Many forward-thinking employers are embracing the idea of a career center that provides ongoing resources, education and support as one of the best ways to keep their employees "employable," both within the corporation, and if necessary, outside it.

These employers are using career centers for career development as well as for career transition. By providing the site, staff and resources for employees to expand their skills and competencies, and focus on long-term growth, these career centers achieve a variety of goals: they reinforce the importance of a learning and development culture; they increase retention through enriched employee development and assessment services; they provide coaching support to highly motivated and qualified employees, managers and new hires; and they encourage employees to apply for internal positions.

PLANNING A CAREER CENTER

Setting up a successful career center takes more than just putting some desks in an empty conference room. The effort must begin with planning by a group made up of staff from the company and people who will run the center. Personnel should include representatives from plant engineering, human resources, accounting, telecommunications and information services, as well as a project coordinator. The center's staff should include a project coordinator, career center manager, lead consultant and job lead developer.

This group of planners must make decisions about a number of things: the number of centers needed, their locations, whether special identification will be required for center access, the hours of operation, and options to consider if the center must be moved at a later date. In addition, when an outside placement service is involved, the company must determine the quantity and type of workshops to be offered, the number of consultants to be provided, the makeup of the staff, and the client mix.

In setting the center's hours of operation, accommodate all work shifts. Guidelines and processes should be established to address issues such as how many resumes per week will be reproduced, turnaround time for regular word processing, and how to schedule counseling sessions or computer access. Operations are usually more efficient if children are not allowed in the center and spouses or significant others are invited only for special meetings and focus groups. A handout explaining those policies and the center's services should be given to each employee.

The center's personnel will need a mechanism for reporting progress in assisting individuals. This should include a daily attendance log, reports on individual counseling sessions, workshop activities, job development progress, monthly report outlines, candidate progress tracking forms and statistics.

BUILDING THE SETTING, STAFF AND RESOURCES

The goodwill generated by a career center can be significant, especially among employees who remain with the company after a downsizing. It's important for them to see their former colleagues treated well. Offering the career center services to down-sized employees can also help reduce potential legal actions, unemployment claims and negative external images.

The setting. Depending on the size of your company, a typical career center may be anywhere from 2,000 to 200,000 square feet. Experts recommend that the center be located off-site, but close enough to the company to allow both current and former employees to use the center without major inconvenience.

The center will need management and consultant offices, administrative and word processing space, a small conference room, a reception area, work stations, a break area and a job development center. The company must provide a budget for a library, bulletin boards, voice mail or answering machines, electronic databases and vending machines for coffee and snacks.

The staff. The first - and clearly most important - decision is selecting a detail-oriented person to manage the center. This individual must be capable of "influencing without authority," someone who can work well with the company, the career center staff and the employees using the center. It is important to note that each career center is different and that the planning and structure of a center is dependent upon the needs of the corporation's culture, the number of employees to be served and local conditions.

A typical center might have a staff of seven people, as well as consultants.

The resources. The library should house local newspapers, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, a variety of business and industry periodicals, business directories and phone books. There should also be a sufficient number of personal computers with appropriate software to allow employees to conduct database searches on a National Job Lead Bank.

Seminars can be conducted at the center in a workshop setting, usually with no more than 20 people in each group. Every person should have access to consultants who dispense advice on varied topics such as writing resumes, dressing properly and perfecting interview skills. Also provide access to financial planners, writing coaches and experts on how to start a business.