Resource Business Solutions Team Meeting

Minutes

Resource Business Solutions Team Meeting October 1, 2014, 9:00 am – 10:30 am

Location: Cedar Fork, Resource Center

Present: Felicia Ainsa (WIB), Boyd Headley (Rescare), Greg Farley (Goodwill), Cathy Freiburger (WIB), Grace Festa (GRPVA), Leontine Jameson (AARP), Bernadine Doggett (Goodwill)

9am Welcome & Introductions Felicia Ainsa, Business Solutions Coordinator Contact Info: [email protected], 804-226-1941 x235 Action Item: Felicia will be contacting all of the BST members and visiting with them during the coming month to learn more about them, their organization, and any insights or ideas they have to improve the BST.

9:15 Partner Service Overview Each month a member of the team will give a ~10 minute presentation on his or her organization, services offered, its performance measures, and how the BST can benefit the organization and vice versa. Action Item: Next month Grace will present on the Greater Richmond Partnership.

9:30 Team Training Each monthly meeting will include training for approx. 25 minutes to develop skills of the BST members. It was generally agreed upon the BST members would benefit from additional business knowledge as most members have a government background. Topics of interest include:  Business cycle and needs of businesses  Recruiter 101 – how to screen and identity a great match  Sales techniques and technical aspects  Subject matter experts in our target industries to teach us their lingo  How to create greater client engagement/buy-in  How to interview employers  How to measure soft skills to get what employers want  Event planning/project management  How to use attribute/cognitive style testing to better fit applicants to Minutes employers  Using LMI to show employers what competitive/livable wages are, how to communicate the true cost of high turnover to encourage higher wages

10:00 Active Business Plan, Quick Review Boyd presented a list of current, active projects. The majority do not have pressing needs.  Total Packaging Services (TPS) hired all of the last applicants sent over and is looking for more employees. This is paper manufacturing and requires manual dexterity and speed to work on the line. Positions start at $9.50 - $10/hour.  E-waste Tech Systems hired 9 applicants and wants to hire 9 or 10 more. Contact Boyd. Action Item: Felicia and Boyd will be sorting through the project list to determine which projects are active and to write any needed business plans. To be accomplished before the next BST meeting.

10:20 New Business Plans Any new projects that have started since the last meeting, a quick rundown of what they are and how the BST can help.  Shandong Tralin Paper Company is currently seeking permits before they can start recruiting. This would be a large project (2,000 jobs over 6 years) that would involve multiple WIB’s.  Grace is looking for a sales person with technical expertise to work for an aerospace company from the UK. She will get more information about the specific requirements and notify the team.

10:50 Future Planning & Open Discussion There has been past confusion about what should be a BST project and what should be an individual member project. The group decided that any projects with 20 or more job positions to fill OR particularly complex or difficult to fill job positions would become a Business Solutions Team project. Any project that doesn’t fit those requirements would be an individual member project, and the BST is to be used as part of their network should they need additional help or assistance finding applicants.

Leontine is having an AARP event on October 20, 2014. She is looking for additional employers who would be interested in hiring seniors. Ideally, the job positions would be less physically demanding. Part-time shifts are desirable. Minutes The BST still needs a robust CRM system to coordinate the team’s projects and information. This would free up a lot of meeting time because we could communicate in real-time about current projects and needs. Action Item: Felicia will research available CRM systems priced within our budgetary confines and present the top options for the team’s review at the next meeting.

10:30 Adjourn Next Meeting: November 5, 2014