CareerSource Polk Adding Business Consultants to Better Serve Clients
CareerSource Polk is adding consultants, a move the private, nonprofit administrator of workforce funds said will better serve the businesses it works with across Polk County.
“We now have five consultants and hopefully will add more in the future,” said Kathy Suttles, director of the agency’s Business Services Division. She and Arthur Harris, assistant director of the Business Services Division, “are currently working together to realign the territories to evenly divide the county between our consultants. As we add consultants, we will realign the county accordingly.”
For now, any business can contact Suttles for information and assistance, she said, and she will direct them to the appropriate consultant. She can be reached at the North Bartow Avenue office in Bartow; by phone at 863-508-1600, Extension 1103; or by email at kathy.suttles@careersourcepolk.com.
Our Business Services team focuses on one-on-one customer service, so each employer who reaches out to us will get to know their designated consultant, as well as all of our team, on a personal basis.
Kathy Suttles, Business Services Division Director
In its recent program year, the Business Services Division offered 5,489 services to 1,178 employers in Polk County, she said. “So far, in the first two quarters of the 2023-24 program year, we have offered 3,798 services to 607 employers. We are confident that with the addition of two consultants we will be able to reach more employers in the future.”
Robin Pettersson, general manager of Borem Fire Protection in Lakeland, said his company benefits from the services CareerSource Polk provides.
We leveraged the On-the-Job Training Grant program. This has made a significant impact on how we source talent as we can now afford to hire to potential rather than try to scalp talent from competitors. We have tripled our field crew presence and built up a strong office team using this program. We would not have grown our headcount so quickly if we did not have access to this program.
Robin Pettersson, general manager of Borem Fire Protection in Lakeland
The company likes the idea of having a consultant who knows them. “I feel that I have this person already,” he said. “I keep in contact with both Arthur Harris and Dawn Hartfield from the CareerSource Polk offices. They have been a great help to me.”
