Someone got a job.

And last year, that bell rang quite a few times.

The Buffalo Employment and Training Center is part of a local "one-stop" system that helped about 4,500 people find jobs during the past few years, including some 1,500 last year.

In fact, the training center, located at 77 Goodell St., reached a milestone last year when it saw its 100,000 visit — from about 16,000 different visitors — since opening its doors 3 1/2 years ago.

While the volume of job hunters passing through may speak to the local unemployment situation, officials see the training center as part of the solution for Buffalo.

"We feel very good about word spreading we’re here," said Colleen W. Cummings, director of employment and training at the center. "We help the people who are here, stay here and get a good job."

The center opened in the former M. Wile men’s suit production facility downtown in 2001, as part of a federally mandated approach to streamline job training and employment services.

The local "one-stop" system also includes the Erie Community College Employment & Training Center at the corner of Lake Avenue and Abbott Road in Orchard Park. Satellite offices are located at 275 Alexander St. in Cheektowaga and 1835 Sheridan Drive in the Town of Tonawanda.

Services at the Buffalo Employment and Training Center include:

• Computer and Internet access to search job listings.
• Job counseling with staff from the state Department of Labor, Erie County Social Services and other agencies.
• Access to mail, fax, copier and phone.
• Workshops on writing resumes, interviewing or basic computer skills.

"There are a lot of classes you can take here, even classes dealing with the whole emotional aspects of coping with looking for a job," said Nancy E. Kensy, a former marketing product manager from the City of Tonawanda.

At the Buffalo Employment and Training Center, Kensy joined a brown-bag lunch group — known as Professional Opportunity Developers — to help the more high-salaried, out-of-work managers and executives find jobs in the region. The group meets each week to talk about local employment possibilities and swap job-hunting advice.

"There are always people who have more ideas for you," Kensy said.

Walter D. Garrow, from Niagara Falls, recently joined the brown-bag lunch group, too, and enjoys the professional, businesslike atmosphere at the airy, well-lit facility.

"You have the copy machine, the fax machine, the phone, Internet access," Garrow said. "It’s like having your own office."

Based on federal guidelines, the center has a good record meeting employment standards, said Cummings, although it has fallen short in one category: consistently finding local employment that pays job hunters better than their last job.

Accounting positions, truck drivers, warehouse distribution jobs, computer-support specialists and a wide range of health care jobs are some of the more popular local positions that opened up for clients this past year, officials said.

Some job hunters also may qualify for financial assistance to take training courses at local institutions, but federal training dollars have been dwindling in recent years.

Garrow doesn’t need training. But he hopes soon to be ringing that bell on the wall, which has become a little tradition for the center’s job hunters, signaling the end of a successful job search and offering some hope for those at the center still looking.

Garrow already has gotten several bites in his specialized field of environmental health and safety. And, he’s confident he’ll get something, based on his education and credentials.

"But trying to stay in the area presents that added challenge," Garrow said.

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