(The Center Square) – Wyoming is launching a reemployment campaign to help encourage Wyomingites back into the workforce following the pandemic.

It's a campaign simply to let people know they exist and offer a wide variety of services for free, according to Ty Stockton, communications manager for the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services. He noted the pandemic put a new demographic of people into a position to potentially need help. 

“There’s a number of people who aren’t sure what services are available because they’ve never had to use it before, so we’re just trying to make sure everybody knows who are looking for a job that the workforce centers can help with that,” Stockton said.

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The department is targeting those who still haven't gotten back to work and are about to lose their benefits, Stockton said. They want to make sure they have the opportunity to get the job they want.

“We still have some folks who are collecting unemployment insurance, trying to find jobs and then with the federal unemployment insurance ending in Wyoming. We wanted to make sure those folks who were getting those benefits have an opportunity to find work again,” he said. “So we started the campaign up a few weeks before those federal unemployment insurance benefits ended to help folks get back into good, self-sustaining wage jobs.”

For those looking for a job, the workforce centers can help with resumes, mock interviews and job searches.

“Early on, there were a lot of folks saying, ‘There are just no jobs out there—there’s nothing available for me,’ but we’ve got a lot of jobs that are available right now,” he said.

In the Wyoming at Work database, there are jobs available that run the length of the pay scale, Stockton said. He added since the pandemic, the number of remote jobs listed has increased drastically.

“Our workforce centers can help folks refine their job searches: put in what their skills are, what their interests are so they can tailor that search to jobs that appeal to them, and they’re not having to settle for just some random job,” he said.

Stockton pointed to one example, a single mother named Heidi, whom the department helped to fulfill her goal of leaving the house cleaning industry to join the health care workforce after the pandemic hit. 

“She went into the workforce center, they helped her get her unemployment insurance application in and also said she qualified for WIOA funding,” he said.

Displaced workers looking to upgrade their skills can qualify for funding from the Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act program, Stockton explained.

Throughout the state, Stockton said there are job openings in a variety of industries with the most jobs available in hospitality, health care, colleges and universities and elementary and secondary schools.