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Workforce investment. Time to get your act together.
By Terry L. McCullough
Job search tips for everybody fourteen years of age and older. Funding under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) is available to organizations interested in providing employment related services to eligible youths or adults 14 years and older. Job seekers take note. Now is the time for you to get in contact with your job developer or counselor at the local job center. Believe me. They want to hear from you. To participate in this program a person must be 14 years of age or older and a member of a low income household. Heads of households stuck in minimum wage jobs, displaced workers and individuals with criminal records are even eligible! The only catch is participants must be able to focus their energy on improving their employment status as well as practicing patient, diligence and perseverance. Once enrolled or re-enrolled in the program, participants can be eligible for a wide range of services including an "Individual Training Account" that will help pay some or all cost of obtaining certifications, a GED, diplomas, training and degrees at any authorized qualified training or educational institution. Participants can even receive counseling or coaching when the burden of job hunting becomes overwhelming. The basic goal of the program is to prepare youth, unemployed, under-employed, and displaced workers, to fill vacancies in high growth and high demand occupations within occupations such as health care, technology, construction trades and, advanced manufacturing. A major portion of the funding is allocated to programs that develop work skills of 14 21 year old youth who are either in or out of school. They are the workforce for the next fifty years. If we do not invest in programs that prepare them for meaningful good paying jobs; we risk an economic slow down that will affect our nation's ability to compete globally or keep pace with advancements in technology. The Workforce Investment Act measures program success by the number of persons improving basic skills (reading, writing, arithmetic); number of persons obtaining, diplomas, certifications and degrees; the number of participants filling jobs in high demand and high growth occupations and; how long a participant's career status remains stabile. The program is designed to provide programs and services that will assist participants as they work towards advancing their skills, obtaining certificates and degrees and, embarking on their chosen career. Ideally, under the Workforce Investment Act, an eligible 16 year old "honor roll student" could get a head start on a career by obtaining "sponsored" part time employment in the industry most relevant to his/he career interest. An eligible "high school drop out" that wants to "work with computers" can expect the same. Sounds great to me! For more info go online to http://www.workingforamerica.o rg/documents/workforce.htm.

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