I am the primary person responsible for Human Resources’ representation at the Employment EXPO annually presented here in the desert at the Palm Springs Convention Center.  Last Thursday saw and estimated 5,000 job seekers descend on 130 or so public and private employers. 

As you walked in to the EXPO floor we had 30 feet of space along the wall occupied by the main Riverside County booth and the Sheriff’s Department. Across from this was a block of 12 booths, 6 on each side of the isle from each other; which had employer County Departments, and some specific HR functions like the Temporary Assignment Program (TAP), and the medical version of that (MAP).  For those of you who may not know, we run our own internal county temporary agency to fill the needs of the County departments for temporary workers.

At the EXPO we also provided a free use computer room with internet access so job seekers could access employment information on the spot.  And, in connection with the Sheriff’s recruiting booth with had a second side room where we did two sessions of testing for Correctional Deputy and County Sheriff Trainee.  

So, as you can imagine the event took a great deal of coordination, and the help of some 40 (plus) Human Resources Department employees the day of the event.

Last Monday I was back in the classroom, this time for the Franklin-Covey time management program called “Focus”.  This is one of a series of classes I am taking that are provided by our Center for Government Excellence.  Yes you can teach an old dog a new trick, if it is simple enough and does not require a lot of physical energy. 

Actually, research shows that older adults draw on both sides of the brain to perform certain tasks. Younger people use primarily one side, the part of the brain that deals with novel experiences.  (Does that mean Gen Yers are half brainers? I always knew that Boomers Rule!)  For more information on this subject see Sue Halpern’s book entitled, “Can't Remember What I Forgot: The Good News from the Front Lines of Memory Research”. 

Dateline Indio, September 2008… we finally have our very own Human Resources Assessment Center room here at the Workforce Development Center.  For the time being you still need to call into Riverside to schedule a test, but we now have a room full of computers that we don’t have to work around other user’s schedules to access.  Everybody knows now (right?) that all Office Assistant and Accounting Assistant testing is done online from the convenience of your home (or public access computer site) rather than coming into a County office to test. 

Well, I will try (with both side of my brain) to find some interesting material for the next entry, glad to be back.