On The Job Bus

RIDGE MANOR - Greg Young knows the mileages by heart.

Young, 46, needs a new job. He said he appreciates the value of the services offered by Career Central, a nonprofit job placement agency, but he lives in Ridge Manor, and so it's a haul to the Career Central offices in Spring Hill, New Port Richey and Zephyrhills.

On Thursday, the job-hunting tools came to him.

Career Central's new Mobile One Stop bus rolled into the parking lot of the East Hernando Library branch, just a couple of miles from Young's house.

"It's better than going 18 miles to Zephyrhills or 31 miles to Spring Hill," Young said as he took a break from scouting out sales jobs. "It's a handy tool to have."

The brand-new, 38-foot Farber replaces a 28-foot van that Career Central had used for about 18 months.

The agency started the mobile job lab program to provide services to areas farther from its offices, said David Hamilton, operations management consultant for the Pasco Hernando Jobs and Education Partnership Regional Board, Inc. The partnership sponsors Career Central.

"Because of our geography, we knew we were leaving a significant portion of our two-county area without convenient access to our services," said Hamilton, who runs the bus operation and drives the nearly 14-foot tall behemoth.

The size of the old bus made for tight quarters, however, Hamilton recalled: "Once you got four people in there, it was real crowded."

The new bus boasts 12 workstations where job hunters can tap into Career Central's network of job orders and peruse other online ads.

The $238,000 customized creation features two flatscreen televisions, including a 40-incher with Smart Board technology so it can used like an electronic dry erase board.

The front cabin can be closed off to provide a private meeting area.

It's those kinds of features that will come in handy to employers, who can use the bus to do on site interviews of potential employees. That's a free service.

Companies can also use the bus to host training sessions for current workers. Jet ICU, a Brooksville firm that provides international medical transport services, used the new bus last month to offer its employees a refresher course on aviation safety. That service is free for the first day, and $500 each additional day.

Career Central also plans to send the bus to areas ravaged by the inevitable hurricane to provide residents with online access they can use to get their affairs in order, Hamilton said.

On Thursday, Edwin Vega of Brooksville boarded the bus to deal with his own personal storm: he's an out-of-work mechanic who specializes in aircraft maintenance. Hamilton helped him update his resume and fill out an online application for a job with an aviation company in Tampa.

Vega lives near Spring Lake, so the trip to Ridge Manor saved him the extra time and gas he would have spent traveling to the Career Central office on Forest Oaks Boulevard in Spring Hill.

He said he was shocked by the bus's roomy interior.

"I wanted to walk back out and say, 'Am I on a bus here?'" Vega said. "It feels like an actual room."

Career Central bus comes to Brooksville

The Mobile One Stop bus will be parked from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Monday this month at Brooksville City Hall, 201 N. Howell Ave. To find out where else the bus will be, call David Hamilton, 352-279-4400.