ADWS Highlights Workforce Professionals for National Workforce Development Month
Jana Kindall
“I have seen many changes and challenges over my more than 43 years with ADWS… I have always been very proud of the work we do as an agency.“
Jana Kindall, Area Operations Chief, Northwest Arkansas
I began working for the Employment Security Division in August 1980 as an Intermittent Clerk Typist II. I obtained a permanent position as a Secretary II in October of 1980. I was then hired as a job service interviewer in 1983 and worked several itinerant sites throughout the five-county area the Harrison local Workforce Center served.
I was transferred to the ADWS unemployment insurance department in 1988 and continued to work in that capacity until I became a fraud investigator working for the ADWS Benefit Payment Control unit in December 2002. I was part of the software development team for the Automated Adjudication System (AAS) software for three years and became one of the original AAS supervisors in that unit when it rolled out in July 2005.
My personal goal had always been to be a UI tech, which I accomplished in 2007. The Assistant UI Director, Hugh Havens, talked me into applying for the Harrison Manager position, and I accepted that role in July 2008. I worked in that capacity until I retired in early 2018 – and I returned later that same year to the manager position in Harrison.
During my years as a manager for the Harrison local office, I served as a board member of the Northwest AR Workforce Board, Career Pathways Advisory Board, and the Adult Education Board representing the Harrison office. I applied for the NW Area Operations Chief position and was placed in that position in July 2019, where I currently serve Northwest AR offices.
I have seen many changes and challenges over my more than 43 years with ADWS. I’ve also seen changes in how our work is done, going from manual to more automated. I have always been very proud of the work we do as an agency.
