John Willoughby: Greene Publishing, Inc.
If you've lived in the North Florida area long enough, you've probably seen the CareerSource Workforce Development bus in the parking lot behind O'Reilly's or on CR 14, driving towards Perry. You may have even climbed on board of that bus to apply for state and local jobs. There are some, though, who have never realized that they can receive help finding a job, for free!
The CareerSource Workforce Development Board (CSWD) offers a wide variety of a services and tools to help a community of unemployed citizens find a job that will boost them into a successful career. The mission at CSWD is to develop an ecosystem of business and job seekers that sustains a thriving community.
CareerSource provides pre-employment screenings that helps representatives find the right match for the potential employee, based on experience, skill, and education. Each CareerSource Representative is available to help ease your anxiety of finding a new job. CSWD is also a veteran-friendly service. The veterans staff will serve assessments and counseling to best place a veteran in a company where they will easily succeed.
Another useful service that CSWD provides is Foundations, which is a free dynamic approach, focusing on youth pre-employment for out-of-school young people.
CareerSource provides the employment seeker with useful information about state policies, wages, benefits, and much more. CSWD also provides a service called the Lending Library. The Lending Library provides material about training, policy, and employment laws to help the employment seeker make a wise and sound decision. Sometimes, CSWD will hold events for career seekers such as job fairs, training sessions and offer online services through Employ Florida, like a resume builder. The Workforce Development is not just for job-seekers. CSWD provides customizable solutions, including recruiting talent, up-skilling current staff and other services fit to meet the needs of a business.
If you would like to utilize these services soon, you may directly go to the North Florida Workforce Development board, located at 705 E. Base St., in Madison. North Florida Workforce Development is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. You may call them at (850) 973-2672 or go online to careersourcenorthflorida.com.
You may find CareerSource mobile services in Taylor County every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of each month. You may also find mobile services in Monticello on every Wednesday, except for the last week of each month and in Jasper on every Tuesday, except for the last week of each month.