2010-09-21 Merit Appeals Board Minutes

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sure they're on track and she is there to help them whenever they need assistance or have questions in terms of screening applications. Other division work includes conducting priority job placement for medically injured employees who can never return to their usual and customary job. In accordance with County policy, these priority job placements are done for workers' comp injuries, but they're also done for personal illnesses and injuries. Ms. Cabanas also collaborates with a number of community organizations on workforce development to encourage persons to apply for County jobs. Right now hiring is at a low, but the County does need to be ready for when the boom returns; and the County wants to always be an employer of choice in the community. They are working with community organizations, especially with UH Hilo, HCC, and Workforce Development, Department of Labor, to encourage internships with County departments. Ms. Cabanas also coordinates with the Hawaii Community College for the cooperative vocational education where the County employs HCC students with County funds, while they receive college credits from HCC. Ms. Cabanas conducts training to hiring departments on effective job interviewing, as she wants them to be methodical in their selection process and be in compliance with various federal and state laws in terms of employment. The division is pursuing funding for a web based recruitment software system and are looking at grant funding. They have written to Senator Inouye's office for his help in looking for a grant that they can apply for. In the meantime, Ms. Cabanas is working on the development of an RFP. They are also working on developing a Facebook County jobs page, as they want to keep with the trends. Another project is the volunteerism project. They secured a $5,000 grant from Research & Development to kick this off, and they want to have a link to the jobs page. People may check the jobs page, but as jobs are limited, they may decide to volunteer with the County in different capacities. They are also placing their documents, applications, and certifications into laserfiche, which is a repository program that stores documents for an indefinite period of time without creating storage problems on file servers.