Manpower opens new branch, program

Leila Navidi

New digs: Las Vegas Manpower franchise owner Andy Katz, center, cuts the ribbon with staff members during the grand opening of Manpower of Southern Nevada’s training and development facility in North Las Vegas on March 11.

By Nicole Lucht (contact), In Business reporter

Fri, Mar 20, 2009 (2 a.m.)

Leila Navidi

A view from inside the Manpower of Southern Nevada's training and development facility in North Las Vegas.

A workforce readiness training program has been launched by Manpower of Southern Nevada to help people improve job-seeking skills.

The 11-day program was launched in conjunction with the opening of Manpower’s North Las Vegas branch this month.

Manpower is the largest temporary employment agency in Las Vegas, placing 8,000 people in jobs in 2007, almost twice as many as the second largest temp agency, Millenium Staffing Services, according to In Business Las Vegas’ 2009 Book of Business Lists.

There are three tiers to Manpower’s job placement services: purely temporary work, temporary-to-permanent job placement and direct hiring.

To support its training programs, Manpower dedicated two rooms inside its new West Cheyenne Avenue location for worker development.

“Our vision for this room is workforce training,” said Dan Ward of Manpower’s training and development division. “Our goal is to get those folks in here, (and) put them through some sort of workforce readiness (training).”

Workers who come to Manpower seeking job placement may have limited or no workforce skills or experience, or outdated ones, he said. The training held in the computer room or the more traditional one will be geared toward helping the workers get back in the workforce.

Training includes how to search for a job, nailing down a job and keeping it.

Basic computer training, such as Excel and Word, as well as classes on workplace emotional intelligence, personal accountability and the importance of good social skills are offered.

From 2005-07, the training program helped 250 people find jobs with an average salary of $13 an hour, Ward said.

“That’s what we’re hoping to do here,” he said.

Manpower recently released its second-quarter employment outlook, based on a survey of 31,800 employers across the United States.

The employers were asked how they anticipate the total employment at their job sites to change from April 1 to June 30, as compared with the current quarter.

Fifteen percent forecast more hiring, 14 percent expected to cut staff and 67 percent said they didn’t expect any staff-level changes. Four percent were undecided.

Employers in the Western states, including Nevada, expect moderate decreases in staff during the second quarter, compared with employers in the Midwest, South and Northeast, who are forecasting extreme decreases, the survey said.

The hospitality and leisure industries in the West expected a 14 percent increase in hiring. The largest decreases, 7 percent each, were expected in construction, government and information.

Of those employers surveyed in Las Vegas, 14 percent planned to hire, compared with 19 percent in the first quarter. Twelve percent expect to cut jobs this quarter, the same as the first quarter.

The majority, 65 percent, expected no change, while 9 percent were unsure of their plans.