Ring The Bell – April 2015

Community Partner Ring The Bell

Prime Real Estate has been working with Career Path Services for quite some time, and this month, we’d like to honor Tanna St. Marie, CEO, as our April 2015 Community Partner Ring The Bell winner.  Tanna originally completed her On The Job Training program  through Stephanie Benefield, a CPS practitioner. Since then, Tanna has been a great supporter of the WIA program.  Through her organization, Stephanie has since been able to offer two Work Experience (WEX) trials for low income adults with significant barriers to employment.  These individuals learned customer service skills, phone etiquette, data entry training, and the importance of working with others in a professional setting.  Tanna’s ability to provide this training with grace and kindness has inspired these job seekers to continue in their quest for family supporting employment.

The offices of Prime Real Estate serve lawyers, real estate firms, and individuals purchasing homes.  With a wide range of incomes and backgrounds, the company serves individuals from all parts of the community.

Stephanie recounts one story in which a participant in the WIA Adult program tended to complain more frequently than most about life and working conditions.  While the client was not ready immediately for a customer service position, Tanna gave her a position amenable to her skills.  Through positive reinforcement, the client eventually started to view her work and life in a way that allowed her to begin engaging with customers.  As a result of this experience, the client landed a high-paying job at Gonzaga University in the Accounting department.  Turning a frown in a permanent smile is no easy task!  Stephanie admits it was Tanna’s positive reinforcement and belief that the client could do the job as well as anyone, given a chance, that made the difference in this success story.

We thank Tanna for her partnership with Career Path Services, which began in September 2012 and continues today.  She has supported us and our customers by providing them with work experience that has allowed them to find great jobs and an opportunity for a better life.

Employee Ring The Bell

Carya Bair makes a difference; an impacting difference in the lives of the customers she serves, for the employers she connects jobs seekers to, and for her peers in which she supports, encourages, and challenges.

From the moment she joined Career Path Services as an Employment Specialist, Carya hit the ground running; never looking back. She is a saleswoman, a fearless job developer; connecting with employers is a fierce passion. She possess an eagerness to attend local Expos, Chamber meetings, and other community networking events in order to build relationships and advocate for her participants. She is the first Benton Franklin staff to exceed her OJT and placements goals every year since joining our team in 2012. In fact, she often jokes that she will soon have to turn down employer inquiries because she cannot keep up with the demand and doesn’t have the budget to reimburse. Excitingly, she has already done so again this year; with an average DW placement wage of $20.18/hour. This alone demonstrates Carya’s high level of professionalism, consistency, and motivation.

Carya brings much needed humor to the workplace; she is the balance among a mix of strong personalities. “You’re right” is just one of her signature comments, and “Crazia” just one of her nicknames. She is passionate about fostering a positive work environment and atmosphere for our entire WorkSource family; staff, employers and job seekers alike.

Her multi-faceted approach in successfully balancing work and life, enables her to successfully manage conflicting deadlines.  Carya is on target for completing her best program year to date. She has met 6/8 DWP goals, 5/7 DW Training NEG, and is on track in serving the long-term unemployed through our Rapid Response and Job Driven NEG contracts.  Great job Carya!