Steamboat Pilot & Today

Every employer has experienced it -- a job applicant who offers assurances that he or she is proficient in a particular software application. Then the person reports for work and demonstrates a distinct inability to manipulate the nuances of a spreadsheet.

Now, the Colorado Workforce Center in Steamboat Springs makes it easier to avoid such costly mistakes.

The Workforce Center office in Fish Creek at Sundance already offers free employee screening for employers, Employment Specialist Brian Bradbury said. Now, his office is ready to offer online tests designed to gauge job applicants' skills in a wide range of applications. And they'll do it at no charge to the employer.

Bradbury and his colleagues in Steamboat don't administer the tests. Instead, they have a relationship with a Web-based business called Qwiz. Prospective employees sit at a computer at the Steamboat office and take the tests online. The Colorado Department of Labor foots the $5 fee per test.

Skills screening is just one of the technology tools the Workforce Center offers to employers in Northwest Colorado. The Steamboat office lists 110 jobs openings, all posted on the Internet. Employers can post the job openings from their office computers.

Depending on their wishes, Bradbury said, applicants could be referred directly to the employer. However, the Workforce Center also is willing to field the applications and screen the individuals for the appropriate skill sets, aptitudes and employment backgrounds. The office also will try to match people seeking work with the job postings it receives.

Liz Woolf of the Workforce Center in Granby said her office recently hosted a job fair on behalf of the new City Market grocery store there, which needed to hire 85 employees.

"We are willing to collect the applications and will pre-screen the applicants," Woolf said. "It's really full-service for the business owner."

-- To reach Tom Ross call 871-4205

or e-mail tross@steamboatpilot.com