CareerForce is Minnesota’s statewide network of organizations providing employment preparation and job search services. The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), Local Workforce Development Boards, and community-based organizations work together to ensure job seekers find employment and to assist businesses in attracting the workers they need.

Throughout the pandemic, the Career Force system has had to adapt to new models of service delivery. Today, we’re writing to announce some additional steps in our evolution to provide the best service to our customers in a new and modernized approach to service delivery.

The biggest change we’re announcing is a new system of “Office Hours” in which many locations will have windows of time to accept in-person visits at our Centers – but without people needing a scheduled appointment. Like any approach, we’re going to test this concept to see if it works.

Here’s more background on how this decision came about and how we’re adapting our model to fit the needs of job-seekers across the state.

Proactive outreach

Over the last year, CareerForce has shifted its service model to reach more people where they are and not wait for them to come to us. Since spring 2021, DEED staff have called more than 140,000 people who were receiving Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits. With record unemployment followed quickly by record job vacancies, we flipped our model for job service to have team members proactively reach out to thousands of Minnesotans every week over the phone.

We’re also going into the community to meet Minnesotans where they are. For example, people have long visited their local library for help when they are out of work. Many unique partnerships between libraries and workforce development have been forged on the local level. Complementing those partnerships, DEED has worked with the Minnesota Department of Education to create CareerForce Corners, which offer specific resources to help job seekers, including job fairs and other hiring events – right in the library. People who need more assistance can be referred to local resources to get the help they need. Currently, there is a CareerForce Corner at 28 libraries and counting across Minnesota.  

Serving customers in new ways

When vaccines became available, we began experimenting with in-person sessions by appointment only. This gave us new insight on in-person service and how to do it best, while staying efficient by not waiting for people to show up.

Today, many CareerForce locations are fully open to the public and others are offering hours during the week when people can come in without an appointment for career exploration and job search services. Each CareerForce location is developing a schedule based on local needs and resources.

People who want CareerForce assistance can find contact information for a CareerForce location near them online or call 651-259-7500 to connect with staff member at a nearby CareerForce location.

The future of CareerForce is a flexible approach using a mix of the services mentioned above. We will continue the proactive model of community outreach focused on reaching those who have been most challenged by the workforce development system. Collaboration with local partners is key, and the DEED CareerForce engagement tour I launched last month promises to determine local solutions to move forward together to best serve those who need us the most.

At DEED, we want Minnesotans to know that no matter the barriers they are facing, CareerForce can help start them on the path to stable, living-wage employment.