The Jersey City Customer Service Skills Center recruits, trains, and places individuals in long-term retail careers and flexible job opportunities.

The Center is supported by partnerships between the NRF Foundation, mall developers, employers, local, state and federal government agencies, schools and colleges, and community-based organizations. The Center is a one-stop career center, giving employers and potential employees a central contact point for meeting their employment needs.

The Customer Service Skills Center uses curriculum and training based on National Customer Service & Sales and Pilot Retail Skill Standards. Skill standards are tools that outline the skills, knowledge, and abilities needed by professional retail and service employees to perform their work successfully. Standards provide the framework for training program curriculum that addresses the key elements of retailing, and other sales and service related industries. The Skill Standards address both the work itself (work-oriented components), as well as the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to perform the work.

The push for formal training for salespeople coincides with new emphasis on skills training for dislocated workers and people with no college degree. Between 2002 and 2012, the retail industry is projected to add 2.1 million jobs, or 10 percent of all new wage and salary jobs this decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics making it a target for a government program.

Our Community Partners:

• Jersey City Episcopal Community Development Corporation
• Hudson County Economic Development Corporation
• Jersey City Economic Development Corporation
• Hudson County Workforce Investment Board
• Hudson County Community College
• Hudson County Department of WOrkforce Development and Family Services
• Jersey City Employment and Training
• New Jersey Department of Labor - One Stop Service Center
• NRF Foundation