2014
January 23 – CareerSource Polk hosted the 2014 State of the Workforce Summit on January 23rd with keynote speaker Jesse Pannucio, Executive Director for the Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO). Nearly 250 business partners were in attendance and garnered critical information from our first ever Executive Leadership Panel which included: Dr. Elaine Thompson, CEO of Lakeland Regional Health Systems; Mark Cabrera, Senior Vice President of Saddle Creek Logistics, Doug Thomas, City Manager of City of Lakeland, Adrian Jones, General Manager of Legoland, Florida, Bill Johnson, Chief Financial Officer, Shared Services of Coca-Cola Refreshments.
February – Polk Works made its’ official transition to CareerSource Polk in conjunction with the statewide workforce system brand transition. Our CEO and several members of her team joined Governor Scott and the rest of the statewide workforce system in Tallahassee for the first ever CareerSource Day at the Capitol. Successful educational meetings regarding the workforce system and its’ successes were conducted with our elected officials.
February 21 – The Young Leaders team hosted the first ever Fashion Frenzy, in partnership with Dillard’s Department Stores with the goal of having our young people demonstrate, on the runway, the proper attire for the workplace. Over 150 participants and their parents were in attendance.
March 19 – The 2014 Spring Job Fair was hosted at the Lakeland Square Mall with over 50 employers and close to 500 job seekers in attendance.
March 25 – The first Youth Leadership Institute was a tremendous success as participating youth attended workshop sessions to prepare them for Summer Youth Employment opportunities. They also had the benefit of hearing directly from a panel of distinguished, youth-friendly employers what they expect from young employees, what experience and education is needed for particular jobs, and the fashion faux pas and backgrounds that could impede their employment opportunities Over 250 youth participated during Spring Break. Pregnancy prevention was also a key element of discussion during the Institute.
July 2014 – Katrina Lunsford was appointed as the Board’s Chair.
August 28 – General Manager Christopher Monnot of the new Amazon Fulfillment Center in Lakeland spoke to the crowd of over 800 about the new facility and the operations of Amazon at the CareerSource Polk Annual Meeting and Best Places to Work Awards at the Lakeland Center. 24 companies were awarded as “Best Places to Work”.
September 11 – CareerSource Polk, educational institutions, and local staffing companies partnered to host P5X to connect job seekers with experts that will ensure each job seeker is fully prepared for their job search. The goal of P5X was to have human resources and workforce experts collaborate to consult with job seekers about what our business community is looking for in its’ workforce. From developing and critiquing resumes, conducting mock interviews, explaining how to articulate your qualifications and skills to teaching how to negotiate salaries appropriate for the market and much more, job seekers walked away fully prepared to land a job.