheap and available."
Career Central is a step in that direction.