Governor Corbett Announces PA Talent Hub, a Private/Public Partnership to Connect People with Jobs

CANONSBURG, Pa., July 10, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Governor Tom Corbett, along with PA Department of Labor & Industry Secretary Julia Hearthway, today announced the creation of a program to take private industry recruitment programs and practices and translate them into public sector workforce development efforts.

PA Talent Hub, or PATH, is a collaborative effort among Labor & Industry and CONSOL Energy, UPMC, FedEx Ground, and Acutronic. The announcement of the western Pennsylvania pilot was made at CONSOL Energy's headquarters in Canonsburg, Washington County.

"We are taking a simple concept - watch, listen, and learn - and putting it to work when it comes to matching people to the job market," Corbett said. "Learning the best practices used by business will make government more efficient, smarter, and at long last something that really is there to help. In particular, to help out-of-work Pennsylvanians find work."

PATH will help the state's PA CareerLink® staff work more as private sector recruiters by applying what works in the private sector and bringing those models, practices and processes into the state's face-to-face job placement locations. For example, if a private employer uses a particular process to screen job candidates that reveals a better match to a career or job, then that process may also be used successfully by PA CareerLink® staff.

"The simple premise of PATH is to sit down with employers and talk, listen and learn about what they are doing to obtain the skilled workers they need to fill jobs at their companies," Hearthway said.

"CONSOL Energy is proud to participate in this collaborative PATH program as it serves a critical role in developing talent that can meet the unique and urgent needs of our region's growing energy sector," J. Brett Harvey, chairman and CEO of CONSOL Energy Inc said. "We are blessed with vast natural resource assets, but we must focus on developing those assets safely and compliantly, and one of the best assurances to achieving that goal is having a skilled and knowledgeable workforce." 

In addition to Harvey and Hearthway, Corbett was joined for the announcement by Kelly Gray, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, FedEx Ground; Gregg Peaslee, Senior Vice President, Chief Human Resources and Administrative Services Officer, UPMC; Lori Yackmack, Administration & Quality Specialist, Acutronic; Stefani Pashman, CEO, Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board; and Dennis Yablonsky, CEO, Allegheny Conference. 

L&I's workforce development staff will meet with PATH partner companies' recruitment staff throughout the summer to determine what successful programs are transferable to PA CareerLink® staff. PA CareerLink® staff will then be trained and programs implemented in western Pennsylvania.

L&I plans to expand the pilot across the state as these processes and programs are established later this year.

Media Contact: 
Eric Shirk, Governor's Office, 717-783-1116
Sara Goulet, L&I, 717-787-7530

SOURCE Pennsylvania Office of the Governor