The Fairbanks Job Center is fortunate to have Tonja Horn on their team. What are the odds that Tonja, with a background in Guidance and Counseling and assessment, would arrive in Fairbanks, Alaska, just when they needed her? Serving a borough population of 90,000, the Fairbanks Job Center is one of 22 Alaska job centers. Tonja is Disability Program Navigator, Employment Counselor, and so much more. While she suggests that about half her time is dedicated to efforts with disabled clients, Tonja also is counted on to work with veterans, youth, and others. Hired as an employment counselor four years ago, Tonja's responsibilities have steadily grown in program planning.
Tonja uses O*NET in a weekly workshop, Planning Your Career. The Fairbanks Job Center serves approximately 350 clients each week. "Anyone is eligible to participate in the workshop," Tonja explains. "Youths to seniors, all are welcome. We are seeing an increase in enrollment.
"I use the paper and pencil versions of the O*NET Interest Profiler and the Work Importance Locator." Tonja administers the third complementary O*NET assessment, the Ability Profiler, as well. "It is so helpful that the results of the assessment are linked to O*NET. I give each participant the O*NET Occupations Combined List. It's easy, then, for my clients to find appropriate occupations to explore. And for each occupation, they can explore further into Related Occupations.
"Over time, I have improved my use of O*NET. Now I continually look at the update information. I use the Key Word option, under Find Occupations. I show our clients how to use the O*NET language in their resumes. It's almost mandatory that they use Related Occupations in their workshop explorations. And now the new high-demand occupation designation works into other efforts at our center," Tonja says, ticking off examples of how O*NET usage at the Fairbanks Job Center has expanded over time.
For the most part, the Center's clients explore career and job options in the Fairbanks area and up in the North Slope oil fields. "That's right," says Tonja. "Generally, people don't look far. We definitely are sensitive to that preference. We pinpoint Alaska statistics, and tailor our efforts to get people thinking about local high demand occupations. The university looks at the data and develops curriculum specifically to train people in the high demand occupations—in the oil and gas industries, in health care, and the needed skilled trades. All of our leaders in education, business, and workforce development are keenly aware of the Alaska brain drain and our need to grow our own talent."
Such focused attention, including the use of O*NET, pays off. Tonja recalls "one mature gentleman. He had a 'dated education.' His Bachelor's degree in computer science was from the 70s. He had minored in geology in college. In O*NET, we looked in the Tools and Technology section for geologist, to learn what was new. Next we learned that the university had the 'refresher' courses and training he needed to work in the occupation. My client started building the required knowledge sets and skills. He stayed on it, searching for a job in the appropriate O*NET occupations until he found a job at a remote site, as an entry level geologist. Using O*NET definitely paid off for him!"
Tonja and her husband, Shane, arrived in Fairbanks about four years ago. Shane is in the Army, stationed in Korea, following two tours of duty in Iraq. When not helping others in workforce development, Tonja develops her athletic skills. She has learned to golf, and she has taken up table tennis.
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