july 2013 - eScoop Employee Newsletter | Intranet

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July 2013

One-Stop connects workers, employers, colleges to build economy

Cecilia Murch was 50 years old in March 2010 and had worked for 31 years when her employer shut down the department she worked in and laid off all the employees in it. In the depths of the countrys economic slump, Cecilia had some dark days. But she recently obtained Northern Arizona Universitys first bachelor of applied science degree in logistics and supply chain management. Shes got a job with Pima County and is working toward her masters degree. And Pima Countys One-Stop Career Center played a key role in her turnaround. Not only did it help her as it has thousands of other unemployed Pima County residents obtain training to improve her job skills and help her find employment, but it worked with employers and colleges to help design a certificate and degree curriculum to produce the skilled workers needed in a critical and growing industry. We all do logistics every day, Cecilia says, when we look in the refrigerator and say Im getting low on milk. I need more eggs.

Pima County One-Stop was able to help Murch improve her job skills and find employment.

On a grander scale, logistics is about managing the flow of materials, products and even people across town, across the state, across the country and around the world so offices and factories can produce, warehouses and stores are stocked, restaurants can cook, and the things we want to buy are on the shelves, racks and showroom floors when we want them. Pima County is ideally situated to grow its logistics industry with two airports, east-west rail and interstate highway, and Mexico with its deep-water port to the south. Just last month, a cargo container traveled from China through the port of Long Beach, Calif., to Tucson without ever touching a highway. But Cecilia wasnt thinking about logistics in 2010. It is just an awful feeling to not know if or when you would be employed again, she said. Other people who had been laid off told her and her former coworkers about One-Stop. Pima County One-Stop truly was one stop, Cecilia said. We had 3inch ring binders to look through for jobs. There was an entire listing of scheduled classes that were offered at no charge to us: resume builder, skills assessment and career exploration. It was

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7/1/2013

july 2013 - eScoop Employee Newsletter | Intranet

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very organized and gave some structure to our daily lives. It was very reassuring that we were doing something positive and productive towards re-employment.

Cecilia Murch

The times had changed even in the 10 years since I had interviewed for the job I was laid off from. Everything was very impersonal, web-based. You did not sell yourself to another human, and you had to use the correct target words so a computer program would pull your application for the human resources department to call you. One-Stop had fliers and employment fairs and even vendors who came to speak to potential job applicants. I cannot stress how much it was appreciated that there were faces that smiled and greeted you each day you attended class. The instructors were upbeat and helpful and gave us confidence that something positive would come our way. One-Stop had been laying the groundwork for something positive. In 2008, it received a $2 million U.S. Department of Labor grant and worked with logistics industry employers and Pima Community College to develop certificate and degree programs in logistics. Cecilia had done some logistics work for her previous employer but had no formal training. When I saw the flier for the Logistics and Supply Chain I asked about the program, completed the paperwork and testing and was approved, Cecilia said. It was that easy. I began taking the courses at the Pima East Campus (in the fall of 2010). The classes were 8 weeks in length and just perfect for an older student who needed to get back into the swing of things. Cecilia was hired by Pima County in January 2011 to work in Fleet Services. But she kept up with her studies. By the end of 2011, Cecilia, who received an associates degree in digital electronics in 1987, had obtained a basic certificate, an advanced certificate and an associates degree in logistics and supply chain management. My Pima credits transferred to Northern Arizona University for their bachelors program, which is 100% online. This spring she became the first person to graduate from NAU with a bachelors of applied science in logistics and supply chain management. She started working on her masters immediately Again there were 8-week classes so I was able to squeeze in 5 classes this first semester and expects to graduate with a masters in public administration next spring. Cecilia says she gets to use her logistics training in her Fleet Services job, making sure vehicles are serviced and available to take Pima County officials and staff where they need to go when they need to go. I loved my job, she says of the position she was laid off from in 2010. But I love the job I have now. For more information about One-Stop, please visit

http://intranet.pima.gov/escoop/2013/july/articles.shtml?Article=A4

7/1/2013