Westlake Employment finds new home
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- Published on Thursday, October 29, 2015
Submitted article
The Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
Westlake Employment Skills and Services Centre (WESSC) is a familiar name in Neepawa and the surrounding area for anyone looking for help finding a job or help finding an employee. Since 1998, Westlake has offered a wide range of short-term employment assistance services to job ready unemployed Manitobans in the geographical region including the Town of Neepawa, the Rural Municipalities of Rosedale, North Cypress-Langford, Glenella-Lansdowne and a portion of Westlake-Gladstone.
Services designed to assist clients to prepare for, obtain and maintain employment include help with resume writing, interview preparation skills, public access computers for job search and referrals to Training and Employment Services for program consideration, etc. A well-maintained job board focuses on local employment opportunities and is an important venue for businesses to post job openings to address their human resource needs. The competent staff works hard to refer clients to employers looking for new personnel. Service Canada provides a wide range of outreach services out of the Westlake office every Tuesday.
Westlake has moved to a new location. Effective Monday, October 26, the office is located at 41 Main Street E., sharing the building currently occupied by Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC) and Whitemud Watershed Conservation District.
The Province of Manitoba approved a funding increase of 12.35 per cent over last budget period to assist with costs associated with relocation and continued operation. As Westlake still faces a budget shortfall for the 2015-2016 service period, local governments have been asked for financial support in order to maintain the essential services offered. To date, contributions have been received from the RMs of North Cypress-Langford and Glenella-Lansdowne. Discussions continue with the RM of Rosedale. The Town of Neepawa has declined the request. To cope with the remaining deficit, both employees at Westlake have had their full-time positions reduced to 0.9 positions with additional unpaid time taken during the winter months. While every effort will be made to schedule the reductions in employee time with minimal impact on office operations, there will be days when the office will have to close.
The grand opening for the new office location will be held on Friday, Nov. 6. Everyone is invited to come and see the new office, look around and have some coffee and dainties between 2 and 4 p.m.
The Westlake annual general meeting will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 25 at 7:00 p.m. Once again, the public is invited to attend in the new office at 41 Main St. E.
