Hundreds of Job Seekers Attend VA Hiring Event hosted at NCWorks Career Center-Rowan in Salisbury

In late July 2019, the NCWorks Career Center-Rowan leadership team was approached by members of the Human Resources Team from the W. G. (Bill) Hefner Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Center in Salisbury. The VA was interested in holding a hiring event and they would need approximately 47 qualified individuals to fill positions in three area cities - Salisbury, Kernersville and Charlotte.

The NCWorks Career Center-Rowan leadership team consisting of Joseph Dismuke, Career Center Leader and Shelia Heggins, Assistant Career Center Leader, sat down with the VA Human Resources staff and discussed the logistics and plans for the hiring event.

With the event planned for August 27, 2019 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., it required a process that included both the NCWorks Career Center staff and VA staff.

During the lead up to the event, marketing and advertising was focused throughout the Rowan, Mecklenburg and Forsyth counties. Employment consultants Chavonne Greer, Mike Jones, Anthony Robinson and Tony Fleming were all instrumental in getting the word out by utilizing the local radio station (WSAT 1280), customer interactions and electronic media. The word seemed to spread like wildfire and the message continued to grow throughout the region.

As the hiring event date approached, Dismuke says that a quiet calm rushed over the NCWorks Career Center, which gave staff an artificial impression that the event might not capture a massive audience.

Through it all, the staff focused on its main goal, which was creating an exciting event that had the potential to promote the NCWorks Career Center within the Salisbury community and beyond.

At 7:30 a.m., on August 27, the morning of the event, Dismuke recounts his amazement as he approached the career center, “As I drove up to the NCWorks Career Center, I could not believe my eyes,” recounted Dismuke.

He recalls the line of applicants was around the building and the parking lot was already getting filled. It seems that the word had gotten out and people were anxious to see what the NCWorks Career Center and the VA had to offer.

As the NCWorks Career Center and VA staff arrived, conversations about the crowd began to permeate throughout the center about how many people were already arrived. Staff from both organizations started their preparations towards the application process and the system they would utilize to assist everyone.

The plan was to allow those with NCWorks Career Center referrals to move to the first step of the process which included a VA pre-interview screening that determined if applicant met the necessary requirements to be forwarded to the next step. Dismuke explained that this step consisted of the first of two interviews, with the second interview occurring later if the applicant passed the initial one.

If applicants entered the career center with no referral, they would need to see a NCWorks Employment Consultant to be considered and moved to the beginning stages of the application process. Since news of the event had spread so fast, most of the applicants did not have referrals and would have to see a consultant prior to starting the process.

From the sart of the event, people were pouring into the building. The NCWorks staff worked seamlessly and applicants were updated in ncworks.gov to ensure their current information was correct and referred to the next step of the hiring process. This was also an opportunity for staff to provide information about the NCWorks Career Center that they may not have known about initially.

Dismuke added that the day seemed to speed past and around 2:30 p.m. the last applicant was being cycled through the process. The large crowd of applicants had been managed and assisted through the process and every qualified applicant had been seen and reviewed. After all the excitement, the NCWorks Career Center-Rowan staff had seen and interviewed over 330 individuals.

“They all did an excellent job, without complaint. They are the best staff in this area, in this region and in this state, in my opinion,” says Dismuke.

“I would like to give strong praise and thank you to these individuals for their exceptional leadership role: Shelia Heggins, Daisy Boyd, Charleena Zepeda, Wanda Fortner, Chavonne Greer, Tammie Davis, Tonja Brown, Anthony Robinson, Debbie Hillard, Tony Fleming and Frances Thornton. They made this successful,” added Dismuke.

After a brief recap with the event’s leadership, Dismuke say that there was a genuine consensus that it was a remarkable hiring event with a significant amount of talent helped!

For more information about the NCWorks Career Centers in the Centralina WDB region, click here!

Tags: Workforce and Economic Development Career Employment Events Government Job Placement Marketing Non-Profit Organizations Under-Employed Unemployed