SR job resource center closing

The county is closing a resource center for job seekers next week as it revamps the way it offers employment counseling services.

Job Start, a satellite office of the Sonoma County Job Link program, is shutting its doors Wednesday.

The office opened in 1998 on Paulin Drive off Administration Drive, in the same building as the county's welfare programs. The original goal was to locate a job resource center convenient for the people who needed it most.

The office has a handful of telephones, computers with Internet access, job opening publications and other tools for job seekers, said Karen Feis, director of the employment and training division of the county Human Services Department.

It is staffed by a secretary and an intern, both of whom will keep their jobs as the office's services are relocated to Job Link headquarters on Challenger Way in southwest Santa Rosa.

In recent years, Job Link has embraced a more hands-on approach to help people find employment, including counseling, skills assessments and workshops covering topics such as improving interview skills, Feis said.

Experience has shown that such services increase job seekers' success in finding employment, Feis said.

"We're trying to build and mold our services to best reflect community needs," she said. "If we're going to do this, we want to do it the right way."

Santa Rosa resident Roger Brewster wrote a letter to the editor this week calling the closure a "grave mistake" and a "horrific blow" to job seekers in the county. But Feis disagreed.

The closure may prove inconvenient for some, but job seekers will still be able to use the free services at the new location. The only difference is that beginning July 1 they will be asked to meet with a job counselor to discuss their employment goals and search approach, Feis said.

Every time they use the resource center thereafter, job seekers will scan a card, much like a library card, she said.

"It will help us track which services are used better," she said. "This will give us a lot more information."

The changes are not being done to save money but to improve service, Feis said.

Job Link has about a $4 million budget, most of which is funded by the county with additional money from the program's numerous partners, Feis said.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com.