Speaker: Leslie Stearns, Lead Talent Development Facilitator
How did you find your way to your current role at Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area?
Leslie Stearns: Well, I found my current role as a lead talent development facilitator here at Workforce Solutions by being employed here. Originally, um when I found workforce solutions, I had worked in a medical career for 20 years and found myself laid off and looking for a job. I've looked around for all types of opportunities and found workforce solutions r capital area. My first role here was as a business service consultant, reaching out to employers to post their job postings and I've had several different jobs here at workforce. But I absolutely adore the one I have. Now as a facilitator, I get to lead workshops and provide information and uh access to the resources that workforce solutions can provide to job seekers, everything from training, to assistance with resumes on the job training and upskilling. So I sort of come full circle. I trained to be a teacher and now I get to help individuals look for their careers and do that by facilitating workshops.
Could you share a few details about the favorite part of your role and the team at Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area?
Leslie Stearns: One of the favorite things that I love about the role that I have right now as a facilitator is getting to know the job seekers. You know, we try to provide the best quality information in our workshops, everything from writing resumes to filling out an application to how to rock your linkedin or understanding that you've got transferable skills that will work across industries. So the interaction that I have with job seekers, I get to facilitate. But afterwards, I also do a one on one with individuals, I get to find out and learn about what type of career they're seeking and provide information to resources and job postings and try to connect them to employers. I love being part of the facilitator team and my teammates and I really do work and strive to build and create material that's relevant to job seekers these days. You know, job searching is hard, but there's so many different resources and tools and friendly staff, my teammates that I get to work with that always are ready to assist employers and job seekers alike. I just really like the fact that we're here to assist and being a facilitator is a great way for me to show and understand individuals. I know what it's like to look for work. I've been on that other side. So it's my pleasure to be of assistance and help people reach their goals.
What stands out to you about the culture at Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area?
Leslie Stearns: Workforce solutions. I love working here at the rural capital area. Uh My teammates and I, we had this uh great camaraderie, we always pitch in with when somebody needs help. You know, there's a wide variety of individuals and varying ages. I tend to be one of the older workers, but we just work together no matter what our background is. And I just love the infectious um fun that we have here. You know, we try to be creative and, and work together to uh provide the services and come up with solutions for job seekers so that they can be successful. And in turn, we do that because we, we're successful, we work well together as a team. And I just love the fact that, you know, that inclusive environment is here at Workforce solutions. It's a great place to work.
What is a goal you are working to achieve?
Leslie Stearns: A goal that I'm working on to achieve for myself because we all need to sort of always work on our career, no matter what you do, you want to upskill and be relevant in the position you're in. So for me, it's to learn how to be a better facilitator. You know, I facilitate the workshops here, but I want to make sure that uh I'm doing so in a way that involves everybody that the information that I give gets people involved and excited and realizes the solutions that workforce has to offer. And so a goal for myself is to really work on my videoing skills because this is sort of a new medium that we're all in the digital age and I need to be relevant no matter what my age is. And so that's a goal for myself. And we have a lot of resources and tools, not only for our job seekers, but for our own staff, you know, I, I continue to use the tools here to help me be a better facilitator and upskill. And, you know, again, just staying relevant to the needs of our clients. That's always my goal
