Governor McCrory Opens New NCWorks Career Center | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Press Release:

Wake County center tasked with connecting employers with job seekers

    Raleigh, NC – Governor Pat McCrory and Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker participated in the grand opening of a new Wake County NCWorks Career Center this morning. This latest career center joins others in offering programs that help employers find qualified workers and people find jobs and training programs.

    "Since our first day in office, our team has been focused on improving North Carolina's business climate and connecting people with jobs," said Governor McCrory. "When we launched NCWorks, it was so the N.C. Department of Commerce, the community college system and our public schools could work together under one name and one shared goal of connecting talented job seekers to employers. Our career centers are helping make that happen. I commend the Capital Area Workforce Board for its dedication to putting people to work."

    Through the NCWorks initiative, partners will create a stronger alignment of services and resources to meet the workforce needs of businesses, connect North Carolinians to technical training and quality careers, and use data to monitor and assess program outcomes.

    "Our NCWorks Career Centers can help businesses find skilled workers, offer grants for on-the-job training, and set-up hiring events or workshops," said Secretary Decker. "We are focused on making the best match between employers and job seekers."

    NCWorks online regularly gets more than 5 million page views a week, with more than 519,000 job seekers registered with the system to apply for jobs and see how well their current skills match what employers are looking for.

    The new career center is operated by the Capital Area Workforce Development Board, whose members include representatives from businesses, economic development agencies, education, organized labor, public assistance agencies, and community-based organizations. The state has 36 certified career centers.

    During the grand opening, the governor highlighted the success of the Capital Area Workforce Development Board in helping connect people like Brian Yawn with a job. Yawn, a veteran and first lieutenant in the National Guard, had been out of work for a year. He worked with a veteran specialist to find a job and now has a full-time job at the Cavalcorp Halfway House.

    Governor McCrory also highlighted the 1,000 in 100 workforce development initiative where teams in all 100 counties are currently interviewing 1,000 businesses to find out how workforce systems can better serve employers. In Wake County, NCWorks teams have talked to businesses such as DB Global, Lenovo and Butterball.

    For more information about NCWorks, visit http://www.nccommerce.com/ncworks.

• Contact: Crystal Feldman
•     govpress@nc.gov