Speaker 1: Ninety Bible. Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome.
Speaker 1: It's time now for our community connection right here on
Speaker 1: KAY one, the one you trust and joining us by
Speaker 1: telephone today we have trade Ray Kill and he is
Speaker 1: with Oh yes, that is the Oklahoma Employment Services Systems.
Speaker 1: So how you doing today, Trey?
Speaker 2: I'm doing just fine.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: How are you?
Speaker 1: I tell you what? I can feel my toes today.
Speaker 1: It's it's quite a difference from last week. So it's
Speaker 1: all you do it.
Speaker 2: I agree. Nice to be able to field the toes
Speaker 2: for a change.
Speaker 1: So what's going on now? We got a new year
Speaker 1: here and we're well into it now. But what's what's
Speaker 1: going on with the Oklahoma Security Systems? Tell us a
Speaker 1: little bit about it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So the Employment Security Commission is the state's workforce
Speaker 2: development agency. So can you hear me?
Speaker 1: All right? I can now, okay.
Speaker 2: So what we do basically is workforce development for the state.
Speaker 2: So we work with the different school districts and systems
Speaker 2: and training providers to make sure that people that are
Speaker 2: going into the workforce have good matching options, that they
Speaker 2: know what they want to do, that they know they'd
Speaker 2: be good at, and that we can help kind of
Speaker 2: facilitate them matching well with industry, so we do reemployment services,
Speaker 2: unemployment services, veteran services. So yeah, it's a new year.
Speaker 2: We've got a lot of new projects launching and some
Speaker 2: systems that are available to all people and all employers.
Speaker 2: So it's exciting. Twenty twenty five will be I think
Speaker 2: really good for us.
Speaker 1: Well that is great. You know a lot of people whenever,
Speaker 1: you know, a new year rolls around, they start thinking
Speaker 1: about things. They start thinking what can they do better?
Speaker 1: Can they do something? Can I actually start working again?
Speaker 1: And this is a good place to start.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. And we we you know, look at
Speaker 2: ourselves in the same way every year, well a little
Speaker 2: more frequently than that, to say, well, what are we
Speaker 2: doing we need to be doing differently and uh and
Speaker 2: so yes, some of these you know, systems that the
Speaker 2: government agencies have used for a long time to serve people,
Speaker 2: they're not capable of some of the more advanced kind
Speaker 2: of matching and placement and uh analytics that we'd like
Speaker 2: to see, you know, how how well are we serving business?
Speaker 2: How well are we connecting people to the workforce. So
Speaker 2: we've launched some enhancements and some replacement systems so that
Speaker 2: we have a little better picture of that. And so
Speaker 2: when people come to see us, whether they're employers or
Speaker 2: job seekers, we can say, well, we know with a
Speaker 2: lot more sophistication now that we could do this and
Speaker 2: this and this and that might match better to you
Speaker 2: than you know, something that's a little bit less sophisticated
Speaker 2: or doesn't use data analytics quite as well.
Speaker 1: Well, very good, you know, keeping up with the times
Speaker 1: and and making good matches. That's really what it's all about.
Speaker 1: And you know, people, uh yeah, well we'll often ask
Speaker 1: a lot of questions before they really dive in when
Speaker 1: it comes to a matter like this too. And sure,
Speaker 1: because really nobody wants to say, hey, I'm looking for
Speaker 1: a job, unless you know, they're really like, hey, I'm
Speaker 1: looking for a job.
Speaker 2: They can't yeah, touchy, yeah, yeah, it could be touchy.
Speaker 2: You know, a lot of times people are looking for
Speaker 2: a job, they already have a job, so they kind
Speaker 2: of want it to be quiet. Sure, sometimes people don't
Speaker 2: have a job and they're and they feel a certain
Speaker 2: way about that. But ultimately, you know, there's a lot
Speaker 2: of businesses and a lot of people that don't need
Speaker 2: our services to find the right matches or to be
Speaker 2: gainfully employed of what they want to do. But there's
Speaker 2: a lot of people that are unsure or they went
Speaker 2: to school for something and then they've changed their mind,
Speaker 2: and so we try to make it a very easy,
Speaker 2: customer friendly approach to finding out kind of what employers
Speaker 2: are looking for out there and what they might need
Speaker 2: to do to put themselves in a position for success.
Speaker 2: So some of that the government helps with and some
Speaker 2: of it we're just playing matchmaker and letting them know
Speaker 2: where the needs are. So some of these tools help
Speaker 2: us to It's really it helps us in a way
Speaker 2: because we serve the whole state. But the cooler things
Speaker 2: about these tools are that their self service, so a
Speaker 2: person can use it all on their own without doing
Speaker 2: business with our agency, or an employer can go on
Speaker 2: and see what people are around in their areas for
Speaker 2: particular skill sets without ever you know, using the government agency.
Speaker 1: Well that's that's really pretty cool. These a new set
Speaker 1: of tools. It's uh, it's it's kind of nice that way.
Speaker 1: It kind of cuts down a little bit on the
Speaker 1: red tape. Is that what I say?
Speaker 2: Yes, thank god, Yes, we got plenty of plenty of
Speaker 2: red tape and product it. We bring our We each
Speaker 2: of us have two pairs of scissors on us at
Speaker 2: all times. So yeah, we don't like seeing that.
Speaker 1: I've had jobs like that before. Yep, I know, I
Speaker 1: know where you're coming from. It's like, oh golly, yes, sir,
Speaker 1: we can make this happen. But hang on, folks, We've
Speaker 1: got a couple of hurdles.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, put your helmet on and strap in. This
Speaker 2: is gonna be a little bumpy for a second, but
Speaker 2: we're going to get through it this time.
Speaker 1: That's right, you know, with these tools, I'm familiar with
Speaker 1: with these outside of government as well. Uh in many
Speaker 1: organizations and businesses are going toward similar matching type tools,
Speaker 1: and uh yeah, what what it's what it's really able
Speaker 1: to do is it's a time saver, is what it
Speaker 1: is for most of importantly, time is everything.
Speaker 2: If you're unemployed, right well, and if you're a business,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you're short of people, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2: You know, for far too long, and I think the
Speaker 2: pandemic exacerbated this problem in every state, but for a
Speaker 2: really long time. Industry, it doesn't really matter what industry,
Speaker 2: but so many of our industries have struggled to find
Speaker 2: the right fits for people that will engage in their
Speaker 2: work the way that they want them to. And so
Speaker 2: you see people show up and not be you know,
Speaker 2: the exact person, your skill set they've been looking for,
Speaker 2: and they get into a place of desperation where they're
Speaker 2: hiring just a warm body or something, and they're thinking, what,
Speaker 2: you know, what do I have to do to get
Speaker 2: someone to show up on day two, day three and
Speaker 2: show up on time? And you know, and I think
Speaker 2: if you have a more sophisticated set of criteria that
Speaker 2: you can use to evaluate someone's fit, and you work
Speaker 2: closely with industry to understand what those needs are, then
Speaker 2: you can say, this little list right here, this group
Speaker 2: of candidates right here is going to cut down on
Speaker 2: that time element, Like you're saying, quite a bit, because
Speaker 2: you may have to sort through one hundred resumes and
Speaker 2: find someone who's not a good fit, or you could
Speaker 2: sort through a fraction of that and have a lot
Speaker 2: better chance of finding a good fit. It's ten times
Speaker 2: better for.
Speaker 1: Business, my goodness sakes. Now, where can we find these
Speaker 1: tools online? Okay?
Speaker 2: So the news system, the it's our basically case management system,
Speaker 2: but it's an employment system for all of the public.
Speaker 2: It's called employe Oklahoma and it's employe Oklahoma dot gov,
Speaker 2: and that will take you to the portal itself where
Speaker 2: people can set up accounts and make sure that they have,
Speaker 2: you know, everything, everything in there to where they can
Speaker 2: they can be visible to others and they also they
Speaker 2: can see what's in there, and so people can do
Speaker 2: that on their own at employee Oklahoma dot gov. And
Speaker 2: then our normal website for OESC is Oklahoma dot gov
Speaker 2: slash workforce, and so people can go to our website
Speaker 2: and they can find out about everything else that we do.
Speaker 2: We have a calendar of events on there that says
Speaker 2: when we have hiring fairs going on across the state
Speaker 2: and training opportunities, offering training classes, connecting people to different populations,
Speaker 2: and doing hiring fairs for specific employers or industries. So
Speaker 2: there's a lot that we do that someone might want
Speaker 2: to know about without just looking at the Employee Oklahoma tool.
Speaker 2: But those are the two websites, employ Oklahoma dot gov
Speaker 2: and Oklahoma dot gov slash workforce. They're going to be
Speaker 2: able to get a lot of information if they go
Speaker 2: there and you.
Speaker 1: Know something it's time well spent. If you're looking for
Speaker 1: a job or if you're looking for workers, those job
Speaker 1: fairs are quite beneficial. I mean, you really get to
Speaker 1: see what's out there. You get to see what's available
Speaker 1: as far as employment, and of course the employers get
Speaker 1: to see what the attitude and what the mindset and
Speaker 1: what the capabilities are ye people possibly coming in the
Speaker 1: door real quick.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. We hosted over I think around three
Speaker 2: hundred and ninety hiring fairs last year, my gosh, across
Speaker 2: this day. Yeah, And so those are happening all over
Speaker 2: in different towns where we serve, and then you know
Speaker 2: some of the big cities as well. And some of
Speaker 2: them were industry specific, so we would gather employers for
Speaker 2: instance of like construction and transportation was all that we did.
Speaker 2: And so all the kids that are busting from the
Speaker 2: career techs or that are there on the college campus,
Speaker 2: or that are just in the community looking for a job,
Speaker 2: they can show up and they can talk to employers
Speaker 2: in a very specific area that they're hoping to work.
Speaker 2: And in some cases we partner with other agencies, like
Speaker 2: for that event, we hired free training or offered free
Speaker 2: training courses for some of the two highest demand occupations,
Speaker 2: and so they were able the week of to get
Speaker 2: assistance with their resume and a free training course to
Speaker 2: you know, get the certification that they need. So when
Speaker 2: they got to the event, they were able to be
Speaker 2: hired in the room.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's great, you get that. That gets people just
Speaker 1: so over the hump. It's unbelievable that what a great
Speaker 1: resource you provide for people.
Speaker 2: Well, thanks, We've got a lot that we still need
Speaker 2: to do to you know, kind of be everything that
Speaker 2: business needs us to be. And we've got a lot
Speaker 2: of partners that we couldn't do this stuff without. So
Speaker 2: it's a big team sport, but we're definitely happy to
Speaker 2: be playing on the team.
Speaker 1: Well, goodness, gracious, thank you very much for being with
Speaker 1: us here today. Is there anything you'd like to add.
Speaker 2: For No, just that I might I see you this
Speaker 2: summer because I'm coming up there to play in the
Speaker 2: Hill Blast with my buddy Jacob Atkinson, so if I'm around,
Speaker 2: and Bartlesville is one of my favorite towns visits, so
Speaker 2: we have an office there and I've got some buddies there,
Speaker 2: so I'm looking forward to sending some time in your
Speaker 2: in your lovely town this summer.
Speaker 1: All right, drop by, We'll got the door open, coffee
Speaker 1: going all right, well, thank you very much. Okay, Trey Rayhill,
Speaker 1: what's this here? And thank you for being with us
Speaker 1: here on our community connection right here on K one,
Speaker 1: the one you trust. It is eight forty three