Pierce College will be closing the Job Center March 30 after an analysis between the functions of the Job Center and Career Center showed the Job Center to be an “unnecessary unit.”
Pierce College president Kathleen Burke-Kelly ordered this decision due to lack of funding. Burke-Kelly was not available for comment.
“The Job Center is very useful, especially the website,” psychology and art major Willie Rogiro said. “Where else are [students] going to find a job? They don’t have much of a chance [without it].”
Rogiro obtained a job through the Job Center, but still uses it to try and find a better position, which he feels the Job Center has the best chance of helping him with.
The Job Center provides employers a way to connect with students easily, and provides students a way to access those opportunities and prepare for the interviewing process with free professional development services.
Some of these professional development services the Job Center currently provides are job searching techniques, resume writing, interviewing techniques, and occupational aptitude testing, most of which are not part of the Career Center’s services.
Instructor of business administration Richard Skidmore has been director of the Job Center since 1998.
During his time as director, Skidmore modernized and expanded the capacities of the Job Center to help make servicing students more effective.
Once the Job Center closes much of his work will be gone as he and the rest of the staff in the office are relocated to other positions in the school and any services saved will be moved to the Career Center.
“The people we have working here with us are on a federal work-study program,” Skidmore said. “The Financial Aid Department will find new positions for them, however, our partnerships with the community will be ended.”
Before the order was issued, Skidmore had been teaching additional classes in the Business Administration Department as part of the reduction in the Job Center’s hours, but will become a full-time instructor beginning April 9.
Another change that came before the order was the removal of Aaron Chan, a valuable staff member on a joint assignment between the Job Center and Cooperative Work Experience sections of the office, to the Office of Academic Affairs.
“[The closing of the Job Center is] very disheartening,” Chan said. “Where will students get these services now?”
Bree Bogart, a theater major who works part-time at the job center, feels her experience at the Job Center was invaluable to developing her interpersonal skills.
“I got to meet a lot of interesting people here,” Bogart said. “I used to be a short tempered person, but now I have more patience for the people working with and for me.”
The Pierce College Annual Job Fair, which was cancelled this year due to Skidmore’s increased teaching hours preventing him from handling the details of the event.
When Skidmore took over as director, the Job Fair had 15 to 20 employers, but under him it climbed to as high as 160 participating companies, including Sears, Ford, radio stations, UPS, the Daily News and the CIA.
“The Job Center helps reach out to companies in different disciplines,” Skidmore said. “Without us, companies aren’t going to be able to directly reach prospective students though the fair.”
The Job Center has been serving the Pierce Community for almost 20 years, with approximately 8000 people a year utilizing the services provided by the center, approximately 400,000 total, according to Skidmore.
Any chance of the Job Center reopening in the future is unknown, but the closing hasn’t affected the motivation of the staff in the office, and they plan to keep it that way until it closes.
“The Job Center closes the 30th, and until then we’re going to be here doing our job,” Skidmore said. “My staff is aware of that and is continuing business as usual. That’s what good managers do.”
link:http://info.piercecollege.edu/offices/jobcenter/
