Lapeer Area View

GST Michigan Works! can make a difference in lives of residents, improve their education


Jody Kerbyson, CEO of GST Michigan Works!, and her team utilize workforce development programs designed to assist employers in finding skilled workers, while also helping job seekers prepare for, find and retain employment. Photo by Alex Petrie

Jody Kerbyson, CEO of GST Michigan Works!, and her team utilize workforce development programs designed to assist employers in finding skilled workers, while also helping job seekers prepare for, find and retain employment. Photo by Alex Petrie

LAPEER — It’s hard to narrow down all of the things that GST Michigan Works! does on a daily basis, let alone on a weekly or monthly basis. As one of 16 similar agencies across the entire state of Michigan, GST Michigan Works! utilizes workforce development programs designed to assist employers in finding skilled workers, while also helping job seekers prepare for, find and retain employment. The best way to whittle down their vast array of capabilities and functions is to say that GST Michigan Works! provides business and talent enhancement services in Genesee, Huron, Lapeer, Sanilac, Shiawassee and Tuscola counties. But even that still falls short.

GST Michigan Works! operates out of the Lapeer Service Center at 550 Lake Dr. (adjacent to Mott Community College), where it offers many programs and ample assistance to help people create résumés and improve their interview skills, among many other options and services. Among the many services and benefits offered are solutions and assistance for our nation’s veterans, who are helped by GST Michigan Works! Veterans Services Liaison Rick Tuckey.

The agency also operates a business resource network, wherein participating businesses pay a fee that provides a “Success Coach” who spends approximately four hours per week with an employer. During the visit by coaches, workers have an opportunity to speak with them about issues going on in their lives — whether they’re private matters at home, transportation, legal, or health-related. The hope of the network is that through talking with people, the coaches can help employees resolve issues so they don’t miss work or lose their job because of extenuating circumstances in their lives that are counterproductive to their occupational requirements.

Regardless of economic outlook or the level of unemployment in the surrounding areas, GST Michigan Works! can make a difference in the lives of area residents and improve their education, skillset and marketability to attain a better paying job in demand by local businesses and manufacturers.

“There are a lot of people going to work at jobs that don’t pay that much, so in some instances people have to work several jobs,” said Jody Kerbyson, CEO of GST Michigan Works! “There are many people who are underemployed. They’re not making enough at their job, and that creates financial difficulty for them and their families.”

So, what if you don’t have the skills necessary for some of these jobs? GST Michigan Works! offers people scholarships to allow them to attend a trade school or obtain a college degree.

“A lot of the jobs today can only be applied to online, but not everybody has a computer or is computer efficient so we offer workshops for that, too,” said Kerbyson. “We can help people with remedial computer skills.”

For more information on how GST Michigan Works! can help people looking to improve their work skills or to assist local companies with workforce training, go online to www.gstmiworks.org.

Along with helping underemployed people and veterans through career assistance, skillsets, marketability and VA benefits, GST Michigan Works! will also sponsor the upcoming Bowling in Bowties event hosted by View Newspaper Group on Jan. 19 at Gerlach’s Bowling Center. A portion of the proceeds and all funds raised during the event through raffles and more to the Lapeer County Department of Veterans Affairs.

To enter a team please contact Michele Guerra at mguerra@mihomepaper.com or call 810-452-2606.

Alex Petrie

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