SoVT Career Expo & Social

By Rolf Parker
Posted October 19, 2015

http://www.dvalnews.com/view/full_story_obits/26910963/article-Expo-organizers-hope-to-change-misconceptions-about-area-career-options?instance=home_news_left

WINDHAM COUNTY- Dave Alstadt, coordinator of the Windham Workforce Investment Board, knows that there is a perception among many people in southeastern Vermont that there are very few quality jobs in the area. That is why he is excited to help bring the Career Expo to life.

“The Career Expo is much more than a jobs fair,” he said, “There will certainly be employers looking to recruit workers. We have over 40 employers, and each one of them has listed specific jobs that they are looking to fill. But the reason this is an expo and not merely a jobs fair is that the goal is also to inform people that there are options, and there are career paths to follow, that they can start, right here, where we live.”

The expo is made possible from a grant from the Vermont Department of Labor and other sponsors.

It features employers and other exhibitors from such diverse fields as health care, hospitality, manufacturing, and more. Alstadt said that many people could benefit from being more open to working in settings that they might not originally have thought they had the right skills for. For example, working in a hospital could mean working as a writer of press releases.

Manufacturing was one area that Alstadt thought was largely misunderstood by many people who could potentially thrive in that work world. He urged people away from two common misconceptions. The first was that getting a job with a manufacturer inherently means working in an assembly line doing menial work. “There are exciting opportunities. Working in manufacturing can mean performing highly technical operations using computerized machines,” he said.

The other misconception is that only people with highly technical degrees are hired by manufacturing companies. “Companies provide training. In some cases, having good basic math skills, or being mechanically inclined, could be enough to help you get in the door. Entry level positions can lead to great jobs.”

Laura Sibilia, a specialist in regional economic development at the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC), agreed.

“I was just at Sonnax Corporation, in Bellows Falls,” said Sibillia. “They are hiring people, and they train from within. People can make from $33,000 to $55,000 a a year with benefits. Because this is an employer-owned company, there is a lot of job security. These are great jobs but some of these companies have a hard time finding people who will apply.”

Alstadt said that one educational opportunity available during the expo is that people who talk with employers about what education they might need to start or switch careers, could pursue more information from colleges. “A person might go to employer X and then go to college Y for more information.”

This year, students from area middle schools, including eighth-grade students from Twin Valley, are going to the expo. They will go on a tour before the expo is open to the general public.

In addition to the Career Expo, this year there is also a “career social” at Duo Restaurant. The function of the social is to give people a chance to meet local entrepreneurs for tips and inspiration, Alstadt said. “We know that some people in southeastern Vermont are succeeding at creating their own jobs,” he said. “The social is meant to be a friendly way for interested people to meet successful entrepreneurs from the area.”

The Career Expo will be held at the Brattleboro Union High School gym, and is open to the public from 1 to 5 pm on Thursday, October 22. The Career Social is at Duo Restaurant in Brattleboro, from 5:30 to 7 pm. More information about the expo can be found www.vermontcareerexpo.com.

By Maggie Brown Cassidy
Special to the Reformer

Posted Oct. 16, 2015
http://www.reformer.com/ci_28981407/brattleboro-career-expo-set-oct-20

BRATTLEBORO >> On Thursday, Oct. 22, area residents of all ages — from middle-school students to adults — will have opportunities to explore employment opportunities. From 1 to 5 p.m., representatives from area employers, employment agencies, and educational organizations will have booths set up at the Brattleboro Union High School for a Career Expo. Students and adults will be able to look for full- or part-time jobs, or look ahead to explore various careers and the training needed to pursue them. Then, later in the day, young professionals are invited to a Career Social at Duo Restaurant, to meet and network with entrepreneurs.

Dave Altstadt, Coordinator of the Windham Workforce Investment Board, said that the Expo is for the entire county.

“This is not just a Brattleboro career exploration,” he said. “We try to recruit employers from Bellows Falls and the Deerfield Valley and the Route 30 corridor — and we invite students and jobseekers from those area also.

“A number of high schools are sending their students ,” he went on. “They might be there to explore careers, apply for internships, or possibly look for seasonal or part-time jobs.”

While the Expo will offer some opportunities for both students and adults to apply for internships or jobs — seasonal, part-time, or full-time — on the spot, the longer-term goal is to raise awareness of jobs and careers in Windham County.

“Our sense is that we have a number of employers that are hidden in industrial parks, or we know that they are here, but we don’t necessarily know all that they do,” he said. “BMH (Brattleboro Memorial Hospital), for example — we know them for doctors and nurses, but we don’t necessarily know all the administrative and technical careers that they offer.

“It was our hope that by having this event and inviting everyone, and inviting employers, that people would start having these conversations and learn about an employer that they didn’t know about, or opportunities they weren’t aware of, or they could learn about a new career field that’s in demand,” he continued. “They would take steps after that, whether it’s going back to college or a training program to get a certain certification, or applying for a job or following up with an employer when something in that field might open up, and strive toward those better jobs we have around here.”

“This event is both a job fair to help people make those immediate connections, and also an opportunity for schoolchildren, adults and school-age youth to come in and learn about opportunities for careers,” he said, “so they don’t have to move away to pursue opportunities for good careers, or be stuck in a dead-end job.”

He noted that while many believe that young people need to move away to find solid employment, the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation’s research asked employers about future hiring needs and found that there are many jobs in the area.

“There’s a common complaint that around there are not a lot of jobs,” he commented. “But as I think our expo demonstrates — the pure number of job openings advertised, the number of employers that come, and other data — it is in fact true that there are good jobs, particularly in manufacturing and healthcare.”

“There are jobs in a variety of career fields,” he continued. “They all need administrative support, they have positions in sales, — so regardless of people’s particular interest in work, they could find it in some of our prominent employers in key sectors of the economy. For example, some manufacturers need graphic designers.”

This year the Expo features specific outreach to eighth graders. Nearly all the public schools in Windham County are sending their eighth graders to visit the exhibits.

“We’ve created a separate session for area eighth graders, recognizing that it’s best to start exploring careers at a younger age,” Altstadt said. “They’re going to come in and do a career-themed scavenger hunt that (Vermont Student Assistance Corporation) developed to help guide their conversations with employers and colleges and learn about different careers and what they might want to do when they grow up.”

Altstadt noted that career exploration fits into each student’s Personal Learning Plan, or PLP. Last year the Vermont legislature passed Act 77, requiring every Vermont public-school student to develop a PLP to guide and document the student’s progress in school. Altstadt said he hoped the Expo could also help start conversations between students and parents around careers.

“If you’re a parent of an eighth grader, you might want to talk to them after they come back from the Career Expo and ask them what they’ve learned, and use it as an opportunity to tell them what you like and what you may not like about your career,” he said.

Altstadt said that he is excited about the Expo’s potential.

“I was very excited because I saw the possibility of reaching a lot of people,” he commented. “We had as many as 5000 people attend one of the past events, and we anticipate even more this year, given the great jobs that are out there and the great connections with schools.”

The Windham Workforce Investment Board, known as WIB, which is organizing both events, works with several organizational partners. The Vermont Department of Labor, Southeastern Vermont Community Action, the Windham Regional Career Center, Vermont Adult Learning, Vermont VocRehab, and Creative Workforce Solutions all send representatives to WIB’s board of directors.

On Thursday afternoon, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., WIB is sponsoring a Career Social in the backroom-bar area of Duo Restaurant for young professionals and college students, and others.

“They will be able to network and mingle with some of the employers and exhibitors at the event, as well as meet some local entrepreneurs in farm and food, technology and green building., to learn about how they’ve been able to follow their passion while living in Southeastern Vermont,” Altstadt said. “There will be free appetizers and a cash bar. It’s an opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs to learn — to get insight and inspiration from other entrepreneurs.

“We know that a lot of people, whether it’s their fulltime job or something that they do on the side, make and sell their own handcrafted products,” he continued. “That’s one of the things that makes Southern Vermont special, that we have an entrepreneurial culture. These folks will be there to share their successes and challenges in realizing their dreams, so other people can learn from them.

“They’ll have insights and tips for you regardless of your area of interest and what you want to do,” he went on. “They’re going to be set up with a poster with some information about their enterprise, who they are, and what they do, with some insights about what’s made them successful and what they’ve learned, so people can talk with them and get to the next level of conversation.”

“It’s primarily a networking event and an opportunity, if you’re interested in setting up your own enterprise and you want to get to the next step,” he concluded. “They’re young professionals who have built their own enterprise.”

For more information on the Career Expo and Career Social, visit www.vermontcareerexpo.com.

Maggie Brown Cassidy can be reached at [email protected].

By Becca Balint
Publishing in the Brattleboro Reformer, Nov. 4
http://www.reformer.com/opinion/ci_26858046/looking-work

Nearly a decade ago, when my spouse accepted a clerkship with a federal judge, we packed up and moved across the county. Excited for her and up for an adventure, I gamely set about finding another job in our new locale. It didn’t take long for my spirited optimism to wane; it’s hard to look for work month after month and not feel deflated.

……

For these area workers — and the hundreds more like them — I’m excited that the 2nd annual Career Expo and Job Fair will take place in the Brattleboro Union High School gymnasium on Monday, Nov. 10. The general public is invited to attend between 2 to 6 pm; a special noon hour block will be open exclusively to Windham County high school students. Coordinated by the Windham Workforce Investment Board and sponsored by many area businesses, schools and non-profits, the Expo aims to serve both new workers just starting out in the labor market and experienced professionals seeking to figure out next steps in their careers.

Although many businesses will certainly recruit workers at the Expo, David Altstadt — coordinator of the Workforce Investment Board — wants to highlight that “the Career Expo is about exploring new possibilities, making new connections, and charting out the next steps of your career path.” This is a great opportunity to meet face-to-face with employers from the tri-state area and get your foot in the door. Facilitating the match between what local businesses need and the skills our workers have is a complex problem that requires well-planned, long-term solutions. But the Career Expo is a great place to begin those conversations.

By Olga Peters/The Commons

BRATTLEBORO—Job seekers, curious high school students, and people contemplating a career change crowded into an event room at the Quality Inn on Putney Road for the first annual Southeastern Vermont Career Expo.

A combination of 41 local businesses, education providers, state agencies, and staffing agencies greeted 503 people during the four-hour expo hosted by the Windham Workforce Investment Board (Windham WIB) on Sept. 26.

“There are a lot of people unemployed in this area,” observed a hotel guest as she rolled her suitcase past the busy expo registration table.

Employment, wages, and building a younger workforce in Windham County have been topics of discussion for economic development initiatives like the Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategy (SeVEDS).

According to SeVEDS, wages in Windham County are lower than the surrounding regions and some of the lowest in Vermont. The county also has the oldest population in the state. This combination is a challenge for employers building their workforces, because as older employees retire, it is harder to replace them with younger, entry-level employees.

During an Aug. 5 roundtable with U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., local business owners also discussed gaps they witnessed in the skills of prospective workers that made hiring difficult.

Gigi Matthews, resort services supervisor for Stratton Mountain Resort, said that the ski resort was looking to hire seasonal and full-time staff.

Stratton hires for a variety of positions, from housekeeping to sales to maintenance to executives. Matthews said that Stratton’s diverse workforce needs and focus on training meant that the ski resort looked less at a candidate’s skills and more at his or her optimism, and whether they’d be a good fit.

Angela Timm, director of finance and administration at Commonwealth Dairy, said the yogurt company wanted to fill 30 temporary packaging positions.

The company routinely starts new hires in entry-level, temporary packaging positions, Timm said. In starting workers as temp-to-hire, the company evaluates individual workers’ skills and potential, and then invites some to come aboard full-time.

Commonwealth also feels that promoting from within builds loyalty, Timm said.

Of the company’s 112 workers, 60 started as temps and were moved into full-time payroll, she added.

David Altstadt, coordinator of the Windham WIB and the expo, sat on a couch in the Quality Inn’s lobby while speaking with members of the press. A steady stream of people walked by.

David Altstadt, coordinator of the Windham WIB and the expo, sat on a couch in the Quality Inn’s lobby while speaking with members of the press. A steady stream of people walked by.

Exhibitors told him they’d been talking to people all afternoon.

Altstadt said that the organizers called the day’s event a career expo — not a job fair — to target the widest range of job seekers.

“It’s part of a continuum,” he said.

Some people may leave the expo with job applications in hand, he said. But workers are at different stages of their careers: Some are actively seeking work; others are taking the next step in their careers; some high school students were out “looking for what’s possible.”

First and foremost, Altstadt said, “we’re trying to get the word out about what it is that our local businesses do, the variety of occupational fields they employ workers in, and the qualifications they desire in new hires, such as preferred educational levels, job-related skills, and prior work experience.”

He characterized participant feedback as good, adding that job seekers and career researchers were discovering companies and opportunities they seemed excited about connecting with.

A hope for the expo is that it will help employers tell their stories and induce people to stay in the region and grow their careers here. The education institutions in attendance can also help people adapt current experience and skills or gain new skill sets for landing a new job.

“[The expo is about] setting the table and letting those conversations happen,” he said.

Altstadt said the WIB’s exit survey of attendees would yield valuable insight for planning additional career expos.

The expo fits into the bigger picture of workforce revitalization and the work of SeVEDS and the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, he added.

Representatives of R.O.V. Technologies, Inc. a Brattleboro-based robotics company specializing in nuclear facility inspection, said the company is looking for engineers.

Electrical and mechanical engineers are few and far between, said Donald Butler, the company’s vice-president for market development.

Most of people who stopped by the company’s display did not fit the bill, said Butler and another representative, Melanie Boese.

That said, added Boese, they asked a few to send along their résumés.

Exposure and outreach were the biggest benefits of the expo for R.O.V.

“Nobody seems to know we’re here,” said Boese.

A number of high school students seeking career advice reached out to R.O.V. at the expo.

A man stopped by with his son, a junior in high school, said Butler. It was great to see the father helping his son prepare for the future.

Daydon Harvey, who has worked in the United States and overseas, came to the expo seeking a job in management or project management.

As she filled out the exit survey, Harvey said she looked at a few jobs and found multiple employers she planned to investigate.

The crowds at the expo made having conversations, and at times getting information, difficult, she said. Holding the expo in a bigger space would have been nice.

Still, she felt the expo represented a good attempt to help workers and potential employers connect.

The Career Expo sponsors included C & S Wholesale Grocers, Brattleboro Retreat, Commonwealth Dairy, Entergy Vermont Yankee, Green Mountain Power, Against the Grain Gourmet, Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation/SeVEDS, Chroma Technologies, Creative Workforce Solutions, Fairpoint Communications, GS Precision, Members 1st Credit Union, Mount Snow, New Chapter, Sonnax, Southeastern Vermont Community Action, Stratton Mountain Resort, TD Bank, The Richards Group, the Vermont Department of Labor, and the Windham Regional Career Center.

See: http://www.commonsnews.org/site/site05/story.php?articleno=8497&page=1#.Ukwwn2SG1OE

By Christian Avard
Staff Writer | September 30,2013

Brattleboro businesses, agencies and nonprofits want Vermonters to know that in spite of Vermont Yankee — Windham County’s largest employer — closing at the end of 2014, area employers are hiring.

With resumes and business cards in hand, more than 400 job seekers attended Thursday’s first Windham County Career Expo in Brattleboro. The event drew 40 exhibitors, 25 employers and eight local technical colleges. Some were hiring, while others offered job training.

According to expo organizer David Altstadt, Windham County has the potential to be a strong and vibrant local economy. He said there are a variety of jobs available ranging from local agriculture, artisans, high-technology companies, ski resorts, social services and more. He said the purpose of the job fair was to spread the word that there are great jobs right in the area.

“We have a lot of great employers who chose to locate here. It’s off Interstate 91, close to the Boston and New York areas and we know that several employers are looking for qualified workers,” Altstadt said. “They often do recruiting elsewhere we want to invest in the whole community and recruit locally.”

Patricia Moulton Powden of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, a nonprofit promoting economic development, attended Thursday’s expo and said that Windham County is growing, that employers are hiring and there is potential for economic growth in the region.

Just recently, Entergy made an announcement to close Vermont Yankee next year. Moulton Powden said the closure has brought a sense of urgency to the area, that organizations are preparing for life after Vermont Yankee and that efforts are being made to retain Yankee employees.

The job expo was one means of doing just that.

“What’s happening at Vermont Yankee only makes a bad situation worse, but BDCC has a plan,” Moulton Powden said. “We’re having a conference on economic development strategies to grow the economy. Topics will include mentoring, seed capital, business incubators, green building development and more.”

Altstadt and Moulton Powden both said that the large turnout was not because of Vermont Yankee. Event organizers had the event planned out well before Entergy’s announcement and they said turnout was large because it was the first expo in years in the Brattleboro area.

However, a representative from G.S. Precision of Brattleboro, said she met with some former and current Vermont Yankee employees looking for work. G.S. Precision manufactures machines components for the aerospace industry and representatives said they hope to retain Vermont Yankee workers. They will also provide on-site training, teaching and more for those who are willing to put in the effort.

Shannon Zimmerman of G.S. Precision said that Windham County has potential and good jobs are available in the area.

“Manufacturing jobs are not going away. We’re growing, We’re looking for experience and we do train,” she said.

@Tagline:christian.avard@

http://rutlandherald.com/article/20130930/BUSINESS03/709309989/1011/BUSINESS

See slideshow here.

By HOWARD WEISS-TISMAN / Reformer Staff

BRATTLEBORO — Over the past few years business leaders and economic development experts have been collecting data and developing strategies to improve Windham County’s economy.

The average age in Windham County is high, the average wage is low and companies say it is hard to find skilled employee to fill key positions.

Different groups around the region are working to address the issue and in a continuing effort to move Windham County’s economy forward, a career expo is being held this week to bring employers and workers together.

The Southeastern Vermont Career Expo will be held Thursday, Sept. 26, from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Quality Inn on Putney Road.

Career expo organizer David Altstadt says it is going to take a long time and a variety of strategies to improve the business climate, but this week’s career expo could be a powerful tool for helping move the economy forward.

“There had been a real push to put workforce development on the front burner to revitalize the local economy,” Altstadt said. “We were looking for a way to jumpstart the conversation and what better way is there than having a career expo as one piece of that puzzle?”

Altstadt is the coordinator of the Windham Workforce Investment Board, a group that works with employers, development groups, public and non-profit service providers and educational institutions to help develop a quality workforce.

The investment board is a Southeastern Vermont Community Action program that is run by a volunteer executive committee and it has hosted a number of different workforce development events over the years.

This is the first job fair that focuses on Windham County employers, Altstadt said.

“We’ve been talking about the challenges Windham County faces for three years, and we’ve been trying to come up with a meaningful project to help employers,” Altstadt said. “Job fairs have been held in other places in Vermont but Windham County has never had its own job fair. We thought it was high time something like this happened.”

Jennifer Locascio is the director of Human Resources at Omega Optical in Brattleboro. She said the company attends job fairs all over the world to find highly skilled technicians for its high tech equipment.

When Locascio was asked to attend Thursday’s career expo she said she saw it as important way to reach out to the local employment pool.

“We are always trying to recruit from the local area anyway and we think this is a better forum for that,” Locascio said. “We are excited to be a part of this.”

She also said the expo is going to give Omega Optical a chance to meet with other local businesses and with community members who might not know about the company.

“We think it is important for us to get out into the community and talk about what we do here,” she said. “We have a few positions to fill and we are looking forward to talking with people about Omega.”

The career expo is expected to bring together 25 employers, including those in manufacturing, wholesale trade, food production and energy.

But Altstadt says the event is looking to do even more than just match employers with workers.

There are eight educational organizations that will have tables to talk about programs they offer, along with three staffing agencies and another eight organizations that support employment services.

“We have sold out our tables. There is a lot of interest in this and we think it is important to have everyone together in one room,” Altstadt said. “We think this is going to be one more way to continue that conversation about supporting workforce development in Windham County.”

Jack Hornbeck, who helps recruit employees at Swiss Precision, said the company is eager to be a part of the region’s first career expo.

Hornbeck said it has been a challenge to find workers with the necessary skills to fill high tech positions at the small company.

Swiss Precision has 18 employees and growth there can be slowed when there are not enough people to run the machines.

“We’ve exhausted a lot of situations. We’re looking from Keene, New Hampshire to Springfield, Massachusetts,” he said. “Hopefully this is going to give us a chance to meet people and have them see what we do. Maybe someone will come in and take a look at Swiss Precision. It can give us exposure and see some of the local talent out there.”

Altstadt said the career expo is being held as one strategy in the region’s attempt to jump start the local economy.

Helping companies connect with potential workers is the primary reason for holding the expo, but he agreed that having company officials from all over Windham County in one room should help strengthen the overall business climate.

And he said he hopes the expo becomes an annual event.

“We hope this is one way to light a fire and help companies make connections that they have otherwise been struggling to do,” Altstadt said. “A lot of people are working toward that broader goal of increasing workforce development and this is one strategy. We think this is a win-win for employers and workers in the region.”

For more information go to www.vermontcareerexpo.com.

Howard Weiss-Tisman can be reached at 802-254-2311 ext. 279 or [email protected]. Follow Howard @HowardReformer.

By Susan Keese

Recording is available here

Even before the news that Vermont Yankee would close in 2014, the state’s southeast corner was grappling with declining jobs, wages and population.

A Career Expo in Brattleboro this month will address these problems, which experts say would exist with or without the region’s highest-paying employer.

A coalition hoping to improve the local employment picture has been working since last fall on the expo, scheduled for September 26.

David Altstadt, the expo’s coordinator, is with the Windham Workforce Investment Board. Altstadt says the expo is not just about matching workers with jobs. It’s about developing a work force that will eventually command better wages and opportunities.

Altstadt says the 25 exhibiting employers will be ready to talk about long-term career opportunities.

“We’ve also invited a number of the region’s colleges and technical schools to exhibit,” Altstadt says. “Hopefully, this is part of connecting the dots. We hope that as folks hear about their dream occupations, if they don’t have the necessary skills or credentials, they’ll take a stop by some of our education institutions to hear about the kinds of program offerings they have which will give them the necessary skills to do those jobs.”

Representatives of government and non profit agencies will also be on hand, to help with the logistics of training for, and keeping good jobs.

The groups behind the expo have also made an effort to attract job seekers from surrounding states. Altstadt says many people in the area cross state lines to go to work.

That mobility has often worked against Windham County, in part because educated workers can usually earn more money for comparable jobs outside the region.

Jeff Lewis, director of the Brattleboro Development Credit Union, says there are some very good jobs in the region.

“As we look at the economy of Southeastern Vermont,” Lewis says, “The most striking element is that we lack sufficient workforce to fuel the high quality employers that we have in the region. We have a roughly twenty-year history of losing work force. And because we’ve lost work force we’ve lost jobs.”

The situation is predicted to get much worse with the loss of some 630 of the region’s highest paying jobs when Vermont Yankee closes.

A regional task force issued a grim report in 2012 on how the closing would ripple through the region’s economy.

It’s been assumed that many of Yankee’s highly trained engineers would leave the region to work at other plants.

The economic impact would be more gradual if Entergy, the plant’s owner, decides to decommission the plant right away. The process can take a decade and would keep some workers employed.

But if Entergy mothballs the plant for several decades before decommissioning — a method called SAFSTOR — the economic impact would be more dramatic.

Jeff Lewis of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation says there are many unanswered questions about Entergy’s strategy for closing.

“We don’t know, and the plant doesn’t know,” Lewis says. “These are conversations we’d like to have with the workforce and the plant. There’s a lot of loose ends here that have to be worked out.”

Meanwhile, business groups are following many of the recommendation made by the 2012 report on the plant’s closing. Much of it involves the slow work of building a better trained work force and a higher wage economy.

Sponsors say the Career Expo is a step in that direction.

Tim Johnson, WTSA 96.7 FM

New recording is available here.

Windham County is holding its first ever Career Expo in Brattleboro later this month. At least two area employers say its a chance to reach out to potential jobseekers both in the region and outside the Windham County area.

Angela Timm of Commonwealth Dairy says manufacturing is alive and well. “We’ve added 22,000 square feet in the last three months, and we’re awaiting a new filler. So, we’re actually going to expand operations here.”

Jeff Corrigan of the Brattleboro Retreat said they have a number of openings both in health care and in other fields. “Naturally, the vast majority of our positions, number wise, are for mental health professionals, but we also have just about every other type of job that you can think of, and we need good people for those jobs as well.”

The Career Expo is planned for September 26 at the Quality Inn. Information is available online at vermontcareerexpo.com.