"A Community Effort": Measurement Incorporated Partners with StepUp Durham
Measurement Incorporated HR Director, Janis Clark Davis (right), tells Erin Roesch (center) why she hires from StepUp Durham and how the employees she has hired are doing.
Interview between Erin Roesch, StepUp Recruiter, and Janis Clark Davis, HR Director at Measurement Incorporated (MI). StepUp Durham has placed two temporary employees with MI since it opened its doors in August of 2015.
Erin: What is your favorite thing about StepUp Durham?
Janis: I like the passion that you all have to help people. I like the fact that you all are no nonsense and that you carry your participants through real life experiences with your boot camp [Jobs Skills Workshop]. I particularly like the care that participants get from StepUp. I like knowing that once they go through StepUp they have resources; you don’t just push them out - you help them.
E: What were some of your first impressions of the people StepUp has referred to you so far?
J: They have been by far some of the best employees we have had as far as temp goes. They caught on and had the skill sets they needed. The manager looked at their résumés, and when they came in, she interviewed them and said, "Yes, I want that person!" So that is phenomenal - we don’t usually get that.
E: How has StepUp been helpful to your current or former employees?
J: When I know that an employee needs help getting back in the workforce, whether it is because they have some employment gaps or another reason, I send them your way. You all have a training program that is phenomenal. I am currently an active member of the Workforce Economic Development Board and I know that there are still unemployed people in Durham and Wake County that need help, and I know that StepUp Durham is doing a phenomenal job to help those people.
You all are looking at the whole person. You are helping them [participants] get themselves together so that once they get a job making money, they will know how to be a good steward of that money, budget, and do all those important things. I don’t know any other service (in Durham) that is doing that.
E: Do you have any other message to give to potential employers?
J: If you have not worked with StepUp Durham, or don’t know who they are, give them a try! We need to be working together to get people the services they need so that they can be gainfully employed. Everybody wants to be able to get a job, why not work with StepUp Durham to get people gainful employment?
Everybody wins. They [StepUp participants] become productive citizens - they get a job, give back to the community, and pay their own way. As an employer, you get a talented employee who wants to work, and you get to be a part of building up our community.It is a community effort and I think that we all need to do it.
