Category Archives: Job Seekers

Labor expands employment services in southeastern Idaho

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: May 26, 2022
Media Contact: Jill.Kleist@labor.idaho.gov

Job search, resume assistance available in seven southeastern Idaho communities – from American Falls to the Utah border.

Idahoans living in rural southeastern Idaho have more options for obtaining services from the Idaho Department of Labor.

With a variety of office hours in seven regional mobile locations – Aberdeen, American Falls, Blackfoot, Malad, Montpelier, Preston and Soda Springs – customers can access services such as resume writing, filling out job applications, preparing for an interview, filing for unemployment benefits and learning about training resources.

These mobile sites are in addition to Labor’s full-service office in Pocatello.

All mobile locations offer walk-in hours and appointments staffed with an Idaho Department of Labor workforce consultant.

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Labor employment services expand in south central Idaho

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: May 18, 2022
Media Contact: Jill.Kleist@labor.idaho.gov

Job search, resume assistance available in four south central Idaho communities.

Idahoans living in Gooding, Hailey, Jerome and Shoshone can now access Idaho Department of Labor services without leaving their communities.

Employment services offered at the four additional locations are in addition to full-service offices in Twin Falls and Burley.

“Our mobile office model is for Idaho citizens without a Labor office in their community,” explains Department of Labor Director Jani Revier. “Our partnerships with local libraries, community centers, city halls and other organizations allow us to deliver face-to-face services to rural Idahoans. Our footprint is larger now than ever before.”

All mobile Labor locations offer walk-in hours and appointments staffed with a Department of Labor workforce consultant who can help with writing resumes, filling out job applications, preparing for an interview, accessing job training resources, filing for unemployment insurance benefits and other services.

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Labor offers employment services across northern Idaho

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: April 13, 2022
Media Contact: Kellye.Sharp@labor.idaho.gov

Idahoans living in remote, rural areas of Idaho’s five most northern counties can now access state employment services in seven mobile office locations.

“Our mobile office model is for Idaho citizens without a Labor office in their community,” explains Department of Labor Director Jani Revier. “Our partnerships with local libraries, community centers, city halls and other organizations allow us to deliver face-to-face services to rural Idahoans. Our footprint is larger now than ever before.”

All mobile Labor locations offer walk-in hours and appointments staffed with a Department of Labor workforce consultant who can help with writing resumes, filling out job applications, preparing for an interview, accessing job training resources, filing for unemployment insurance benefits and other services. Continue reading →

Idaho youth continue growing through Idaho Job Corps

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: April 4, 2022
Media Contact: Tina Polishchuk, Ed.D, tina.polishchuk@labor.idaho.gov

When Idaho Job Corps welcomed its first group of students in October 2019 at its first location in Nampa, it was a three-year national demonstration project, piloting a new approach to serving youth. Idaho Job Corps is now readily accessible to Idaho’s youth in four locations across the state.

The overall goal? Eventually Serve 750 income-eligible students, ages 16-24, by training them for the workforce.

photo: girl sitting at computerToday, the program is thriving. Idaho Job Corps and the Idaho Department of Labor partner with the College of Western Idaho, College of Eastern Idaho, College of Southern Idaho and North Idaho College to deliver education, training and a whole host of wrap-around services to low-income students with barriers to employment.

To date, some 145 students have already moved through the program, and Idaho Job Corps is serving 195 students throughout the system – 43 of those enrolled just this year. Continue reading →

McCall Labor Office moves to 1st Street

-Mobile employment services also available in Cascade, Council and New Meadows-

Idahoans living in remote, rural areas of Idaho’s West Central Mountains can now access state employment services in Cascade, Council, McCall and New Meadows.

The Idaho Department of Labor’s McCall mobile office is operating from a new location. Central District Health Department at 701 1st St. in McCall is sharing its space for walk-in Labor customers on Mondays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., (closed from noon to 1 p.m. for lunch) and on Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Additional meeting times are available by appointment.

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Labor expands its employment services in north central Idaho

-Mobile Labor locations now available in Grangeville, Kamiah, Kendrick, Moscow, Potlatch, Orofino and Weippe-

People living in remote, rural areas of north central Idaho can now access Idaho Department of Labor services at seven – soon to be eight – nearby locations.

“Our mobile offices allow us to bring our services to you,” explains Department of Labor Director Jani Revier. “With the help of our partners of local libraries, community centers, city halls and other organization, we’re in more locations than ever before.”

Idahoans throughout the state can now get help finding a new job, upgrading their skills and increasing their earning potential in more than 50 locations. All mobile Labor locations offer walk-in hours and appointments for help with writing resumes, filling out job applications, preparing for an interview, accessing job training resources, filing for unemployment insurance benefits and other services.

Labor services for businesses include support for listing jobs, recruiting employees, organizing hiring events, employer seminars and gaining access to job training programs.

Three local office employees from the Lewiston Idaho Department of Labor office visit Kendrick, Moscow and Potlatch.

The remaining five offices are managed by Monica Jones and Heather Lerandeau. Together, they deliver a wide range of employment services to local job seekers and employers in Orofino, Weippe, Grangeville, Kamiah and Riggins, which opens April 14.

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Lerandeau, Jones serve as mobile office consultants for Grangeville, Kamiah, Orofino and Weippe

Heather Lerandeau

As a workforce consultant, Heather Lerandeau delivers a wide range of employment services to job seekers and employers who visit the department’s mobile office locations in Grangeville and Kamiah.

Photo: Heather Lerandeau

Heather Lerandeau

Helping Idahoans find jobs and rural employers recruit qualified employees is her favorite part of the job and keeps her busy. Some customers are referred to local education and community resource centers for workforce training or basic needs. For others it means support with navigating the process of filing for unemployment insurance benefits.

Before joining the department in 2021, Heather Lerandeau worked as a surgical assistant for St. Mary’s Hospital in Cottonwood. This helped her prepare for her new role with the Idaho Department of Labor as a workforce consultant assigned to Grangeville, Kamiah and Riggins (opening April 14).

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Idaho Apprenticeship Program Allows Quality Electric to Train Women for Highly Skilled, Good-Paying Jobs

Karelyn Kruger, 45, is in her second year of a five-year training program as an electrical apprentice for Quality Electric in Boise. She’s creating a second career after working in retail and raising two children.

photo: hand holding electrical cables“I’m older than the average student,” she says with a wry grin. “I’m too old to go into debt and go back to college, so it seemed like a great opportunity to learn a trade, and they’d pay for my education while providing on-the-job training.”

Kruger had to pass an aptitude test, math test and have a GED or high school education to get into the Southwest Idaho Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee (JATC) program. Once you pass those tests, “you’re guaranteed a job” while you work under the supervision of an experienced journeyman electrician, she  says.

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Apprenticeship Profile: Idaho Forest Group creates new careers for its employees.

Billie Jo Spencer, a filer bencher apprentice at the Moyie Springs sawmill near Bonners Ferry for Idaho Forest Group (IFG), has been moving up the pay scale by increasing her job skills through IFG and Idaho Department of Labor apprenticeship programs.

Billie Jo Spencer

Billie Jo Spencer

The Moyie Springs mill produces about 200 million board feet of dimension lumber products per year. It requires a skilled work force to keep the mill running smoothly and efficiently, IFG officials say.

Spencer started working for IFG 12 years ago, driving a fork lift. She completed the Filer-Fitter apprenticeship a couple years ago, and she’s working on her second apprenticeship as a saw filer.

“I’m always learning something,” she says. “I’m putting teeth in the saws and welding the shoulders.”

photo: workers cutting lumber

There are three levels of being a filer bencher, Spencer says. She’s on level one right now, and hopes to continue to move up to the higher levels. IFG mills are highly automated for efficiency. At the Moyie mill, raw logs are rough-cut by special machinery as they enter the mill on a conveyer belt. Farther down the line, the large blocks of wood are sawed into stud lumber in 8- and 9-foot- long sections. Continue reading →

Idaho Employment Growth Projected to Continue Through 2023

Idaho’s robust labor market is expected to continue in the short term, according to new projections from the Idaho Department of Labor. Throughout 2020 and 2021, Idaho demonstrated consistent labor market resilience, becoming one of the first states to recover its job losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, and ranking – along with Utah – far ahead of all other states in post-pandemic job growth.

This growth is expected to persist through 2023 as in-migration and a growing demand for services continue to support Idaho’s economic strength.

The department’s newest short term projections forecast roughly 34,000 new jobs to be added in the state through 2023 for a growth rate of 2.1% per year. While almost all Idaho industries are projected to see job gains, rapid growth is expected in industries tied to high in-migration levels, such as construction and sectors still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Construction is projected to add 3,000 new jobs for an annual growth rate of 2.7% as demand for new housing remains high. The fastest projected growth rate, however, is in leisure and hospitality, forecasted to grow at 3.7% annually. This sector, which includes hotels and restaurants, was slower to recover from COVID-19 and therefore has room to re-add jobs lost in 2020.

Short-term job growth in Idaho tableSource: Idaho Department of Labor

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