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Team Effort
DOL job center partners with Wal-Mart to recruit and train workers
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Business New Haven
5/13/2002
By: Karen Singer
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HAMDEN - The state Department of Labor (DOL) Job Center in Hamden has teamed up with Wal-Mart in an effort to recruit 250 employees for the retail giant's new Dixwell Avenue store, scheduled to open in mid-July. Between April 15 and May 3, more than 2,000 job-seekers streamed into the building in hopes of such jobs as sales associates, cashiers, cart pushers and department managers.
“This is the first time a retailer has used our facility for this length of time,” said Lynn M. Dallas, director of the center, which serves the New Haven region and is the second largest of the 18 job centers in Connecticut.” Usually we have employers here only for a day or an afternoon.”
The job center provides space, phone lines, an online job bank and other support services to employers at no charge.
Over the past year more than 100 employers, including T.J. Maxx and Jackie Matchett Personnel Services, have used the center for recruitment, according to DOL business service consultant Barbara Friend.
It was Friend who was instrumental in attracting Wal-Mart.
“We are always looking for some type of location to do hiring for a brand-new store,” explains Calvin Lechliter, manager of the Hamden Wal-Mart, which when it opens will be the retailer's 24th store in the state.
“A lot of times we rent one big open-area room with some tables. “Barbara called when we were searching locations, and we loved the set-up here. The cubicles are good for interviewing, and the conference rooms are wonderful for doing videos and orientations.”
DOL staffers have gone the extra mile to help Wal-Mart, says Lechliter. “When nearly 1,000 people arrived the first week, they provided an extra greeter at the front and cancelled seminars so we could use all three conference rooms,” he explains.
Wal-Mart will be recruiting for six weeks, then continue to use the conference rooms a few more weeks for orientation sessions.
To accommodate the unusually large numbers of job-seekers, the Hamden facility has extended hours on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings.
The turnout for Wal-Mart jobs is an indicator of an improved climate for employers in the region, says DOL economist and job development director John Tirinzonie.
“This makes more people available for re-employment, and has helped employers, who are not hiring as much and can be a little more choosy,” Tirinzonie adds. “It makes it easier for them to find the people they need, whereas two years ago it was more difficult because the market was very tight.”
In recent months Connecticut temporary-employment agencies and recruiting services have seen a surge in business, with increased demand for health and financial positions.
Tirinzonie predicts that services will continue to be the fastest-growing sector in the New Haven area due to the concentration of health and educational services.
In a preliminary forecast (the final report is due July 1) Tirinzonie says he is projecting a growth rate of between 8.5 and 9.0 in the New Haven labor market between 2000 and 2010. The state average will be about nine percent, he says.
Tirinzonie also is upbeat about the number of employers slated to participate in the DOL-sponsored job fair May 21 in North Haven. As of May 3, 64 had signed up, just six fewer than the fair can accommodate.
Hamden DOL job center director Dallas notes that her facility is eager to assist large employers, but is particularly well suited to helping smaller ones.
“We work with all businesses, and but we feel especially useful for small businesses because they often don't have the resources to even set up a recruitment process,” she says. Wal-Mart is “sort of an exception,” she notes - though certainly a welcome one.
The feeling is mutual, says Lechliter, who anticipates no problem filling the 250 jobs.
“I would hope not just this DOL center, but all of them across the country would be as accommodating as this one,” he says.
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