On average, Americans spend 15 years and three months of their natural lives working, a total of some 90,000 hours.

For some people, a job is work. For some individuals, employment is a career.

PA CareerLink Lancaster County caters to both groups of people and helps individuals to navigate this critical portion of their lives.

"It depends on the individual," said Chris Roggenbaum, who's been the site administrator at PA CareerLink Lancaster County for three years. "Some people may say they have a job. For me, my job is part of my career. It's part of my path. Some people are looking for jobs. A lot of times, people put their identities into whether they have a job or a career."

An arm of the Lancaster County Workforce Development Board, PA CareerLink Lancaster County, which is located at 1046 Manheim Pike, Lancaster, is a job center that provides locals opportunities to improve themselves financially, to enhance their lives and to self-actualize. PA CareerLink Lancaster County's hours of operation are Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Wednesdays from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

"A lot of people come to us thinking we're the unemployment office, but we are not," said Roggenbaum. "Our goal is to get individuals back to work or further their skills for their current job. We're here to help people enter or re-enter the local work force. There are a variety of ways to do that."

PA CareerLink Lancaster County offers self-service job searches, case management services, mock interviews, resume assistance, training, workshops and youth and adult programming. PA CareerLink also hosts job fairs and works with local employers to sponsor job fairs.

"I used to have a boss who told me, 'Hey, a job or having a career is an important part of people's identities,'" said Roggenbaum. "When you meet people for the first time, it's not too far into the conversation when you ask them, 'What do you do for a living?'"

PA CareerLink collaborates with numerous Lancaster County employers, who can post current openings on the organization's website free of charge. PA CareerLink also works with human service agencies, manufacturing agencies, staffing agencies and the Lancaster County Assistance Office.

It has its finger on the pulse of the employment community.

More than 10,000 people pass through the doors of 1046 Manheim Pike, Lancaster, every single year.

"A lot of these people have lost their jobs or need some sort of assistance," said Roggenbaum. "We have individuals looking for training. We have veterans or spouses of veterans who have relocated to the area. We have people with disabilities. It's a variety of people in different phases of their career journeys, from first jobs to starting over."

The current unemployment rate in Lancaster County stands at 3.3%, well below Pennsylvania's rate of 4.3%. Among the top Lancaster employers are Lancaster General Hospital, Mutual Assistance Group, the county of Lancaster and Giant Food Stores.

"One of the things we're proud of in Lancaster is that we have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state, and that's consistent," said Roggenbaum. "We're usually below the state rate. Lancaster County is bustling. We have a lot going on here."

The causes of unemployment are as varied as the types of employment available here.

"Some people are unemployed," said Roggenbaum. "Companies significantly lay off, or factors cause ripple effects. It could be the field. Individuals may go from one warehouse to another. Sometimes transportation or child care are factors. Some of it is just lost jobs. Things like that do happen."

PA CareerLink was established in Lancaster County in 2001; the site is one of the organization's 66 locations in the state. More than 40 staff members work at PA CareerLink Lancaster County, but they are not technically employed by PA CareerLink, which receives both federal and state funding.

Those staff members operate an on-site food pantry, collect blankets for those in need and volunteer in the community.

"PA CareerLink Lancaster County is a group of proud partners working together," said Roggenbaum. "PA CareerLink is an umbrella. I wear a PA CareerLink shirt, I represent PA CareerLink, but I don't work for PA CareerLink. Our clients don't care about that. They just care about the services we provide."

"We get people who come in our doors regularly who didn't know we existed or didn't know that there was anyone who could help them," concluded Roggenbaum. "We don't want to be the best-kept secret. We're here to help - help people get back to work."

For additional information, go to http://www.jobs4lancaster.com.