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Eastside, Workforce OK-Career Connection Center
Summary Eastside, Workforce OK-Career Connection
Center in Oklahoma City used O*NET to help employers. With "lots of small
business driving Oklahoma's economy," this One-Stop Career Center makes
small business customers a big priority. The Center's Business Services
Development Specialist realized that many small employers do not have or
use fully-developed job descriptions for positions in their establishments.
He used the O*NET system to develop a series of appropriate job descriptions
for one such customer. The job descriptions, in turn, were included in
an overall design for a certified training program for welders.
How is O*NET being used? A small metal fabrication business in Oklahoma City needed trained, experienced, certified welders. The company did not have detailed job descriptions, nor did it have a training program for welders. It had tried an outsource welding program offered through a local service provider. That program, however, did not meet the company's specific needs. The company decided to design and conduct its own certified training for welders. It would be an on-site, on-the-job training program. Three Master welders currently on staff would run it. Among them, they had 75+ years of combined experience and knowledge of the company. The Business Development Specialist believed that the O*NET system might be a resource to help in designing the program. He was already skilled in obtaining position descriptions from employers. With this customer's needs in mind, he found positions for welders, fabricators, and related occupations in the O*NET database. From sections under Details and Snapshot for each occupation, he selected items that provided potential content for job descriptions, such as Tasks and Work Activities, Skills, Abilities, and Work Context. He printed the selected items, organized the information to suit his customer's needs, and then cut and pasted the appropriate text into a job description. Several levels of job descriptions were written to the company's satisfaction. The job descriptions were built into an
overall design for a six-year training certification for a welding fabrication
program. The training extends from Apprentice to Master status. The program
has been certified by the local welders association. A next step may be
to see if the program also meets Federal standards for registration under
the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training.
Who is your target population? Small businesses with fewer than 100 employees
and less than $1 million in sales. Many of these establishments do not
have adequate job descriptions to address their workforce recruitment and
training needs.
What kind of results is O*NET helping you to achieve? The metal fabrication business now has a fully-designed, approved, certified, in-house training program and detailed job descriptions for welders at several levels. They are collaborating with a willing local service provider to meet additional training and development needs. Coaching by the One-Stop Center continues on an ongoing basis with the customer. The benefit for the One Stop Center is
being able to satisfy real needs of small business customers. Usually they
are entrepreneurs -- operators, not management, personnel, or HR specialists.
They like to see results that show a real understanding of what they had
in mind.
What
are the related program initiatives?
Is your product, program or service available for others to use? Other One-Stop Centers could offer a similar
service to small employers. To do so, staff need some knowledge of format,
writing employment policies and writing job descriptions (including knowledge
of reasonable accommodation, essential functions, etc). Knowledge of "thru-put"
procedures and work processes in relation to jobs helps. Staff also can
benefit from experience in asking questions to get solid position information
from the customer. Familiarity with O*NET OnLine is needed to identify
elements that apply to a particular job description. To view a copy of
the template the Eastside Career Center used to prepare job descriptions
What other strategies make your product, program or service successful? The key is talking and listening to the
customers . . . not just for their needs, but listening to what they are
saying. One sometimes has to listen between the lines. Many times the customers
know what they want; they just don't know how to articulate it. Familiarity
with resources like O*NET OnLine also helps you identify material that
can help you satisfy a customer's needs.
Do you have other pertinent information? A similar program is being designed for
a home builders/construction association in Oklahoma City. It will include
job descriptions, training and development identifiers, and profiles for
various levels of needs. Other suggestions for using O*NET OnLine to help
small businesses include: on-site demonstrations of how to enter and retrieve
pertinent information; coaching in how to transfer the job information
as it relates to one of their positions; or illustrations of how O*NET
information can help a business client in planning employment strategy
by adding new position descriptions and getting the job information on
what their future needs may be.
Contact information. Doyle Paden, Business Services Development
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