OhioMeansJobs Reopens Boardman Office in New Space

BOARDMAN, Ohio – After being closed since March 2020, the OhioMeansJobs office here has reopened in a new and larger location.

The state agency’s newly renovated office is in Boardman Plaza, at 127 Boardman Canfield Road, where it occupies space once used for a county court, and most recently a church. Its previous location, which was just a few doors down in the plaza, was prone to flooding. It received severe damage in 2019.

The new location, like the old one, is in space leased from plaza owner America’s Realty.

The new 9,275-square-foot office formally opened June 1, offering services for job seekers and companies looking to hire.

It features a resource room, with computers, copiers and fax machines; three conference rooms, including one large enough for classes, job testing and mass hiring events; a computer lab; and offices for the 23 staff members.

Services available at the OhioMeansJobs office include  job-training referrals, career counseling and job listings. The office had been providing services virtually and by appointment only but is now open daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for walk-in job-seekers.

Before the pandemic, the Boardman office helped about 25 people per day. Numbers now range from 25 to 40 per week. “We hope that number goes up as we get the word out [that the office has reopened],” said Carol Ramsay Lewis, manager of the office.

OhioMeansJobs offers a variety of personal services designed to help and connect job candidates to employers, Lewis said. These include help writing resumes, computer and internet access, rooms and technology for teleconference job interviews, space for job fairs, and  listings of available positions.

A large-screen monitor mounted on a wall in the entrance  area shows a sampling of job listings,  with their salaries  and requirements. While the Boardman office is intended for residents of  Mahoning and Columbiana counties, it will help residents in any county.

“We’re willing to do whatever it takes,” Lewis said.

Cyndy Bresnahan, business services manager, said the Boardman office can partially pay a company that is providing on-the-job training to a new hire.

“Say a company is looking for a welder, which are hard to find, and they hire a candidate who might not be up to their specifications unless they train him,” Bresnahan said. “We can reimburse that company for half of the wages they pay the worker for six months if they give him on the job training.”

The Boardman office also will resume offering workshops on how to do interviews, how to conduct an online job search, and other related topics. For job-seekers who need training, the office can direct them to organizations that provide training and funds to pay for it. 

“We’re the state’s center to get people and employers matched up,” said Lewis.

With “now hiring” signs dotting the landscape as restaurants, shops and small factories grapple with an inability to find workers, the OhioMeansJobs office hopes to offer solutions.

“Our goal is to get people registered in the OhioMeansJobs.com website, show them how to search for jobs and get back into employment,” Lewis said. “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. But we’re here to give [job seekers] all of the tools they need to get that employment, and we want to get the word out to employers.”

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.