Alex Compton, whose career with Job Corps spans 15 years, is the new center director at Charleston Job Corps.  Compton, who previously served as the career development director at Fred G. Acosta Job Corps in Tucson, AZ, started at CJCC on June 10.

Compton said that his decision to pursue a career in Job Corps was fueled by his desire to help others.  “As a young child, I always

dreamed about how I could impact the world, change the world,” Compton said.  “Job Corps became that avenue to change the world” by changing the minds, attitudes and futures of young people to “become productive, taxpaying citizens.”   Compton noted that many,

although not all, Job Corps students come from challenging backgrounds and often haven’t received the support they need to succeed.  Instead of seeing opportunities and possibilities, they often have focused on the negatives – what other people say they can’t do.

Through the structure, discipline and quality training of Job Corps, students “can see that they can do anything that they

stick their mind to,” Compton said.  The proof of that is evident when former students call him and catch him up on their lives

and their successes.

Compton’s approach to students is straight-forward – “no excuses.” As the new center director, Compton’s top priority is to

“improve customer service to our clients – our students. Improve communication with students, improve our level of commitment to our students and provide a high level of customer satisfaction.”  Part of that commitment to students is “the need to hold students accountable to follow all the rules and regulations of the center,” Compton said.

Other top priorities – such as operating the center at full capacity and improving in the center’s Outcome Measurement System rankings, which measure the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of center operations – are tied to that idea of customer service to students. “Improving OMS comes with improving customer service and improving our relationship with students,” Compton said. “Once you do that, students

change the way they feel about themselves, the center and their performance. They don’t want to let us down.”

Compton praised the staff at Charleston Job Corps. “Everyone here is extremely nice and willing to show me around.” A competitive person, Compton admits, “I like to win. I want a team that wants to win and believe everyone is on board in that desire to win.”  His goal is to make Charleston Job Corps one of the top performing Job Corps centers in the nation.

Compton also noted the importance of consistent management, leadership that is open to new ideas and perspectives and the retention of staff as key components in a viable strategy for success.

Charleston Job Corps has “a very beautiful campus – like a mini college campus,” Compton said, and stressed the importance of maintaining that campus.  A clean environment “says something about the pride we take in how we go about our business.”

In addition to the Fred G. Acosta Job Corps Center, Compton has worked at the Westover Job Corps Center in Chicopee, MA, the Detroit Job Corps Center and the Flint Genesee Job Corps Center in Flint, MI, serving in numerous positions, including career development director, career services manager, career preparation period supervisor and career counselor.