Starting over after 50; one man's inspiring story | Business

KANNAPOLIS - Rowan-Cabarrus Community College celebrated the five year anniversary of the college’s community-based career center at its January board meeting.

The Rowan-Cabarrus Board of Trustees established the R3 Center five years ago this month to assist displaced workers and those who are unemployed or under-employed.       

Since opening in 2007, the R3 Center has assisted over 9,000 dislocated workers in Rowan and Cabarrus counties and scheduled over 33,000 appointments for free career programs and services. In 2009, the R3 Center became a showcase for the Re-Employment Bridge Institute, a teaching/learning initiative created by Rowan-Cabarrus and funded through a grant from the N.C. Department of Commerce to the Centralina Workforce Development Board. Through this partnership, the best practices of the R3 Center have been shared across the state as well as to regional and national audiences.

“The R3 Center’s innovative approach to helping unemployed or under-employed workers has not only helped our area, but those across the country who have benefited from some of the best practices developed here,” said Dr. Carol S. Spalding, president of the college. “Rowan-Cabarrus Community College is there for a full cycle of an industry. We’re there at the table when a new industry is considering our area and needs a ready workforce. We’re also there when that industry is leaving town and there are many people without work.”

The R3 Center has partnered with the Rowan and Cabarrus JobLink Career Centers and been active in all major layoffs in the two county area in the past five years. The center worked closely with the 2009 Philip Morris (PM USA) Concord plant closure by supplying staff to work onsite one year prior to the closing. The center became activists for the PM USA employees and has been awarded funding to assist through the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund’s Project Skill-UP grant since 2008.

The center’s mission is built on three Rs – a refocus on individual skills and interests, retraining and further education, and partnering with other workforce development agencies to secure career-oriented re-employment. All R3 Center services are provided free-of-charge.

“We want our clients to come in and leave feeling self-sufficient,” said Keri Allman, director of the R3 Center.

Today, the R3 Center has multiple services and actively seeks displaced workers. It provides free workshops, career assessments and individual career coaches to guide clients through their job search. Workshops teach important skills, such as proper interview technique, writing a résumé or rewriting one that's out of date. The center provides emotional support, but also gives its clients the tools to become competitive in today’s job market.

The board also met with Bruce Potts, a Rowan-Cabarrus graduate who credits the R3 Center and the college with his success.

Bruce Potts had worked in the maintenance department at Freightliner for 16 years when he came to Rowan-Cabarrus in 2008. He began taking classes part-time and working toward RCCC’s two-year mechanical engineering degree. He said that he saw the writing on the wall and knew that he’d need to go back to college to make his career path secure.

Sure enough, a year into taking classes, Bruce was laid off. He had a renewed mission and continued his education, now working towards his degree fulltime. Then, just after graduation, Bruce got his call to go back to work at Freightliner. But he was no longer satisfied with his old job.

"I had a moment of inspiration," Potts told WBTV.  "I decided to get back to class, get back to school, decided to prepare myself for a possible change in direction."

After learning how to network and reinventing himself both on paper and in person, he wanted something more. Today, after using the tools he gained at Rowan-Cabarrus and through the R3 Center, Bruce is a manufacturing engineer at Freightliner.

“Bruce Potts is the worker retraining success story. He fully embraced the tools and resources at his disposal, took to heart the idea that he would need to reinvent himself, and persisted until he had succeeded,” said Spalding. “I couldn’t be more proud that he is a Rowan-Cabarrus graduate.”

“The combination of my work experience, my Rowan-Cabarrus degree and the tools I learned through the R3 Center were a real trifecta for helping me get this job,” said Potts. “I’m happy to tell my story so I can hopefully inspire others that it is really possible to change your life.”

“Bruce quite literally transformed his life,” said Carl M. Short, chair of the Rowan-Cabarrus Board of Trustees. “He is an inspiration to anyone hoping to advance from blue-collar to white-collar.”

The R3 Center staff prides itself on thinking outside of the box, which is crucial in a difficult economy. The staff also has expertise and ties to the area.

“When someone comes in, we have a conversation with them on their focus,” said Allman. “In order to be competitive in a global workforce, you need to be introduced to the concept of lifelong learning. The area is changing into a global workforce. The workforce as we have known it doesn't exist anymore.”

Clinics and workshops offered at the center vary, but include “Stand Out from the Competition,” “Looking for Work with a Criminal Record” and “Online Job Hunting.” Workshops change every month, and a calendar is available online.

Other helpful tools job seekers can utilize at the career center are computers, fax machines, printers, resume writing software, telephones and career choice videos and books. There is also a job posting board plus job information pamphlets and materials for those who are vision and hearing impaired.

The R3 Center partners with a number of workforce development agencies, including the Centralina Workforce Development Board, JobLink Career Centers of Cabarrus and Rowan counties, N.C. Division of Employment Security and other area community agencies. The center is also partnered with Castle & Cooke and the North Carolina Research Campus offering assistance for individuals looking at career opportunities in the area.

For more information about the R3 Center, visit www.rccc.edu/r3/.