13 May News and notes
Spring is so on at your NCWorks Career Centers! Check out all our exciting news:
Have you ever wanted to be a movie star?
Marinella Hume Casting seeks paid background performers for “Shots Fired,” a 20th Century Fox television show now shooting in Charlotte.
Casting crews will be at the NCWorks Career Center at 7140 Forest Point Blvd. (28217) on Monday, May 23, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Adults aged 18 and over are encouraged to attend. Marinella Hume requests interested individuals to “dress in your *best* outfit (casual/business/dresses/tuxes).” Men should use hair products and know all clothing measurements (neck, sleeve, etc). Women should style their hair, apply natural make-up and know all clothing measurements (bust, waist, hip, dress size, etc.).
You must create an account on the casting company’s website using the Google Chrome browser.
You can also “like” the company on Facebook (Marinella Hume Casting Charlotte) to access all casting notices.
Career fair targets job-seekers with criminal backgrounds
The Reentry Partners of Mecklenburg (RPM) hosted a career fair on April 6 at Hope Haven, Inc. for more than 250 job-seekers with criminal backgrounds. Charlotte Works was one of several community partners including the N.C. Division of Social Services, the Center for Community Transitions and ResCare Workforce Services that provided resources to help job-seekers successfully re-enter the workforce. More than 30 employers such as UPS, Sunbelt Industries, HotelPro and Hilton Charlotte Center City also participated in the fair.
“I was glad to see the Community Partnerships and Programs Division’s (CPPD) mission of connecting job-seekers to community resources to eliminate barriers to employment come to fruition,” says James Merrick, Charlotte Works’ community partnerships program coordinator. “Overall, the career fair showcased our commitment to helping those with barriers to employment find meaningful resources to better prepare them to land the perfect job.”
Thousands of youth discover options at career day
Erika Shorty, business services representative – youth, speaks with a student about Charlotte Works’ work-based learning opportunities at the third annual Charlotte Career Discovery Day on April 13.
Thousands of high school students from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools attended the third annual Charlotte Career Discovery Day on April 13 at The Park Expo and Conference Center. Students met with more than 100 vendors to learn about potential career pathways in fields such as health sciences, finance, human services, local government and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). The event also featured a fashion show with students from Northwest School of the Arts, who showed their peers what to wear to job interviews and other professional settings.
Career Discovery Day was sponsored by the Mayor’s Youth Employment Program (MYEP), celebrating its 30th anniversary. At a kickoff event held earlier that week in Uptown, Mayor Jennifer Roberts announced that she wants to grow from approximately 300 work-based learning opportunities to 1,000 by the end of next year.
Charlotte Works, Carolinas Healthcare System, Microsoft and Carolina Panthers safety Roman Harper are a few of the community partners who have joined to provide work-based learning opportunities for 
students. Harper and representatives from these and other organizations, including Danielle Frazier, Charlotte Works’s interim president & CEO (far left), have been featured on MYEP billboards around the city.
Volunteers@Works hosts appreciation lunch during National Volunteer Month
Former volunteer Glenn Thomas led the “power hour” presentation to speak about leadership expectations such as investing in oneself and committing to be great.
April is national volunteer month, and nearly 20 Volunteers@Works participants gathered at NCWorks Career Center – Executive Center Drive (ECD) for a networking appreciation luncheon on April 20.
Talent Engagement Strategist Stacey Henderson shared the first-quarter volunteer impact: 39 individuals volunteered 419 hours resulting in $9,825 in taxpayer savings, according to Independent Sector’s estimated value of volunteer time. Attendees also had the opportunity to formally meet W. Morehead Street (WMS) Center Manager Debbie Normandia.
Celebrating #WorkforceEcosystem Week
Charlotte Works was proud to participate in Regional Workforce Ecosystem Week April 25 to 29.
This first-ever, nationally coordinated public awareness campaign was created and managed by a working group of the US Conference of Mayors Workforce Development Council.
During the week, Charlotte Works hosted a special web page on charlotteworks.com to shares information about our robust regional workforce ecosystem working to create a strong talent pipeline to foster continued economic growth in our area. We also Tweeted and posted information to our LinkedIn corporate and Google+ pages.
So what’s a regional workforce ecosystem?
- One type of regional ecosystem contains the businesses that comprise an industry; it focuses not only on training workers for the jobs that pertain solely to that industry, but also for the jobs that exist in ancillary industries. Businesses included in this type of regional ecosystem thrive based on the strength of the core industry, but are not specifically housed under that industry’s umbrella.
- Another type of regional ecosystem consists of myriad training entities, brought together to a table to coordinate their training offerings to ensure that they’re demand-driven and not oversaturating the market with certain types of trainings.
- And still another kind of regional ecosystem is created when a region of partners comes together to not only solve specific problems in the region, but then constitutes a group that meets regularly to answer new challenges.
Local examples spotlighted included our partnership with the Centralina Workforce Development Board and Central Piedmont Community College to help Siemens hire more than 250 workers; collaborations with workforce boards across North and South Carolina to help retailers at Charlotte Premium Outlets staff up for the grand opening; the creation of the Working Smart soft-skills curriculum; and the Centralina Manufacturing Ecosystem Development Strategy in partnership with the Centralina Council of Governments, the Centralina Economic Development Commission, community colleges and industry groups.
Workforce development boards are the key conveners of industry, education and training, labor, community organizations, economic development and other entities to strengthen businesses through the development of human capital. Just look at who serves on our board of directors!
Through strategic partnerships with these and other entities, business-led workforce boards lead a system that is nimble, flexible and adaptable, generating economic opportunity for businesses and job-seekers in our communities.
Welcome, new team members!
Charlotte Works is pleased to welcome two new members to our team: W. Morehead Street (WMS) Career Center Manager Debbie Normandia and Youth Program Specialist Jeremy Wilson.
Normandia, the first Latina career center manager in the state, previously served as talent development manager at the NCWorks Career Center in High Point, N.C. Prior to that, she was a talent development supervisor for the Centralina Workforce Development Board, leading teams in Cabarrus, Iredell and Lincoln counties. Normandia got her start in workforce development in 2012 as a management systems (MIS) data entry/compliance technician with the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Workforce Alliance. She also served 10 years with Verizon Communications in various multi-lingual customer service and e-commerce training and supervisory positions. Normandia received a bachelor’s of science degree in marketing from the University of Phoenix.
Wilson joins us from the NCWorks Career Center in Mooresville, N.C., where he served as an On-The-Job Training Grant specialist. Prior to that, his career has been in human services, focusing on youth, as a program supervisor for an independent living facility for young men and as an employment readiness specialist. He holds a bachelor’s of science degree in education from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio.
If you’ve been frustrated trying to schedule to attend orientation, you’ll be happy about this!
Starting this month, your NCWorks Career Centers are piloting a new, streamlined way of doing business that’s designed to get you the job-search help you need faster so you can get employed faster!
You don’t have to register to attend an orientation at the NCWorks Career Centers at W. Morehead Street and Executive Center Drive. That’s because now we offer a quick, engaging session that will give you the basics about our programs and services and then immediately connect you with an NCWorks team member who’ll get you started.
Orientations are offered multiple times throughout the day, so you can walk in and attend the next available session – no registration required:
NCWorks Career Center – 1401 W. Morehead St. (28208):
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
8:30 a.m., 10 a.m., 1 p.m.
NCWorks Career Center – 5601 Executive Center Dr. (28212):
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
8:30 a.m., 9:45 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:15 p.m.
W. Morehead Street Career Center hours shifting in June
Please note that the hours of operation at the NCWorks Career Center at 1401 W. Morehead St. (28208) are shifting starting Monday, June 6.
Effective that day, the Center will be open on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Every Wednesday, it will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. And on Friday, the Center will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The change is part of our process improvement and we anticipate it will help us to serve you in more comprehensive and efficient manner.
We look forward to seeing you at W. Morehead Street!