NEW CENTER OFFERS HELP IN FINDING JOBS

The Southeast Missouri Private Industry Council has opened the Work Connections Center at the council's office in Suite H at 760 S. Kingshighway to help out-of-work people find jobs.

The center also will help people seeking jobs to have access to the Internet, use fax machines, review training manuals and career guides and ask questions of the council's staff members.

Private Industry Council executive director Ron Swift said the center was necessary because of the technological changes in finding a job.

"Looking for a job is so much easier if you can get to an Internet-accessible computer," Swift said. "But not everyone has an Internet-accessible computer."

Those without such computers can use the center's computers.

This one feature gives people information about job openings locally and across Missouri through the Missouri Works Web site and others.

Fax machines are available to send resumes to potential employers. Photocopying services are also available.

The center, funded through the Department of Labor, will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

Swift said that while those seeking jobs have been the first to use the center, its services are available to businesses seeking workers.

Free services to employers include contacts for potential employees, free use of the center's classrooms for recruiting, application, screening and interviewing, free Internet access to register jobs on Missouri Works Web site and free assessment of potential employees to determine eligibility for tax-credit and wage-subsidy programs.

The center can also be used for training.

"We can take the jobs that are available and put people into those jobs, not just an individual but the right individual," said Swift.