Westmoreland-Fayette Workforce Investment Board

Today, the Dept. of Community and Economic Development and the PA Commission for Women are hosting a virtual event for businesswomen! This event, titled Challenges Women in Business Face, will present a round table covering the business world from a women’s point of view and will be a helpful presentation for women employers and business owners! Follow the link below for more information: https://business.pa.gov//challenges-women-in-business-face/ #womeninbusiness #WorkforceDevelopment #PA

It is best to keep your references off your resume, LinkedIn profile, your personal website, and/or any other public spaces. Displaying your references too early in the hiring process could introduce bias. If a hiring manager or recruiter is interested in hiring you, they may ask to see your references. At this point, you should have a neatly typed page of your references available to hand them or email them! #JobTipTuesday #JobTip #CareerAdvice

Last Thursday, Fayette Future Workforce Teacher in the Workplace (TIW) program hosted a virtual employer panel moderated by our Executive Director Janet Ward and Fayette Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Muriel Nuttall. This event focused on how business has changes since the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic and how local business are adapting. A big thank you to all the educators who joined in on the event and the employer panel participants: Connie Slampak of Abby H...ome Health, Eric Miller of Hranec Mechanical Contractor , Fred Ansel of Heartland Fabrication, LLC Heartland Fabrication (pictured), and Susan Franks of Ford Business Machines, Inc.! #TIW #FayetteCounty

Governor Wolf and the PA Dept. of Health Sectretary Rachel Levine will be hosting a free Q&A event for the business community providing clarification on COVID-19 business operations. This is a great opportunity for employers and employees to gain a better understanding of what is expected from PA businesses! Click here for more info: #businesscommunity #PA https://www.pachamber.org//covid19_resurgence_planning_ex/

The WFWIB's November 2021 Newsletter is here! Read our feature story "WFWIB visits NWCTC's BFLA" now - follow the link here: https://www.westfaywib.org//2020/12/November-Newsletter.pdf #Newsletter #WFWIB

Amazing things are happening in Brownsville! Watch The Perennial Project's video on what they are doing to connect students and promote Brownsville's historic past.

It's #MeetTheWIB day! Meet Melissa Keys! Melissa has been with the #WFWIB for almost 12.5 years. She works closely with the CFO as an Accountant II to ensure our compliance with Federal, State, and WDB regulations and policies. Melissa is also responsible for monitoring the compliance (both fiscal and programmatic) of our subrecipients and vendors. She ensures that these contracts comply with Federal, State and WDB rules and regulations in accordance with the Workforce Innov...ation and Opportunity Act. Melissa is also the Equal Opportunity Officer for our Workforce Development Area! Her favorite thing about working for the WFWIB is the small office environment where she gets to know her co-workers well. We all work well together to get our goals accomplished, said Melissa. One piece of advice she would offer students/recent graduates is to take a financial literacy course. Take the time to understand how taxes work, how school loans work, how much it costs to live, and how to stay out of debt from the beginning of your adult life. #workforceinvestmentboard #careerpathways #growth #learn #experience #highschool #workforcedevelopment

Having the two years of experience at an arts organization was a good way to solidify the field I wanted to work in and gave me the skills I needed that helped my admission to Carnegie Mellon’s Masters program with scholarship. These are the word of Alexandra, an Experience Works! PLUS alumna! Alexandra participated during the 2018 and 2019 college internship program as the Marketing Assistant intern with the Westmoreland Cultural Trust. We were happy to have her involved in the program and advance her future career goals by supporting her internship experience! Thank you for sharing your story, Alexandra! #ExperienceWorksPLUS #SuccessStory #InternshipSuccess

Thousands of companies, hiring managers, job recruiters, and employees of companies you may be interested in are on LinkedIn! It's a great platform to put your name out there, show your skills and experience, and make professional connections to grow your network. Are you on LinkedIn yet? #JobTipTuesday #WorkforceDevelopment #interview #resume #jobtip

Our One-Stop Operator and/or Title I Career Services Provider Bidder’s Conference is today at 2 p.m.! This conference is to answer questions that were submitted on Oct. 15 regarding the RFP. Are you registered to attend? Visit our website for more information: https://www.westfaywib.org//wfwdb-one-stop-operator-and-/

It's #MeettheWIB day! Meet Donna Casterwiler! Donna has worked for the #WFWIB for 20 years as the Executive Assistant. In her role, she assists Executive Director Janet Ward, the Westmoreland-Fayette Workforce Board of Directors, and her other WFWIB family (or co-workers) when needed! Her favorite thing about working for the WFWIB is that every service assists many different people: the unemployed, underemployed, new businesses, as well as established businesses. Donna is ...also proud of the work she and the rest of WFWIB team do to provided youth with education and internship opportunities, such as the fun learning experiences SWPA BotsIQ provides. Donna’s advice to those who are still in high school/recent high school graduates is to take the time to think of your future and what you want to achieve. From junior high, high school, college, technical school, or just hands on learning, the resources are there for everyone wanting a better life for themselves and their family. #workforceinvestmentboard #careerpathways #growth #learn #experience #highschool

Carlos Gonzalez was a dislocated worker interested in pursuing CDL training. He came into the office and took the CASAS assessment; however, not scoring high enough he was referred to the Intermediate Unit for Adult Education remediation. Carlos faithfully attended class for a few months. Once his scores were up, he began the ITA process. Mr. Gonzalez is an American citizen who moved to Mexico went he was 10 months old. He obtained his high school diploma in Mexico, then r...eturned to the United States in his late 30’s. Because of his age, he never registered for the Selective Service here in the United States and was referred to the Selective Service to obtain a letter as to why he wasn’t registered. This was a two-month process. Once his ITA process began, he was advised by the training provider he would be more successful in obtaining employment with an American Education. Upon this advice, Mr. Gonzalez was referred to the Intermediate Unit to begin Adult Education classes to obtain his GED. I am happy to report after a yearlong process Mr. Gonzalez obtained his GED in August and will begin CDL training with Douglas Education Center in the near future. Erika Butter, Employment Specialist, PA CareerLink Fayette County. A big thank you to Employment Specialist Erika Butter for sharing this amazing success story. We are always more than thrilled to see the positive outcomes of participants who work hard within the programs offered by our partners. Way to go, Carlos! We can wait to see what amazing things you’ll do next. #FayetteCounty #ProgramSuccess #GED #WorkforceDevelopment

Hey Facebook, we just reached 100 likes! Thank you so much for your support and interest in the workforce development of our community. We are looking forward to continuing to share exciting workforce news, programs, and events with you! #milestone #followers

You have to be well informed to make a decision and that’s what makes a good leader is what one student at NWCTC explained. NWCTC hosted a Business Fundamentals and Leadership Academy yesterday, the first of five sessions which several speakers were able to attend and inform the students on how to be a good leader. Cathi Gerhard (Adjunct Lecturer of Penn State New Kensington) told the students In order to be a good leader, you have to be an effective one and this message seemed to impact them tremendously. #grow #learn #lead

Job Tip Tuesday! At the end of almost all interviews, the interviewers will ask do you have any questions for us? Having good and meaningful questions prepared to ask them shows that you’re truly interested in the job that you have applied for. #WIB #workforcedevelopmentboard #collegeprep #intern #interns #internships #internship #PA #PAjobs #careerpath #careerpathways #growth #learn #experience #workexperience #careers #jobs #resume #interview

Read all about local GED grads’ success and the upcoming Alle-Kiski Job Fair in this month’s Alle-Kiski Advocate! Thank you PA CareerLink Alle-Kiski for putting this great newsletter together! Follow the link below: https://drive.google.com//1_DlOVuKAWQQjqeqHvQo4t3_Vo/view #PACareerLink #Newsletter #WestmorelandCounty

It's #MeettheWIB day! Meet Janet Ward! Janet has been with the #WIB for 6 years now and has been recently promoted to Executive Director. With this role, she oversees the operations that occur here as well as maintain quality and performance of programs and services, build strategic partnerships internally and externally to increase the competitive advantage of Westmoreland and Fayette counties through workforce development. With such a small staff, she realized that thes...e members would quickly turn into her second family. Everyone has their own roles and responsibilities but is willing and to support and help one another no matter the issue; not to mention how great it is to be able to make an impact every day with individuals in our counties by helping to connect them to our local employers who need a workforce. There are so many opportunities right here in these two counties to find a good viable career and great salaries as well. Stay here, live here, exceed here. Janet has two young boys, one of which is in high school and she has been telling him since he was a child to try different things, explore opportunities, get involved with activities, job shadow, do an internship or a work experience, research, check out the CTC’s and other post-secondary opportunities, ask questions, and learn your essential skills like communication, problem solving, critical thinking. She hopes to relay this advice to every high school student as well. #workforceinvestmentboard #careerpathways #growth #learn #experience

Westmoreland County Chamber of Commerce has released their October Newsletter several days ago, click on the link below to view the article and see the headline Chad Amond Presented with Prestigious Keystone Award. #community #PA #growth https://www.westmorelandchamber.com//october-2020-newslett