WorkSource

What’s New

QUICK-LAUNCH:THE TWO-DAY BUSINESS PLAN

presented by: Griffin-Hammis Associates, LLC

OVERVIEW
The purpose of Quick Launch is to produce a working business plan draft, used for leveraging support and financing. By the end of Quick Launch, you will have produced that working document. However, it will not be precise in terms of pricing, profitability, depreciation, or in terms of the substantial impact of SSA Work Incentives or funding from VR or WIA programs. Griffin-Hammis Associates offers training and consultation on pricing, developing financial projections, and on SSA Work Incentives, such as PASS, and encourages those sessions as next steps to designing accurate business plans and establishing local business development capacity.

DATES and LOCATION

Quick Launch 1 – April 23 and 24 (Wednesday and Thursday)
Quick Launch 2 – May 13 and 14 (Tuesday and Wednesday)
Quick Launch 3 – June 23 and 24 (Monday and Tuesday)

ALL SESSIONS TO BE HELD AT:
University of Florida and Shands, 650 W. 8th Street, Jacksonville, Florida 32209

For more information, please download: Quick Launch Information Sheet.doc, Quick Launch Registration.doc

A Systematic Approach to Recruiting, Hiring and Retention

Northeast Florida employers continue to express concern about the gaps that exist between the skill sets exhibited by potential and incumbent workers versus those required by current and future jobs. In order to address the issue, the State of Florida Department of Education began implementing the Florida Ready to Work Initiative in October 2006. The initiative is designed to address the workforce development needs of both employers and students in Florida. The three step process includes: assessment using ACT’s WorkKeys®, instruction to remediate the workplace skill gaps, and a job profiling process used to identify skill requirements specific to the Florida Workforce.

Using ACT’s WorkKeys® as an assessment tool, the program measures a jobseeker’s job skills as they apply to work. This system provides employers with a consistent, nationally recognized standard of the job skills an individual possess. Jobseekers who become “work ready” can prove their workplace skills to potential employers with the Florida Work Certificate.

Community Colleges, Secondary Schools, Workforce Education Programs, Department of Juvenile Justice, Regional Workforce boards such as WorkSource and many other partners have joined the initiative with great enthusiasm. The University of North Florida, Division of Continuing Education recently has also joined this initiative with the vision of working with employers on the demand side, showing them how to implement the WorkKeys® system into their training and workforce development culture.

The three skills that the Work Readiness Certificate focuses on are:

Applied mathematics, reading for information, and Locating information

The job profile process is facilitator driven and uses subject matter experts in focus groups. This process is used when the company for high stakes decisions such as hiring and training decisions. Businesses are using WorkKeys® in the following ways:

• Recruitment
• Selection
  • Pre employment
  • Internal career opportunities
• Incumbent employee training and development
• Training program alignment
• Succession planning and career laddering
• Job and wage classification
• Outplacement programs/rapid response

Companies investing in the system can expect the following possible outcomes:

• Recruiting efficiency by qualifying applicant pools
• Reduced risk from legal challenges
• Reduced employee time to competency
• Improved training programs by aligning curricula

Proven return on investment (ROI) in a variety of categories

• Reduced turnover
• Improved employee productivity
• Reduction in waste and improved quality

For more information regarding WorkKeys®* contact Candace Moody at WorkSource at . For information on profiling jobs at your business, contact *Stacy Jarvis, UNF Director of Economic and Workforce Development, 905-620-4254 *