HAPPY HOUR
2-6 pm
RYDAY!
metro
Priority: Jobs
Open/Days Lunch a [Mind
Sun-Thu 11am-11pm
Fri a Sat llain-12mid.
SIGNATURE RIBS
FRESH SALMON
PIZZA FAVORITES
Jackie Headapohl
Managing Editor
- t —
3.99
11J , 1/411i BURGER!
!Fell MA
ANY LARGE ROUND MBA
RECEIVE TWA MIAS FAN TIE PONE OF ONE
NEM MILESEINWIE
sow ea misommocturour oft
I f1N NrIN
BRIM &CARRYON
MI MOM W ON SW NM
eritsvuti
OMIT se
eismovni Imo OWN
re akila SIMONTON=
32169 Northwestern Hwy.
411)
248-737-9600
Shadelds•tle ers China Shop
going out
*less sale
silverware crystal
replacement dinnerware USEDKOSHER
brand new NEVER
TERFORD cRytm UP1S355% OPT
qurines 60% off Swarovski jewellery & gifts up to 53%0FF
selected jewellery-70% no tax* cash only
188 OUELLETTE WINDSOR
t
sun-fri 10-5:34
marelnick@sympatico.ca
519,253,6098
TUNNELTOKEN WITH PURCHASE
FREE MN CITY GARAGE
Audi
2011 Audi A4 2.0 Quattro
$379 ino * arvionth
se
Truth in Engineering 1/4,w01L),
.
• _
See
ZERNER
Mt 24 25
141/ ..
°1N
DEksgsre
r
.g n c Syvania
wirk
5570 Monroe St
Toledo, OH
www.vindevers.com
12995 plus tax & fees due at delivery. 10,000 mi./yr. allowed, 250/mi. over limit. With approved credit. See dealer for details. Offer expires 9/6/11.
20
August 25 2011
Federation-led "Jobs Think Tank"
to help the unemployed.
N
ews on the jobs front con-
tinues to be grim. Last week,
the state's Department of
Technology, Management & Budget
released unemployment data, and it
wasn't pretty.
Michigan's unemployment rate rose
by 0.4 of a percentage point to 10.9 per-
cent in July. In the Metro Detroit area,
the news was worse. Unemployment
increased .06 of a percentage point to
12.5 percent. The state's labor mar-
ket continues to show "only modest
improvements" compared to last year,
according to Rick Waclawek, direc-
tor of the Bureau of Labor Market
Information and Strategic Initiatives.
A consortium of nonprofit organiza-
tions and for-profit businesses, led by
the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit, has gotten together in an effort
to coordinate efforts to lower that
unemployment rate and help get the
jobless back to work.
"Federation
doesn't necessarily
have the expertise on
the job front, but we
know who does',' said
Federation CEO Scott
Kaufman, who, along
with Federation
Scott
President Michael
Kaufman
Horowitz, led a
meeting of the "Jobs
Think Tank" in May. "We are trying to
act as a conduit to get everyone on the
same page."
The Jobs Think Tank is working on a
broad scope of issues, such as matching
internship opportunities to students
and new grads, attracting and retaining
young adults, helping downsized work-
ers, and finding the best way for non-
profits and companies to coordinate
their efforts.
The inclusion of the for-profit sec-
tor in the effort was very important to
Kaufman.
"They're going to drive a lot of this','
he said. "In a sense, the customer is the
HR director and company. What do
they need? What are they looking for?
"One of the big challenges to people
in the job space, whether it be HR peo-
ple, headhunters or organizations like
JVS or Intern Michigan, is an efficient
way to share information," Kaufman
said. "Everybody is doing their thing,
A consortium of
nonprofit and for-
profit organizations
led by Federation
has gotten together
to coordinate efforts
to help get the jobless
back to work.
but they don't necessarily know how to
cross pollinate."
The first goal of the Jobs Think Tank
is to create an information-sharing
portal. Since their spring meeting, a
small subset of the group has begun to
gather the needs of the various parties
and investigate technology that could
enable a site that would allow the entire
job placement community access.
Kaufman cited come examples of
how such a site would work. Imagine
a headhunter who deals specifically in
engineering. Such a site would allow
that person to target only job seekers
with those skills. Such a site would also
allow organizations to refer job seek-
ers to other organizations that provide
services they don't. For example, JVS
has a program called Success Teams,
which teaches people how to build their
brands, perfect their interview skills
and write resumes.
"A company or organization that just
deals with job placement would have
an easy means of referring to JVS job
seekers who could benefit from that
program:' Kaufman said.
The goal of the Think Tank is to
make sure that all organizations are
aware of the various resources available
in the community, according to Paul
Blatt, director of Career & Business
Services at JVS who attended the
group's last meeting.
"We want to make sure there are no
gaps and the whole community has
access to the information they need','
he said.
The team is in the due-diligence
phase of finding the best solution, and
nothing has been defined yet. A third
meeting of the Jobs Think Tank is cur-
rently being planned. Li