Where the jobs are

Thom Kleiner has a new job and he”™d like you to have one, too.

Since February, Kleiner ”“ former Orangetown supervisor ”“ has been the New York state Labor Department commissioner”™s Hudson Valley regional representative. That means it”™s his job to help ensure that you have one. In the current arid economic climate, it also means working with the department”™s educational and corporate partners to create jobs rather than merely find existing ones or passively wait for those lost to return.

“There are probably some jobs that will never return,” he says. “On the one hand, these are jobs for lower-skilled, lower-educated workers and on the other, jobs for the higher-skilled, higher-educated. Labor has to train people for the new economy. We can”™t wait for jobs to catch up with the (rebound). One of the things we have to do is make sure community colleges and (the Boards of Cooperative Educational Services) have what they need.”

The community colleges are already training present and future workers. In January, Hudson Valley Community College in Troy opened TEC-SMART (the Training and Education Center for Semiconductor Manufacturing and Alternative and Renewable Technologies), which has more than a dozen state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories for courses in green technologies ”“ including photovoltaic and geothermal applications, home-energy efficiency, alternative fuels and wind energy.

TEC-SMART, which also offers business and liberal arts courses, is located in Malta adjacent to the new plant being built by Global Foundries, a microchip manufacturer. Global Foundries will be hiring workers for the site, which represents the largest construction project in North America, Kleiner says.

Green technology is hot, hot, hot. State Labor has received a $1.1. million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to partner with the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center at SUNY Stony Brook to estimate the number of green jobs and identify the skills necessary to secure them. On June 10, Rockland Community College in Suffern is hosting a morning-long event, “Becoming a Player in the Green Economy,” sponsored by the Rockland Business Association.

Green is not the only sector where the jobs will be.

“Health care is still growing,” Kleiner says. “Westchester has taken the lead as a biotech hub (with Regeneron and OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc.) ”¦ just as Ulster has been out in front on solar issues.”

Westchester Community College in Valhalla has just received a $624,000 grant from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to offer a six-month certificate program ”“ beginning this fall ”“ that will train workers for a variety of digital jobs in the health-care field. Also this fall, WCC will launch The Gateway Center, which brings together the college”™s business and modern language courses in a synergistic green environment designed to prepare students to be part of the multilingual workforce.

But what if you don”™t want to install solar panels or input electronic records in a doctor”™s office? Or, more important, what if you need a job now and can”™t wait to get training?

“The short answer is that people have to go to the One Stop Employment Centers in their areas,” Kleiner says. “It”™s a pretty good system to match people up.”

Yet some unemployed workers have criticized the centers ”“ partnerships between State Labor and the various counties ”“ for being ineffectual at best and demeaning at worst in their career counseling.

Kleiner listens sympathetically to the criticism, but insists that center staffers are “extremely dedicated, conscientious individuals who are trying to get people jobs. They can”™t make up the jobs.

“The most effective way to get a job is still word of mouth ”“ referrals and personal contacts. That”™s always going to be the most effective way. But people are not always going to be able to do that. One Stop is designed to be that, a public friend.”
One Stop”™s record of job placement is fair. Between October 2008 and June 2009, 66 percent ofÂ the unemployed workers who exited the system in Westchester and Putnam counties found jobs; 64 percent in Sullivan; 56 percent in Dutchess, 53 percent in Rockland; 50 percent in Ulster; and 47 percent in Orange.

Another criticism of State Labor is that it discourages freelance and part-time work by subtracting the amount you earn from your weekly unemployment check.

“It”™s a federal law, so it would have to be changed at the federal level,” Kleiner says. “I think it”™s a disincentive. That”™s my personal view.”

A government employee offering his own opinion?

Kleiner smiles.

“I haven”™t been in the bureaucracy long enough to be captured by it.”

Tips for the hunt

Sharpen your resumÃ© ”“ and your writing skills. “It”™s not just a good resumÃ© that”™s important but a well-written cover letter and resumÃ©,” says State Labor”™s Thom Kleiner, who describes Strunk and White”™s classic “The Elements of Style” as a key resource.
Visit your local One Stop Employment Center ”“ labor.ny.gov.
Take advantage of training ”“ at BOCES and your local community college and keep upgrading skills.
Seek out apprenticeships ”“ with both businesses and labor unions.
Network ”“ It”™s still the best way, Kleiner says, to find a job.

Home: Sparkill
Experience: Labor Commissioner”™s Hudson Valley Regional Representative (current); Orangetown supervisor (1996-2009); senior prosecuting attorney/legislative counsel, Department of Consumer Affairs of the City of New York (1990-95)
Education: Wesleyan University, B.A. history; Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, J.D.; Dominican College in Blauvelt, honorary doctor of laws degree.
Family: He and wife Deborah have two girls.
Hobbies: Politics (he ran unsuccessfully for Rockland County Executive) and tennis.