Pennsylvania CareerLink is a collaborative project between multiple agencies to provide career services to Pennsylvania employers, potential employees, and others.
Pennsylvania CareerLink is operated under the direction of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.
Pennsylvania CareerLink offices and access points are located in each of the 67 Pennsylvania counties. However, not all counties have their own full-fledged Pennsylvania CareerLink office. An example of this is Sullivan County which shares its Pennsylvania CareerLink facility with that of Bradford County.
Most Pennsylvania CareerLink services are offered free of charge.
What Pennsylvania CareerLink is not
While Pennsylvania CareerLink provides employers with employee locating services and functions as an employment agency Pennsylvania CareerLink is not a Temporary Employment Agency nor does it generally perform direct Job Search for the client. Rather the Pennsylvania CareerLink provides tools enabling employers and employees to connect with each other.
Agencies that compose Pennsylvania CareerLink
Pennsylvania CareerLink is and has been composed of numerous partner agencies throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. because the Counties take bids on who provides Pennsylvania CareerLink service, the agencies which compose a particular Pennsylvania CareerLink may vary extensively from that of another. Further the agencies may vary within a Pennsylvania CareerLink from one contract to another. Commonwealth budget changes in 2005 and 2006 for caused numerous counties to reevaluate their contracts and change providers. They do however have several general features.
A partial list of Agencies which are or have been partnered to form Pennsylvania CareerLink includes:
1. County and Area Workforce Investment Corporations
Montgomery County Workforce Investment Board
Philadelphia Works
Educational Data Systems, Inc. (EDSI), a privately held company headquartered in Dearborn, MI, is contracted by various local workforce investment boards throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to provide workforce development services in several CareerLink sites. Contracts include services to WIA and TANF populations. These contracts were awarded through a competitive RFP process. EDSI currently has contracts in the following counties of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, Montgomery, Dauphin, Berks, Bucks, Lehigh, Cumberland, Lebanon, Allegheny, Delaware, and York as well as Detroit, MI, Chicago, IL, Manhattan, NY, Prince Georges Co, MD and Washington D.C. Harrisburg Area Community College (Dauphin, Cumberland, Lebanon, Adams, Franklin, Juniata, and Perry Counties) Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission[www.sapdc.org] (Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Fulton, Huntingdon, and Somerset Counties) Employment & Training, Office of Community Services (Allegheny County) Pittsburgh Partnership Southwest Training Service, Inc (Beaver, Greene, and Washington Counties) Job Training for Beaver County Tri-County Workforce Investment Board, Inc (Armstrong, Butler, and Indiana Counties) Private Industry Council of Westmoreland / Fayette, Inc. Regional Center for Workforce Excellence (Clarion, Crawford, Erie, Erie City, Forest, Venango, and Warren Counties) West Central Job Partnership Lawrence and Mercer Counties. North Central Workforce Investment Board (Cameron, Clearfield, Elk, Jefferson, McKean and Potter Counties) Central PA Workforce Development Corporation (Centre, Clinton, Columbia, Lycoming, Mifflin, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder and Union Counties) Northern Tier Regional Planning and Development Commission (Bradford, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Wyoming Counties) Scranton Lackawanna Human Development Agency, Inc. Luzerne County Human Resources Development Department (Luzerne and Schuylkill Counties) Pocono Counties Workforce Investment Area (Carbon, Monroe, Pike and Wayne Counties) Bucks County Office of Employment & Training, Inc. Chester County Department of Community Development Delaware County Office of Workforce Development Lancaster Employment & Training Agency Work Investment Board (Lehigh County and Northampton).
2. Pennsylvania's 29 different Intermediate Units.
3. Office of Vocational Rehabilitation
4. Office of Unemployment Compensation
5. Pennsylvania State Civil Service Commission
6. Various Small Business and Rural Development Agencies
Services provided by Pennsylvania CareerLink
Pennsylvania CareerLink provides its clients with a number of features, which may vary somewhat from county to county.
