Brooklyn's Progress
December 2007/January 2008

BY JILL D’AMICO

Legend has it that a travel agent based in Downtown Brooklyn was on the verge of going out of business back in 1998. The cause wasn’t a slow holiday travel season, the dawn of Internet fares, or high rent. This particular travel agent was in dire need of employees – good, dependable employees, which was hard to come by.

“Why is it so hard to find good help!” the owner complained to Kenneth Adams, then-president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

Soon after, Good Help was born in conjunction with the Chamber’s Workforce Development program.

Nearly 10 years later, Good Help, a business-driven staffing and employment service, remains the centerpiece program in the Chamber’s rapidly expanding Workforce Development Department. Set to clear 225 placements this year – a program record – Good Help has grown to three full-time employees and has expanded with the Chamber’s growing Membership.

“We are the human resources department for a 1,500-Member conglomerate,” said Mike Rosenthal, who was brought on as Director to launch Good Help. “When you have a small business without an HR department or HR savvy, you have a hard enough time juggling your time without having to worry about getting good employees.”
“Everyone we have hired in the past year and a half has been through Good Help,” said Robert Mealey, operations manager at Tanner Bolt & Nut Corp. “In fact, they offer so much more in the way of comprehensive services than any other employment service. I hope my competitors never find out about them.”

Good Workers
In fact, Good Help is open to any business owner within Brooklyn, and interested job seekers can search Good Help’s database for available jobs. “If you search for jobs in Brooklyn, eventually, you’ll find us,” said Rosenthal.

After having seen about 9,000 people since the program’s inception, he is in a good position to know what a good employee looks like. The program has placed about 1,600 people and they get the bulk of their applicants through non-profit job readiness and placement agencies and elected officials.

The Chamber Workforce Development Department has expanded into training, such as ESL classes and on-the-job training grants, HR assistance, and an internship program called Summer Heat, which was created in conjunction with Brooklyn Borough Hall.

“Personally, it has been a good experience overall and really helpful to us,” said Ms. Silvana Azambulla of Uncommon Goods, an online shop selling creative and unusual home accessories and gifts. “Especially considering the large amount of people we are looking to hire for the holidays.”

Business-Driven
The things employers are looking for is simple: people who are ready, willing and able to work. “The barriers towards employment are behind them, they are team players,” explained Mr. Rosenthal. “They have good attitudes and are willing to be trained.”

“People looking for jobs with us have to remember our client is the business, and we encourage jobseekers to look at us like that. They have to impress us and be professional to get as far as the business looking to hire.”

Luckily, Mr. Rosenthal pointed out, working at the Chamber makes getting to know the client easy. “We see them out at the networking events, we know their workplace environments, and we can tell what kind of person would be a good fit,” he said.

Feedback Essential
Feedback is invaluable for the program’s continued growth. They follow up with employers to see how hires are working out and how interviewees fared.

In turn, Good Help gives feedback to the job placement agencies that refer jobseekers to them, telling them if someone was great and will work out, or why someone was not considered.

To learn more about Good Help, contact Mike Rosenthal at 718-875-1000 ext. 108 or at mrosenthal@brooklynchamber.com.