By Staff
Center will see great demand as benefits run out
By GREG KATSKI
Staff Writer
Hidden in the today’s economic desert lies an oasis of hope, the Beaufort County JobLink Career Center.
Vic Rodgers, services director for the center and the Mid-East Commission, said JobLink is often overlooked by the area’s unemployed.
JobLink has career centers in Beaufort, Bertie, Hertford, Martin and Pitt counties served by the Mid-East Commission.
The commission offers technical assistance, planning, program management and development, and help with public-private partnerships.
Rodgers oversees the Adult and Dislocated Workers Program, the Youth Program and Title 5 Program (for 55 and over), coordinates community outreach efforts and serves as the region’s equal opportunity officer.
Rodgers has been on the job for six years, and has a degree in human resource management from Park University in Missouri.
Rodgers addressed for the Daily News how the career center can assist the increasing number of unemployed in the county and region.
Here’s what he said:
1. What role does JobLink play in the financial success of Beaufort County and its work force?
2. With the nation’s economic downturn, has more pressure been put on career centers, such as JobLink, to help struggling individuals?
3. What is the career center’s most important resource for unemployed individuals?
4. What is the best advice you can give a job seeker?
5. Why do you think laid-off individuals are sometimes reluctant to learn new job skills? How do you counteract this reluctance?
6. What is the importance of the career center’s partnership with Beaufort County Community College?
7. Does the career center cater to people of a specific age? Who are served the most?
8. Has the center seen an influx of people since the economic recession hit? Do you expect these numbers to increase when unemployment benefits run out?
9. Do you have any specific success stories for people coming out of the career center?
10. How does the career center maximize its limited resources?