'Employment Times' publisher named to Department of Labor post
LEWISTON — Jeanne Paquette, the founder of the Employment Times, has been named deputy commissioner of the Maine Department of Labor.
It's a role that means a new title and workplace for the longtime publisher, who started the free newspaper in 1999.
Yet, her mission is the same, she said.
"People in the state of Maine need every kind of resource they can get to find a job," Paquette said Monday. That's why she started the paper. And that's what will guide her in her new role, she said.
"We want to help good people find good jobs, and we want to help good companies to find good people," she said.
Paquette's new boss will be Labor Commissioner Robert Winglass of Auburn, who was sworn in on June 3. Winglass retired from the Marine Corps as a lieutenant general before representing Auburn for two terms in the Maine Legislature beginning in 1992.
Paquette described Winglass as experienced and "down to earth" in their meetings.
"I like his style," she said. "He's done a lot and I think I could learn a lot from him."
Paquette, who lives in North Yarmouth, has made a career out of examining labor issues. Before starting Employment Times, she served as vice president of human relations for Androscoggin Bank and was the director of human resources for Creative Work Systems. She has served on the Maine Jobs Council and is currently a board member of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce.
In 2009, Employment Times merged with the Sun Media Group, parent company of the Sun Journal. Soon after the merger, Paquette and Sun Media launched myjobwave.com.
Employment Times publishes about 35,000 copies every two weeks and is distributed to 1,200 locations in Maine and seacoast New Hampshire.
Paquette, who plans to begin work in Augusta in July, said she is unsure what her exact duties will be as deputy commissioner, she said. She sought out work earlier this year.
"I was asking around and really wanted to do something with the Labor Department," she said.
The professional job finder learned she was hired last week and began studying a thick volume of information on the department, which employs about 500 people.
"I think the Department of Labor needs to support the workers and the businesses," she said. "I think we're going to be looking at every facet of labor to see how we can help them to strengthen teams which ultimately helps the state."
