Carson Residents Find City-Run Employment Agency Really Works : Jobs: The municipal firm, the only one of its kind in the South Bay, is a favorite with employers and averages 500 to 600 placements a year.

Three years ago, Willetta Collins knew she needed a better job if she and her husband were going to be able to afford the Carson home they had just purchased.

The couple, who also had a young child to support, both had jobs that paid only slightly more than minimum wage. To meet their monthly mortgage and other routine expenses, they simply had to increase their combined income.

Collins turned to the Job Clearinghouse, an employment agency run by the city of Carson that helps residents find jobs. She quickly found higher-paying work as a secretary at ITT Technical Institute in Carson. Recently, she was promoted to marketing secretary.

Collins’ success story is not an isolated one. For more than 15 years, Carson’s Job Clearinghouse--the only city-run employment agency in the South Bay, has matched residents with employers in a mutually beneficial relationship.

“I think it’s great,” Collins said of the program. “That’s the first place I tell people to go” when they are looking for work.

In the fiscal year that ended June 30, the agency placed 539 residents in full-time, part-time or temporary positions, according to clearinghouse manager Derrell Oliver. Almost three-fourths of the jobs were permanent ones, Oliver added.

In recent years, the agency has average 500 to 600 job placements every year, Oliver said. It set its record in the 1988-89 fiscal year, when 685 residents were placed in jobs, of which about 70% were permanent positions.

“Employers feel comfortable with us,” Oliver said. “They know that we screen very thoroughly and produce good clients for them. They are willing to take the chance and come forth and help the community.”

An additional incentive for employers involves economics. The agency does not charge for its services, so employers can save costs normally incurred through paying a fee to a private employment agency or from advertising job openings in a newspaper.

The City Council formed the agency in 1975 to address the city’s then-double-digit unemployment rate, which was significantly higher than the 8.5% national rate at the time. Carson’s rate has dropped with the national figures and now hovers around 5%, depending upon economic conditions, Oliver said.

The Carson program differs from private, state and federal employment agencies in that the clearinghouse operates exclusively for Carson residents. Most of the 500 employers who regularly use the agency are in the South Bay, and about half are located in Carson itself, he added.

Aside from job referral, services provided by the clearinghouse include employment counseling and testing in English, math and clerical skills. In some cases, the clearinghouse must first assist a client in meeting basic needs, such as food and clothing. “A lot of (social service) agencies will help them get presentable clothing and we’ll lead them to the agencies,” Oliver said.

The program has a staff of eight employees, though Carson’s proposed city budget suggests cutting one part-time staff position as part of sweeping spending reductions that officials say are needed because of declining revenues. The council is to consider the recommended cuts at an Oct. 16 meeting where it is scheduled to discuss a proposed $29.2-million budget for the 1990-91 fiscal year.

The majority of jobs filled by clearinghouse clients are in the entry-level or mid-level range, usually in warehousing, clerical, general labor and other blue-collar occupations, Oliver said. The city’s large manufacturing and industrial base makes it ideal for the agency’s job placement efforts, she said.

Pioneer Video, which manufactures laser disks and has a job force of about 400, has used the agency to fill many of its production positions for the last four years, said Jay Elarcosa, Pioneer Video’s personnel manager.

About 35 Pioneer Video workers hired during the past 18 months are Carson residents who were referred by the Job Clearinghouse, Elarcosa said.

“We try to employ as many people from the community as possible,” Elarcosa said. “We like to do our part in the community.”

The clearinghouse provides “good-caliber” applicants, he added.

Joe McKay, vice president of human resources for Mileage Plus, Inc., a United Airlines subsidiary based in Carson that administers the airline’s frequent flyer program, rated the Carson agency “a plus.”

McKay said Mileage Plus, which has a work force of about 600, has hired six persons referred to it by the clearinghouse during the last 18 months. “It gives us a source to go to to show that we are taking advantage of the talent here locally,” McKay said. “We want to be a good corporate citizen and (the clearinghouse) serves as a good, supplemental arm in our recruiting efforts.”

Carson resident LaDonna Shepherd has used the clearinghouse to find work on three occasions. She most recently visited the agency about five months ago to find a job closer to her home.

At the time, Shepherd was working as a clerk for a brokerage company near Los Angeles International Airport. As a result of an interview set up by the clearinghouse, Shepherd said she was hired as a clerk at Monsanto Chemical Co. within two days of her visit to the agency. She now has an eight-minute commute to work.

Shepherd added that she hopes she doesn’t have to return to the agency any time soon, “because I really like this job.”