Michigan Works! of Macomb/St. Clair can help you navigate the path to meaningful employment.
Find out what no-cost services and programs you may qualify for. Simply fill out the survey here.
The Michigan Works! Career Centers, located in Macomb and St. Clair Counties, community-offer youth, adults and businesses community customer-friendly, easily accessible services. If you’re looking for your first job or a better job or, if you’re unemployed, underemployed or dislocated worker, or if you’re a veteran, training programs are available. Where they are available, what financial assistance may be available. If you’re a veteran or an individual with a disability and wish to learn about quality specialized services that can help you enter or re-enter the workforce – if you have a good job but want a great job – Michigan Works! services can work for you.
Support Encyclopedia
Examining your financial needs and goals is an important step in career planning. Knowing what you need to earn to be self-sufficient and beyond will help you identify the right career for you. The biggest factor in identifying financial success is expenses: housing, transportation, childcare, food, health care, and other basic necessities. Depending on where you live, costs vary. Use the tools below to determine the local cost of living and your current financial situation.
The living wage shown is the hourly rate that an individual in a household must earn to support his or herself and their family. The assumption is the sole provider is working full-time (2080 hours per year).
Use our financial worksheet to determine your current cost of living and compare to the local calculation to find your future career needs to find financial independence.
It’s important to identify the kinds of jobs that will provide you with satisfaction. There are career planning tools and self-assessment tools available online to help you get started. These tools can help you learn more about yourself and the occupations that might be right for you. The tools can help you to develop a career pathway by helping you to identify a short term and long term goal. It is also important to understand the local labor market. Occupational choices may be influenced by the wages paid in the local area and whether there are job opportunities in the local area.
Is a website sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor and a partner of the American Job Center network. It can help you explore careers to learn more about specific occupations. Take some Self-assessments to learn more about what careers you might like. Learn about careers to help do better at finding and keeping a job, and getting reemployed if you lose a job.
Is a website sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration and is associated with O*NET OnLine. This website will allow you to search for careers with keywords. Help you to browse careers by industry. Explore options based on your interests if you are not sure what you want to do. If you are a veteran, it will help you to translate your military experience into a civilian career.
This tool provides information to job seekers to help make informed choices about educational and career options. This free tool uses current labor market information, longitudinal wage data, and other institutional data and metrics, allowing improved skills-matching to career paths and jobs.
The State of Michigan’s Labor Market Information website can provide information about occupations by industry, wages, occupations, and long and short-term employment projections.
Each year the Macomb/St. Clair Workforce Development Board develops a local Demand Occupation List for Macomb/St. Clair Michigan Works!
Now that you have done some career exploration, you have hopefully identified a career goal. Developing career goals is a way to plan for your future, and can be categorized as short-term and long-term goals. Short-term goals are those that can be achieved in six months to three years, while it may take three to five years to reach long-term goals.
Thinking about career goals in this way can help you to develop a career pathway. Developing long-term goals and working backward to create a plan brings organization and clarity to the actions and decisions you are making. Goals serve as a roadmap and remind you of where you need to go and what choices you need to make.
Now that you’ve found your next career, use this simple Career Planning Survey to determine if you are ready for that career pathway.
You have identified a career that will require you to increase your skills. There are options to help you get those new skills.
WIOA is designed to help job seekers access employment, education, training, and support services to succeed in the labor market and to match employers with the skilled workers they need to compete in the global economy.
Assistance to pay for tuition, fees, books and supplies may be available for WIOA eligible individuals.
Michigan’s Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL) is where you can learn more about classroom training opportunities in your area if you decide to go back to school.
Also funded by WIOA, OJT is designed to help you learn new skills while you work. A Michigan Works! Business Account Manager (BAM) can help you find an employer who is looking for someone who has some skills and is willing to teach some skills.
An Apprenticeship is a combination of On-the-Job Training (OJT) and a related Classroom Training (CRT) program. This industry-driven model is very effective for employers to build a skilled workforce.
Assists young adults aged 16-24, to identify a career pathway and offers support in reaching those goals.
SCSEP is a community service and work-based job training program for low-income, unemployed seniors.
MRS works with eligible customers and employers to achieve quality employment outcomes and independence for individuals with disabilities.
If you have identified that you need to brush up on your reading, math or English language skills, there are great resources in our community.
There are many types of financial aid available. Grants are money given to students and are usually based on financial need. The best-known grant is a Pell Grant. There are other kinds of grants that focus on career choices, minorities or student types, and school types. Loans are moneys lent to students to pay for training that must be paid back. There are a variety of loans available to students depending on your status as a student. Scholarships are moneys given to a student that is not required to be paid back. Awards are based on various criteria, which usually reflect the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award. Contact the Financial Aid office of the school you are interested in attending for more information about Grants, Loans and Scholarships.
If you are thinking about returning to school, but are not
sure whether you would be successful, consider taking a
basic skills assessment that can be administered by a
Michigan Works! Career Planner. This assessment will look
at reading and math skills and will help you to determine
if you are ready for advanced training, or you need some
brushing up.
Get personalized resources and support for your unique
life situation from a Michigan Works! Career Planner.
Does your career goal require more skills than you
currently have? Michigan Works! may be able to help you
get the training you need to move along your career
pathway.
Talk to a Career Planner about:
This may be what you are looking for if you are 16 to 24 years old and are looking for assistance to reach your career goals.
Veterans and eligible spouses receive priority of service
under any qualified job training program funded in whole
or in part by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).
Specialized services are available for veterans facing
barriers to employment. Connect with a Disabled Veteran’s
Outreach Program Specialist (DVOP) through a Michigan
Works! Career Planner.
Veteran Employability Boot Camp is a one week intensive workshop designed to prepare the veterans to do an effective job search. This workshop provides tools techniques, practice and support to rapidly re-enter the workforce.
The Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) is a community service work-based training program for low-income unemployed seniors.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is a principal department of state of Michigan, headquartered in Lansing, that provides public assistance, child and family welfare services, and oversees health policy and management, including mental health and substance abuse services.
It’s important to be as prepared as possible when applying and interviewing for potential employment opportunities. Ensure you’ve done the proper preparation and research before walking into an interview. Remembering a few simple facts or exceptional things about the employer shows you are prepared and can be the one small difference that makes you stand out from other candidates.
Specialized Programs
If you’re a college-educated immigrant or refugee looking to advance your career in Michigan, you may qualify for the Skilled Immigrant Integration Program. This program connects you with job coaches who can help with:
If you meet the eligibility criteria, complete the short application form below to get connected with a career coach.
Apply to the Skilled Immigrant Integration Program
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