Wagner-Peyser Act

(c) Utah’s strategy for providing reemployment assistance to UI claimants and other unemployed individuals involves:

• Staff support

o Employment centers operate throughout Utah. A primary goal of the one-stop delivery system is to serve as the anchor for a statewide workforce development system that effectively responds to the needs of employers, job seekers and the community. The one-stop system provides a comprehensive employment exchange network serving as the connecting point for employers and job seekers. An employment center provides direct services or referrals for services through partner agencies to meet customers’ needs. Employment centers develop and maintain strong relationships with partner agencies in order to maintain efficiency and avoid duplication of services.

o DWS provides core curriculum and training to ensure that all employment center staff understand and adhere to federal, state and DWS policy and procedures. Employment center staff can readily access all policy and procedures online, or they can contact state and service-area program specialists to ask questions or obtain policy and procedure clarifications. In addition, supervisors play a very important role in training staff on policy, procedures and local pathways.

o DWS staff focus on the same overall goal of helping people obtain the services and support needed to find employment, regardless of which of the four key business processes they are responsible for: eligibility, employment exchange, employment counseling or unemployment insurance. Outcome targets ensure DWS achieves its goal of developing the workforce.

o DWS information technology and online services staff continually evaluates the DWS website’s usability and functionality to ensure all users are able to navigate this site.

Unemployed individuals

o Individuals can access DWS services by visiting employment centers or by using DWS online services, which are accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The website allows customers to enter resumes, search for job openings, learn about careers, access economic information, apply for training services, file for unemployment insurance benefits and find links to other useful resources. Additionally, customers may apply online for financial services, food stamps, child care, medical and other supportive service benefits.

o DWS customers throughout the state can access the same level of service regardless of their location. DWS employment centers have a common appearance and feel, including signage. However, areas have flexibility in establishing pathways. Resources and local needs drive those pathways.

o The Work Readiness Evaluation (WRE) was developed to help both job seekers and staff members have a focused approach for job preparation activities. WRE consists of evaluating a job seeker in specific areas: job-search techniques, resume, master application, interviewing skills and professional image. Based on this evaluation, staff members can educate and provide resources to assist the job seeker to become well versed in the best practices in each of those areas. Ensuring quality and consistency is important, so validation criteria in each area provide the seeker and staff member with specific goals to work toward.

• Claimants, qualified or not, receive a resource document from the department after they have filed for benefits. This is included with the Notice of Monetary Determination and is available online at https://jobs.utah.gov/ui/homeWhen a claimant files, they receive real-time labor market information regarding their selected occupation and available local job postings.
• Claimants who do not qualify for a work-search deferral are required to register for work within 10 business days of filing an initial or additional/reopened claim. The registration process involves creating a profile on Utah’s labor-exchange system, completing an online assessment and taking anywhere from zero to five online workshops based on the outcome of the assessment. The online workshops cover topics such as networking, online job search, resumes and interviewing. More than 70 percent of UI claimants are referred to complete at least one of these workshops. Over 30% of claimants voluntarily complete more workshops than required.
• The UI division also partners with WDD to offer targeted in-person workshops through our Reemployment Support System (RSS). Claimants are referred in two ways. Workshop presenters select claimants who are identified as most likely to exhaust UI benefits RESEA counselors refer specific claimants to attend. Claimants who fail to report as scheduled without good cause are automatically denied UI benefits. This program is offered statewide, with an average of 710 individuals referred each month. RESEA referrals constitute approximately 13 percent of this number.
• Employment counselors in WDD also conduct targeted outreach to UI claimants who self-identify as veterans and to UI claimants who have only four weeks remaining on their claim. This is one more tool to connect UI claimants with resources available through our one-stop centers across the state. UI is collaborating with WDD to develop measurable outcomes for these outreach initiatives.

Employers

o Employers are able to access DWS services online 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Employers can enter job orders, search for qualified job seekers, access economic and wage information, report and pay quarterly taxes, enter New Hire Registry information and link to Utah’s business websites in order to find useful information about starting and operating a successful business.

o The information DWS provides to job seekers and all of the components of the WRE are continually reviewed with employers. This ensures DWS is effectively preparing job seekers to meet employer needs. Employers have responded positively and noted that applicants who have been assisted through this process are better prepared for interviews with a higher quality resume and professionalism than other candidates who have not utilized this process.

RESEA

One of the ways the state is providing reemployment assistance to UI claimants is through the Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) program. The RESEA program is a statewide program with support of UI claimants in 23 locations across the state. The RESEA program is entering its sixth year as an annual grant program. During the most recent grant period of April to December 2015, the RESEA counselors have met with over 4,000 claimants for initial appointments and almost 2,000 for follow-up appointments. Claimants are chosen for the program based on a profiling score compiled when they first file for benefits, which identifies those “most likely to exhaust.”

The initial appointments typically last two hours, during which time the counselors:

o Review labor-market information specific to the customer’s needs

o Ensure that registration with the state jobs bank is completed

o Provide an orientation to the one-stop services

o Create an individualized reemployment plan

o Review and assist with a job-ready résumé by appointment completion

o Complete the Work Readiness Evaluation in UWORKS

o Provide resources based on the individual customer’s needs, including a referral to training programs as appropriate

o Refer customers to or schedule them for a variety of workshops

o Assist with tools for networking and train on online resources

o Provide mock interviews

o Provide job referrals

In addition to the RESEA program, UI maintains a robust connection to labor-exchange services with our one-stop employment centers.