A little over a year ago, WorkSource welcomed Barbara Burkart as our new One-Stop Operator—a leadership role that guides the work we do to help job seekers in Southwest Washington.
Barbara—or Barb as she’s known in the office—is a shining light of positivity and a passionate advocate for progress, always looking for new and more efficient ways to reach our customers and help them advance in their careers or return to work.
Before her time with WorkSource, Barb had spent over twenty years in leadership positions in the healthcare industry. “I worked for large and medium-sized companies that dealt in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, healthcare distribution, and most recently at a Level One trauma center.”
Part of Barb’s work is to refine processes and facilitate center-wide communication, but she also deals directly with the community at large, working with our network of partners to help assist people in finding quality jobs—a guiding principle for WorkSource.
What is a quality job?
The Quality Jobs initiative is led by Workforce Southwest Washington and defined as “a commitment to designing and developing a regional approach with workers, employers, job seekers, community-based organizations, economic developers, and local municipalities to define, support and promote quality jobs.”
Part of the Quality Jobs initiative is the creation of a framework of actionable strategies for businesses to improve their jobs. This framework includes:
- Self-sufficiency wages
- Training and advancement opportunities
- Accessible hiring and onboarding practices
- Comprehensive benefits
- Predictable hours
- Safe working conditions and worker engagement
This initiative is a partnership between local employers and WorkSource to increase the sustainability and fulfillment of our workforce. But it’s not job seekers alone who benefit—it’s employers as well. Taking strides to implement some of these quality standards can aid in recruiting and employee retention for local businesses.
“We work with employers throughout the community to offer quality jobs that applicants can live and thrive in,” said Barbara. “We do this through working with employers to build On-the-Job Training programs, apprenticeships, and to guide them on the needs of the job seeker community.”
Barb though sees potential for WorkSource’s network to grow within other community organizations too.
“My goal is to build a solid network of quality partnerships across the system where all partners are working together cohesively and seamlessly with customer-centric services and programs that impact the community.”
Community-based organizations are vital to WorkSource, just as WorkSource is vital to other community organizations. Because, when a person is struggling, their barriers may be multi-faceted. Someone seeking a job may also be seeking housing, or healthcare, or food. By working with other community partners, we’re able to join together and help our customers toward a better tomorrow.
“Working together, we can make great strides toward an impact that will make a difference.”
And part of her goals as WorkSource’s One-Stop Operator is to nurture these relationships with new and old partners alike, to more effectively serve our customers.
If you work with a community organization and would like to work with WorkSource through partnerships with your organization to achieve mutual goals, reach out to Barbara Burkart at bburkart@worksourceswwa.com. Whether you’d like to meet in-person, virtually, or even take a tour of our centers in Kelso and Vancouver, we’d be more than happy to have you.
WorkSource is an equal opportunity employer/program. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities. Washington Relay Service 711.
This program receives support and funding from a U.S. Department of Labor grant(s) provided through Workforce Southwest Washington. Read more about WSW federal funding at WSW Funding Disclosures: https://workforcesw.org/federal-funding-disclosure
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