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One Stops operations have primarily focused on assessment, career planning, counseling & training of their customers. No one would argue that these practices must continue to be the core competencies of the American Job Center.
I propose that additional core business processes need be to be emphasized with the overall driver and narrative being that the One Stop think of itself as a small business and be run that way. Core processes are the essential functions a business performs to achieve its goals.
Thinking and acting more like a small business would also have incremental positive effects in engaging the business community. Ultimately all this combines to better serve the customer base – adults, dislocated workers, youth, employers – toward attaining established performance measures.
Here is a list of my recommended One Stop “Core Business Processes”. Take a few moments and conduct a self-evaluation of your One Stop’s practices. You may find this to be a valuable tool to generate discussion with your team.
Don’t hesitate to contact me with your thoughts!
Read each and rate how your One Stop is operating based on the following six-point scale: Strongly Agree, Agree, Agree, Neither, Disagree and Strongly Disagree.
- Strategic Management:A plan exists that reflects our One Stop’s mission statement and objectives. All our AJC staff are included discussions about goals, understand their role to achieve them, and employ a cohesive product value message to local market and stakeholders.
- Marketing/Promotion:Tactics are in place to actively promote our AJC to compel customers and the business community to call and consider the AJC a valued resource.
- Sales Planning/Job Development: Job development and placement activities are strategic and integrate sales planning practices targeting labor market identified sectors of growth, demand occupations, employers and linked to customer backgrounds and training attended.
- Business Service Engagement: All our staff confidently represent the One Stop when presenting its scope of services during employer inquiries, job development and placement activities. This includes demonstrating effective customer engagement behaviors resulting in productive business relationships gaining their participation and retention in the workforce system.
- Customer Experience:Our customers experience a participant-centered approach during assessment, counseling and career planning including their guided-active involvement of the management of the career exploration and decision-making process.
- Staff Communications:Our One Stop working environment exhibits open communications, everyone participating, not holding back on their ideas or opinions with management. Staff treat each other with respect and listen to and value all input for consideration.
- Business Intelligence/CRM: We make data driven decisions to when developing strategy and policy. There is management and monitoring of performance results to ensure a proactive response performance trends to attain performance measures.
Aramini Management is a management and business consulting practice. Since 2005 we have assisted organizations in the corporate, educational and non-profit arenas execute management and operational improvements to attain their goals and better engage their customers and staff. Our experience includes One Stop Career Center operations and community college workforce development and training grant programs for corporate clients.